Each year the National Institute on Drug Abuse sponsors and dedicates a week to observe National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week. This year March 21-27 gave the public a chance to collaborate with scientists and doctors from around the nation to help tear down social stigmas and the myths that surround substance abuse and mental health.
Did you know cannabidiol and grapefruit actually have something in common? Grapefruit and CBD share the same chemical compound that shuts down the enzymes in our body that break down our prescription drugs. This reaction causes the drug to go through the liver unprocessed, which elevates the chances of high dosages of the drug directly in your bloodstream. To boot, CBD is even more potent than grapefruit as it binds to multiple enzymes found also in the gut and liver, and once it binds it could take days before your body is back up to normal.
Always make sure to consult your doctor before taking any sort of substance.
Oftentimes we turn to outside sources to help us deal with the stressful times in life. Alcohol is a common “stress reliever,” and during 2020 consumption increased 21%. Despite being used as one, alcohol is actually a bad relaxant. Although people experience initial feelings of relaxation and joy, these feelings are temporary. While these feelings can’t outright hurt you, over time the body becomes resistant to alcohol and keeps requiring more and more to sustain the calm feeling alcohol initially provides. Drinking more and more alcohol to achieve its effect leads to binge drinking, which turns into dependence.
Prevention Resource Center 11 is part of a large network of prevention programs that aim to reduce alcohol and other drug use among adolescents in the South Texas region. PRC operates as the data repository for Region 11 and produces a yearly Regional Needs Assessment that we provide back to the community. PRC provides this assessment as well as other studies conducted in Region 11, all available for free on our website: www.prc11.org/data.
The creation of the RNA would not be possible without the help of our community. If you would like to help with this project please contact me at (956) 787–7111, ext. 243, or Daniel Rodriguez, program coordinator, at (956) 787-7111, ext. 238.
Jarod Munoz
Public relations coordinator
PRC
Edinburg
Gas
woes
In July of 2008, my wife and I traveled from Iowa to Mission to visit her dad, who had moved to the Rio Grande Valley after her Mom had passed.
Dad and his soon-to-be-wife decided to ride back to Iowa with us on the return trip. He even offered to pay for all the gas. What with gas prices hovering at the $4 mark, we were happy, most of trip, to have our gas paid for.
Were we to figure in inflation, the price of gas at that time would be in the $5.35 per gallon range.
Of course, we all remember who was president at the time, don’t we? It was none other than Texas’ own son, G.W. Bush. There were factors Bush had little control over: the end of the energy crisis, stagnant oil production, financial speculation of the oil futures and tension in the Middle East.
The April 1 edition of The Monitor reports that Mr. Biden has released the U.S. oil reserves, criticized oil companies for failing to increase production, and called for Congress to get tough on big oil sitting on unused and unexplored drilling leases on federal lands.
Bob Parker
Mission
