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The term “binge drinking” has been around for a while to define alcoholism, particularly among the college population. However, the term does not encompass a percentage of college students who drink beyond the binge drinking thresholds.

In women, binge drinking is defined as drinking about four servings of alcohol in one evening. For men, drinking five drinks is classified as binge drinking. In colleges across the nation, though, drinking two or three times the binge drinking threshold is somewhat common, which has lead researchers to coin a new alcoholism term: extreme drinking.

The new term applies to men or women who imbibe in alcohol well beyond the binge drinking threshold, and a study was conducted to ascertain the levels of extreme drinking across the United States, focusing on 14 U.S. college campuses.

Findings show that students often participate in extreme drinking, with 20% of men and 10% of women surveyed reporting an extreme drinking episode in a two week time period. And those percentages could be misleading.

Many students do not know exact serving sizes of alcoholic drinks. With bartenders and home mix-masters serving alcoholic drinks that may contain more than one serving of alcohol, students who participated in the survey may have underestimated the total amount of alcohol consumed.

Even though the study focuses on college students, extreme drinking can be applied to all subsets of the population, including teens and adults. So if you or a loved one frequently drink more than four or five drinks in one night, extreme drinking could apply.

For help with alcoholism and alcohol rehab, you may wish to contact an alcohol rehab center. Many exist across the nation, and centers like Vista Taos Renewal Center could help you or your family member recover from extreme drinking or other alcoholism issues. Vista Taos takes a holistic approach to substance abuse and alcohol rehabilitation; it is not like your typical treatment facility. With the focus on getting the patient’s entire mind and body well, the chances of lifelong sobriety are greater than a standard treatment process. If you or a loved one are tired of being weighed by the chains of alcoholism, let Vista Taos offer treatment assistance today.

Charlie Sheen’s twin boys may have another troubled parent in their lives. The boys’ mother, Brooke Mueller, was arrested on Saturday, December 3, 2011 for assaulting a woman in a popular Aspen bar. Mueller was also in possession of cocaine, which she intended to distribute. Cocaine possession with intent to distribute is a felony.

Mueller is no stranger to drug and alcohol charges. In September 1996, she was arrested for driving under the influence. In March 2001, Mueller faced charges for cocaine possession, but since she had no drugs in her system, the charges were dropped. In May 2011, Mueller entered an outpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, which she completed.

As the primary custodian of her twin boys, Mueller has been the more stable influence in the twins’ lives. Sheen assaulted Mueller on Christmas Day 2009, and his past drug and alcohol abuse has been extensive. Sheen has recently battled and overcome his abuse issues very publicly, and now he appears to be back on track in all aspects of his life. In fact, in August 2011, Sheen and Mueller vacationed together, and they have recently tried to resolve their conflicts.

Unfortunately, despite Sheen’s ability to turn his drug abuse around, his ex-wife appears to be on track to a potential cocaine addiction. At this point, since charges are only pending (until her court appearance on December 19), the twins still remain in her custody.  

It is hopeful that Mueller can get the help she needs for her cocaine addiction through a drug rehabilitation program, like Vista Taos Renewal Center. Getting her life back on track and battling her cocaine addiction could very well be the stability that her twin boys need.

An Austin, Texas man is facing felony assault charges after a drunk driving incident on Robert E. Lee Road on Friday, November 25th. Guillermo Leon, the 38 year old man responsible for the incident, is said to have been driving under the influence of alcohol at about 7:30 p.m. when he struck his girlfriend with his white Chevy truck.

According to a court affidavit, Leon was driving drunk to collect payment for a job he’d completed. His girlfriend was in the truck and she told him she would take over driving since he appeared intoxicated. Leon refused, became angry, and punched his girlfriend in the face.

The woman immediately exited the vehicle and began walking, but Leon would not leave her alone. He approached in the truck and struck her in the back with the truck’s side mirror. The mirror was broken, and the woman suffered injuries, the extent of which is unknown.

After striking the woman in the back with the truck, Leon attempted to drag her back into the vehicle. Neighbors intervened, and the woman was treated by emergency medical technicians. Leon drove away.

Police found Leon and his truck within hours; the man was arrested for vehicular battery.

When alcohol abuse becomes this severe, it is hoped that the abuser may find the help he or she needs. At Vista Taos, alcohol abuse can be treated either before or after actions escalate to such a severe level. Hopefully, Leon may find the alcohol abuse treatment necessary. If you or a family member needs this assistance as well, the caring staff at Vista Taos Renewal Center in New Mexico can help you reclaim your life.

Saying goodbye to 2011 with too much to drink in the Austin Texas area wasn’t such a good idea, as police in the area kept with their tradition of their “no refusal” drinking and driving weekend. Anyone suspected of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol that refuses the breathalyzer gets their blood drawn when they arrive at the jail. This was also done last New Year’s and successfully removed 24 drunk drivers from the road.

This refusal law in Austin is supposed to be a deterrent to drunk driving. In fact, San Antonio practices it every day; something Austin may be doing sooner than later. Drunk driving can cause a lot of problems when the law gets involved. You’ll be lucky to evade any jail time and only get sentenced to an alcohol treatment facility. But beyond that, if no damage was done during the arrest, you will still have a large pile of fines and legal fees; it’s just not worth the risk. Make plans ahead of time to get home safely.

Vista Taos is an alcohol rehab facility located in New Mexico, but caters to many people from Texas. If you or a loved one has a problem with alcohol and could benefit from treatment before any serious legal issues arise, a counselor is available 24 hours a day to talk to you about the intake process. There is no shame in wanting to get help for an addiction, there is only shame when you let it destroy your life and affect your relationships.

Please get the help you need from an alcohol rehab facility before it’s too late. Alcohol addiction is a disease and needs treatment from experts in the substance abuse field. Vista Taos Renewal Center is ready to help you take the first step to sobriety.

At the end of 2011 a number of breakthroughs have occurred in the treatment of addiction. 

2011 saw the definition that addiction is a medical disease – a multi-decade effort made irrefutable by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) in conjunction with every other branch of medical science. There has been an emergence of research in 2011 underscoring the profound poisonous effects of ‘bath salts,’ ‘spice’, essentially 2 designer substances now illegal in all countries in Europe as well as the United States.

The most profound re-discovery is that there is no one cure for addiction – it’s clearly a very complex disease affecting the human body and brain in ways yet to be discovered.  The diverse branches of medical science will continue to discover and uncover the many ways that mood altering substances bombard the brain and body with toxicity as well as reveal a multitude of new ways we can heal from addiction.

Research was introduced confirming that children with high IQs are more likely to become addicted to illicit substances. This substantiates the belief among substance abuse specialists that addicts are typically bright, creative and exceptionally talented individuals.

The correlation between underweight and overweight teenagers and illicit drug use is confirmed.  Again, as the result of so much advertising and societal pressure we are given unhealthy messages about our body types, bizarre messages about what constitutes healthy food and very sparse information on preventing food and eating as mood altering behaviors for children, adolescents and adults.  However, there have been efforts by schools to limit – or even better eliminate – high sugar and high fat foods to students. 

Best Practices among addiction treatment programs now cite an increasing array of interventions.  While there is no one best path, there is a growing movement toward providing smaller scale treatment communities and more training and professionalism for practitioners.  2011 saw repeated research that the following therapies help addicts quit and stay quit: cognitive behavior approaches such as ‘Mentalizing’ and ‘DBT;’ holistic practices such as nutrition supplements like amino acid therapy, Yoga as virtually parallel in efficacy as SSRIs in treating depression and experiential therapy such as equine therapy and challenge courses continue to be extraordinarily insightful for people in addiction treatment.

2012 will be another year with more discoveries on treating addiction.  The breakthroughs in the neurochemistry of addiction have been exponential during the past decade and will continue as we learn more about the more subtle complexities of how our brains work.  More negative myths about addiction will be dispelled such as categorizing addiction as a moral or simply genetic dysfunction.  Strategies on healing the families and those affected by the addict will emerge as well as refining techniques already in practice.

In summation, it is clear that addiction treatment has advanced tremendously and will continue to progress through this decade.

Tragically, a man driving drunk killed his entire family on Wednesday, November 9, in Valencia County, New Mexico. Possibly, and more tragically, the father will not release the remains of the children to their grandmother for burial.

James Woolbert was driving drunk with the mother and the two children as passengers on Wednesday when he crashed the car in Meadowlake. The children were not in the car seats, and they were thrown from the vehicle. They were 2 years old and 4 years old. The mother, Dawn, also suffered fatal injuries.  

The children’s grandmother, Pauline Jaramillo, has requested the remains of the children be released to her for burial, but Woolbert has been uncooperative with her request. Jaramillo, who helped raise the children, is heart stricken and has sought the assistance of a lawyer in the matter.

To complicate matters, Woolbert is currently recovering from his own injuries at the University of New Mexico Hospital. As soon as he has recovered, he will be arrested and await trial. The matter of the releasing the remains may be drawn out even more for these reasons.

Sadly, this tragedy may end in more tragedy, with the burial delayed and the father sentenced to prison. On a positive note, Woolbert may receive the alcohol rehabilitation he needs to prevent future lives from being lost.

While alcohol rehabilitation often takes place in rehabilitation centers like Vista Taos Renewal Center in New Mexico, Woolbert may receive his treatment while in prison. Jail is never the ideal environment for detoxification from drugs or alcohol, as the reoccurrence rate is high. Before you or someone you love is behind bars, get to an alcohol addiction center and seek proper treatment, outside of prison walls.

Not one, but three healthy young adults experienced heart attacks in the Dallas Texas area after smoking the synthetic marijuana: K2/Spice. Doctors are curious if there was something particularly dangerous in that specific batch, though all synthetic drugs are showing a high rate of illnesses associated with using them. These drugs are legal to purchase, but the FDA has been working hard to stop the production of these cannaboids. It seems as soon as one is outlawed, the makers manufacture another one to take its place.

Emergency rooms all over the United States have been reporting side-effects from these products, including nausea, convulsions, elevated blood pressure and many more. Now they can add heart attacks to the already long list of health issues associated with synthetic marijuana. Thankfully, the three young men who suffered the heart attacks in the Dallas area are healthy, and are lucky the heart attack didn’t bring about any other problems; they’ve all made a full recovery.

Doctors are warning people to stay away from these drugs and if needed, seek help for addiction at a drug treatment center. Spice and K2 may seem appealing because they are able to be obtained easily, cheaply and won’t show up on common drug screening tests, but the side-effects are not worth the risk. Though no reports link K2 to deaths in Texas, there have been reports in other parts of the country, such as Iowa.

Vista Taos Treatment Center is located in New Mexico, and able to assist those in the Dallas Texas community who need help with substance abuse. Let these stories be a warning to you; addiction does not end well for those who do not hurry and get on the right path to wellness. Please let Vista Taos show you the path to sobriety.

Two Houston Police Department officers were injured in a crash during a high speed drive to the scene of an unrelated shooting crime. The men suffered multiple injuries between the two of them; one officer broke a hip and was struck unconscious, while the driver received hand injuries.

According to police, Ubaldo Sagredo illegally turned left onto Berry Road, right in front of the officer’s marked police car. The police vehicle was traveling fast since the officers were on their way to offer assistance at a shooting scene, but the emergency cruiser lights were on at the time. The officers were unable to stop before impact.

A search of Sagredo’s truck revealed four empty beer cans , and the man was intoxicated. He admitted to police that he drank six beers at a friend’s house before the incident.

Sagredo was charged with intoxication assault, but blood test results are still pending.

Fortunately, both officers survived the ordeal, but now Sagredo is in for an ordeal of his own, including court costs. Depending on how the judge rules in the case, though, Sagredo may receive the help he needs at an alcohol rehab program, like the one offered at Vista Taos in New Mexico.

Hopefully, Sagredo receives the care he needs to battle his alcohol addiction, and should he attend an alcohol rehab program at Vista Taos, he will find himself amongst some of the best in the business, who can carefully guide him through recovery, focusing not just on treating the addiction but on treating the causes behind his addictive tendencies. So many each year are involved in injuries and fatalities from driving under the influence. If you or someone you love needs help battling alcohol addiction, help them get the help they need before it’s too late.

It seems that children have now joined the drug smuggling game, acting as deflectors for their drug dealing parents. In the last few weeks, agents at checkpoints have found around six children were used as decoys in their parents’ drug smuggling. And many of these parents were mothers.

As most people know, drug smugglers try to blend in with traffic so that they are not stopped at checkpoints for a search. Children help them blend in more, in hopes that checkpoint agents, who only have seconds to ascertain whether or not a traveler is worthy of a vehicle search, will let them pass.

In fact, a Tombstone, Arizona, checkpoint was one of the most recent drug seizures that involved a child. The eight year old child was used as a decoy, but when agents stopped the mother to search the car, they found 104 pounds of marijuana in the trunk.

In another case, a different eight year old was used by her mother as a decoy, and agents found 50 pounds of marijuana in the spare tire.

Child decoys are not only used in drug trafficking but in smuggling illegal aliens as well. Recently, a mother was stopped for search, and the officers found several illegal aliens in the vehicle. The mother’s children were also with her.

Drug abuse is on the rise in the United States, and unfortunately, mother smugglers see no reason to leave their children out of the smuggling operation. As drug abuse and demand continue to rise, these smugglers may have to take even more extreme measures to fit in with the crowd.

Fortunately, if we stop the chain of drug abuse and dependence, we can stop this form of child abuse. Drug rehabilitation centers like Vista Taos can help those dependent on drugs break the cycle. Vista Taos Drug Abuse Center is in Taos, New Mexico and can cater to many people living in the southern United States dealing with substance abuse.

Popping pills may not be the recreational past time people once thought it to be. Prescription drug death rates are rising across the United States, topping the death rates for cocaine and heroin use combined. Particularly, the death rate for narcotic pain pills has increased to four times the narcotic pill death rate in the previous decade.

Of course, pain pill use of this magnitude must be prescribed, and there has also been in increase in the numbers of prescriptions written that corresponds with the death rate. Sometimes narcotic drugs are prescribed for legitimate pain, but other times the narcotics are prescribed by “pill mill” doctors, who hand out prescriptions to addicts for cash. These doctors only have interest in money, not treating people for the betterment of their lives. If reviewed further, many of these doctors have faced legal issues surrounding malpractice laws and find that pill mills are the best way to make money and not be held accountable for their diagnosis.

Often, the start of addiction begins because of legitimate pain. When the patient is prescribed heavy-duty narcotic pain meds, they could become addicted quite quickly. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued a caution to doctors, requesting that they carefully screen their patients before prescribing narcotic pain pills.

 The death rate for narcotic pain medications is highest in New Mexico, and the highest abuse rate is in Oklahoma. Overall, the death rates are the highest in poor or rural counties, and the death toll is higher among whites and Native Americans, including Alaskan Natives than other races.

Prescription drug abuse can be treated, so if you know anyone suffering from prescription drug abuse, getting them to treatment centers like the Vista Taos Renewal Center, located in the number one state for pill deaths: New Mexico, could save their lives and improve their level of life enjoyment. Prescription drug abuse is not automatically a death sentence; help is waiting. Don’t become another statistic.