"Health & Medical News"

Youths and young adults who experienced a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year are more likely to have also used alcohol or illicit drugs for the first time in the past year, according to a recent analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

Among youths ages 12 to 17 who had not previously used alcohol, those who had experienced a past year MDE were nearly twice as likely to have used alcohol for the first time in the past year as those who did not experience a MDE. Likewise, youths who experienced a MDE in the past year were more than twice as likely to initiate illicit drug use.

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Thousands of youths use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for the first time each day in the United States, according to a recent analysis of data from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

On an average day in the past year, 7,970 youths ages 12 to 17 drank alcohol for the first time and 4,082 smoked cigarettes.

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The fight to determine whether so-called “alcopops” should be classified as beer or liquor in California sometimes smacked of regulatory arcana, but the issue nonetheless spiked the passions of youth leaders in the state.

Alcohol-policy groups and leaders involved in the successful campaign to get the California Board of Equalization (BOE) to change the classification of products like Smirnoff Ice and Mike’s Hard Lemonade from beer to liquor — thus increasing both regulatory restrictions and taxation — said that youth leaders were critical to the success of the Alcopops and Youth Coalition in forcing regulatory changes. The coalition is comprised of youths, law-enforcement officers, public-health researchers, treatment providers, and others. Most of the youth leaders were high-school students ages 16 to 18.

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