Recent Articles:
Below are past articles previously published in Drugs & Addiction Magazine. These are filled with current and relevant information and statistics and can be used as great conversation starters with youth.
It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day!
January 30, 2019Former Insys CEO pleads guilty to opioid kickback scheme
January 17, 2019Resolve to Detox Your Social Circle
January 16, 2019Easing test anxiety boosts low-income students’ biology grades
January 15, 2019Craving insight into addiction
January 14, 2019People with low self-esteem tend to seek support in ways that backfire, study finds
January 10, 2019Ban on cigarette sales in NYC pharmacies starts Jan. 1
January 9, 2019Too many problems? Maybe coping isn’t the answer
January 8, 2019Half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14
January 3, 2019Sexting Teens
December 19, 2018Screen Addiction: Today’s Biggest Threat to Schooling?
December 19, 2018Texting Etiquette & Safety: 5 Rules for Keeping Your Kids & Teens Secure & Drama-Free
December 17, 2018Amnesty International: Indigenous Peoples’ rights
December 17, 2018New Canadians sworn in as Winnipeg museum celebrates International Human Rights Day
December 13, 2018Statement by the Prime Minister on Human Rights Day
December 12, 2018Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in America, CDC confirms
December 12, 2018The Illustrated Version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
December 11, 2018Homeless man with terminal cancer donates to holiday toy drive
December 10, 2018Boy gets Colorado town to overturn snowball fight ban
December 6, 2018Fortnite addiction is forcing kids into video game rehab
December 5, 2018Clarity on Cannabis
December 4, 2018Mental health education recommended for RCMP members following inquest
November 30, 2018Social Media – 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence
November 28, 2018Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence
November 27, 2018#GIVINGTUESDAY TODAY ONLY YOUR GIFT CAN BE MATCHED
November 27, 2018The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
November 26, 2018#ENDViolence in schools
November 23, 2018Statement by Minister MacLeod on National Child Day
November 22, 2018November 20th marks National Children’s Day across Canada
November 21, 2018National Child Day
November 20, 2018Facts & Figures
November 16, 2018The Push For Change®
November 15, 2018Winter Giving 101
November 14, 2018First came the stroke, then the inspiration…
November 13, 2018Canadian Youth Speakers Bureau: Scott Hammell
November 9, 2018John Connors’ brilliant IFTA Award speech
November 9, 2018Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone
November 8, 2018This teen pizzeria employee traveled 3 hours to deliver pizza to a man with terminal cancer
November 6, 2018Video captures joyful law student’s reaction to passing her bar exam
November 5, 2018MADD Canada launches annual red ribbon campaign in Halifax
November 2, 2018Nova Scotia’s Health Department says talks underway for province’s first overdose prevention site
October 31, 2018Crystal meth eclipsing opioids on the Prairies: ‘There’s no lack of meth on the street’
October 29, 2018Opioids Don’t Discriminate: An Interactive Experience.
October 26, 2018Guelph police warn drug users of spike in purple fentanyl
October 25, 2018What exactly are you inhaling when you vape?
October 23, 2018Study ADHD Medication Overdoses
June 14, 2018A Cry for Guidance
January 18, 2018Your Friend’s Substance Abuse
September 15, 2017Depression
September 15, 2017Methamphetamines
September 15, 2017Alcohol
September 15, 201725 Healthy Ways to Feel Better
September 15, 2017Fortnite addiction is forcing kids into video game rehab
December 5, 2018By JEF FEELEYBloomberg
CHRISTOPHER PALMERI
Debbie Vitany is fighting a losing battle against Fortnite.
Her 17-year-old son, Carson, has been logging 12 hours a day on the video game, searching for weapons and resources in a post-apocalyptic world where the goal is being the last person standing. Teachers complain he falls asleep in class and his grades have plummeted.
“We’d made some progress in getting him to cut down his Fortnite hours and get better sleep, but he’s slipped back into his old habits,” Vitany, who lives near Saginaw, Michigan, said in an interview. “I’ve never seen a game that has such control over kids’ minds.”
Vitany’s anguish is echoed by an army of other parents, teachers and bosses around the world grappling with a game that sucks up hours of players’ time — sometimes to the detriment of other activities. More than 200 million people have registered to play Fortnite, which has become a billion-dollar business for its creator, Epic Games Inc. Some desperate parents have sent their kids to rehab.
“This game is like heroin,” said Lorrine Marer, a British behavioural specialist who works with kids battling game addiction. “Once you are hooked, it’s hard to get unhooked.”
Epic has issued past warnings about avoiding Fortnite scammers, but it declined to comment on the addiction issue.
Video game addiction isn’t new: Parents and teachers have been carping about distracted children — and their joystick-addled hands — since the days of Atari consoles. But the ubiquity of Fortnite has created a more widespread menace. And it’s happening against the backdrop of broader concerns about social-media and smartphone overuse.
Fortnite, first released in its popular “battle royale” mode in September 2017, isn’t just causing problems for kids. An online U.K. divorce service says 200 petitions cited Fortnite and other video games this year as the reason for the breakup of marriages.
Professional athletes are getting hooked, too. The National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks had so much trouble getting players to meetings and dinners they banned Fortnite on the road. David Price, star pitcher for Major League Baseball’s World Series-winning Boston Red Sox, was scratched from a May start against the archrival New York Yankees because of wrist problems that may have been exacerbated by Fortnite playing.
Some pro-baseball players are so Fortnite-obsessed that they’ve hooked the game up to their stadium’s Jumbotron video system to play it while waiting to take batting practice.
www.thestar.com