By MIKAELA CONLEY
The Fourth of July is one of the worst days of the year for teenage boys to drink -- and get hurt.

A new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, found that underage males visit the emergency room twice as much during Fourth of July weekend than the rest of the month.  » More

By Steve Pettibone
Dr. Irfan Dhalla doesn't pull any punches in describing the current level of prescription drug abuse in Ontario. "It's not like American television or movies, which lead us to believe that detox programs are primarily for people using illegal drugs like heroin," he told a Brockville courtroom Thursday. "It's overwhelmingly prescription opioids that are leading to the need for detox programs." » More

By Mariana van Zeller, Special to CNN
(CNN) -- This past winter, I found myself following a drug dealer and his crew up the dark stairway of a triple-decker apartment building on the outskirts of Boston. Reaching a unit on the top floor, the young man pulled a gun from his waistband and set it on a coffee table next to a digital scale and a pile of drugs.

Entering a drug den, you might expect to find cocaine or heroin. But side by side with this pile of "hard stuff" were prescription pills, lots of them.  » More

StarTribune -- Posted by: Jeremy Olson; 612-673-7744; jeremy.olson@startribune.com
Rising media exposure and stress levels can be linked to the rise in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children over the past twenty years, according to a top Minnesota child psychiatrist.

Dr. L Read Sulik, senior vice president of behavioral health for Sanford Health, is one of numerous experts I interviewed for Sunday's premium access story on the rise in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children. (Check back Wednesday for open access to the story online.) The story quoted a study, which found a 40-fold increase in child bipolar diagnoses in a recent 10-year timeframe, as well as a host of top psychiatrists who acknowledge that bipolar has been misdiagnosed in many children.  » More

By Sheela Philomena
The article notes, as background information, that depression and substance abuse often co-occur, but that individuals with both disorders are not always treated for both. "The consequences of this unmet need are great," report the authors. "The interactive nature of the two disorders leads to poorer depression and substance abuse treatment outcomes compared with the outcomes when only one disorder is treated." » More