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Alcohol use by persons under age 21 years is a major public health problem.1 Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs.

Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States.2 More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.2 On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers.3 In 2008, there were approximately 190,000 emergency rooms visits by persons under age 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol.4

The 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey5 found that among high school students, during the past 30 days 42% drank some amount of alcohol. 24% binge drank. 10% drove after drinking alcohol. 28% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

Children who are drinking alcohol by 7th grade are more likely to suffer employment problems, abuse other drugs, and commit criminal and violent acts once they reach young adulthood, according to a RAND Health study.

"Early alcohol use is a signal that someone is likely to have more problems as they transition into adulthood."

Underage drinking is a major national problem, with estimates suggesting that by the 8th grade one-fourth of all adolescents have consumed alcohol to the point of intoxication.

“You play as a thug with problems you must steal and shoot your way out of, but the problems this time are disconcertingly more realistic.

(ie: of the level that shoots and steals his way out of problems?? Wouldn’t this indicate some psychopathic tendencies? Do parents actually buy this game for kids?)

The killing and stealing bothers this writer not at all, just the curse words. And, there is this comment, barely literate and disturbing: “dis game is tight the graphocs rock one thing i enjoy is that you get to kill people and take peoples nice cars and in one mission u can buy a big plane like ones at the airports”.

"I guess I knew I was becoming addicted, but I couldn't stop myself," Kim recalled from a clinic where he was undergoing counseling. "I stopped changing my clothes. I didn't go out. And I began to see myself as the character in my games."

Last month, the government -- which opened a treatment center in 2002 -- launched a game addiction hotline. Hundreds of private hospitals and psychiatric clinics have opened units to treat the problem.

An estimated 2.4 percent of the population from 9 to 39 are believed to be suffering from game addiction, according to a government-funded survey. Another 10.2 percent were found to be "borderline cases" at risk of addiction -- defined as an obsession with playing electronic games to the point of sleep deprivation, disruption of daily life and a loosening grip on reality. Such feelings are typically coupled with depression and a sense of withdrawal when not playing, counselors say.

Okay, so we all want to hear how Calvin Klein is the culprit and that the emaciated waif look has caused women to tale-spin into the world of Eating Disorders. While the images of child-like women has obviously contributed to an increased obsession to be thin, and we can't deny the media influence on eating disorders, there's a lot more to it than that.

Images on T.V. spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful, buy more stuff because people will like us and we'll be better people for it. Programming on the tube rarely depicts men and women with "average" body-types or crappy clothes, ingraining in the back of all our minds that this is the type of life we want. O

characters are typically portrayed as lazy

Can video games make kids more violent? A new study employing state-of-the-art brain-scanning technology says that the answer may be yes.

brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal – and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention.

he does think that the study should encourage parents to look more closely at the types of games their kids are playing.

Since 1991 more "new economic policies" or reforms have been introduced.

Reforms include currency devaluations and making currency partially convertible, reduced quantitative restrictions on imports, reduced import duties on capital goods, decreases in subsidies, liberalized interest rates, abolition of licenses for most industries, the sale of shares in selected public enterprises, and tax reforms.

faster growth rate of the economy

There is a lot of controversy about how bad video games are for children, in regards to violence, and general obsession with playing, so much so that nothing else matters to them. Having been quite involved in more than one video game in my time, I can attest to the fact that they can become quite addicting and there is a kind of obsession that drives you to keep playing until you’ve won the game

Video games have many benefits to children which most of us never even think of. Video games promote good eye-hand coordination, problem solving skills, critical thinking and competition.

A survey by the Pew Research Center (2006) reports that almost 20 percent of Americans eat at fast food restaurants at least twice a week

Research is mounting that playing games can make you smarter.

At the 2009 MI6 conference, he pointed out that games engage the same brain machinery that’s used when one is learning.

Is it a coincidence that “nerds” often possess an interest in computer games, as well as have an aptitude for subjects like maths and science?

When the media is constantly bombarding children and teens alike with messages about the "ideal" or "perfect" beauty, and uses underweight movie stars, singers, etc- then it's not hard to ask the question "Does the media influence Anorexia on teenagers?"

Instead of blaming themselves, the media and others- it's im

portant to remember that some teenagers are more susceptible to eating disorders than others, and some are going to develop Anorexia or another eating disorder with or without outside influences such as media or peers.

Two main eating disorders pertain to thinness they are Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa

A National survey revealed that up to seventy five percent of women consider themselves too fat when in reality they are below the ideal weight standards that are established.

In America fifty six percent of all women are on diets.

Anorexics see themselves as obese no matter how much they weigh or how thin they look in the mirror.

This obsession or focus on constant monitoring of calories and weighing themselves helps them block out unwanted feelings and emotions. So it can be seen as a symptom of possible mental health problems, especially around self-esteem or what I prefer to refer to as self-acceptance.

Report on North Korean Nuclear Program by Siegfried S. Hecker, November 15, 2006 Richard L. Garwin and Frank N. von Hippel, "A Technical Analysis of North Korea’s Oct. 9 Nuclear Test," Arms Control Today, November 2006. North Korea’s Bomb: A technical assessment, FAS Strategic Security blog, October 16, 2006 Statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the North Korea Nuclear Test, ODNI news release, October 16, 2006 Korea and US Nuclear Weapons, FAS Nuclear Information Project, September 28, 2005 North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2005, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2005. Visit to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea, Testimony of Siegfried S. Hecker, Los Alamos National Laboratory, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, January 21, 2004

The Nuclear Threat Initative's North Korea nuclear profile Report of U.S. Congressional Delegation Visit to North and South Korea, May 30 - June 2, 2003 led by Rep. Curt Weldon North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2003, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2003 North Korean Nuclear Weapons, CIA Estimate for Congress, November 19, 2002 North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program, Congressional Research Service North Korean Nuclear Program, U.S. State Department release, October 16, 2002 Text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Text of the Agreed Framework

North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program Larry A. Niksch, Foreign Affairs and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, October 9, 2002 STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE U.S.-DPRK FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT Thomas L. Wilborn, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College -- April 3, 1995 [40 pages, 125 kb PDF] Assessing the U.S.-North Korea Agreement Masao Okonogi Joint Forces Quarterly Spring 1995 [215 kb PDF] The North Korean leadership is attempting to sell its outmoded baggage of the Cold War. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) The Nuclear Potential of Individual Countries Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons Problems of Extension Appendix 2 Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service 6 April 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation: Implications of the U.S./North Korean Agreement on Nuclear Issues (Letter Report, 10/01/96, GAO/RCED/NSIAD-97-8). N Korean Nuclear Arsenal By Lee Wha Rang, April 27, 1996 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure--Part One," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1999, p. 38 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Secret Nuclear Infrastructure, Part II," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 August 1999 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure" Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1994, 74-79

Alcohol abuse is a significant problem among young people and a solution needs to be found.

On national television programs, Califano reported horror stories of alcohol abuse among college students, associating it with assault, rape, and even murder

"60 percent of college women who have acquired sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS and genital herpes, were under the influence of alcohol at the time they had intercourse" "90 percent of all reported campus rapes occur when alcohol is being used by either the assailant or the victim" "The number of women who reported drinking to get drunk more than tripled between 1977 and 1993" "95 percent of violent crime on campus is alcohol-related"

There are three types of aggression, measured along a mild-to-violent severity continuum: physical, verbal, and relational. Violence refers to physical aggression of which the victim is likely to suffer serious physical injury.

One study did find an increase in reports of bullying, noting, "Our research found that certain patterns of video game play were much more likely to be associated with these types of behavioral problems than with major violent crime such as school shooting

On April 20, 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher in the Columbine High School massacre. The two were allegedly obsessed with the video game Doom.