American Intelligence for Truth and Justice  

Mental illness could strike more of us in 2013 than ever before. But don't blame the strain of modern living: changes to diagnostic guidelines mean unprecedented numbers of people could be taking psychoactive drugs. read more

Are you a target?  Know someone who is?

What to do

Older consumers are frequent targets of deceptive telemarketers. Here are some tips to help protect yourself against fraud.

Don?t be fooled by a sympathetic name.  Some operations use names that promise more than they deliver.  Many causes clearly deserve generous public support, including veterans, law enforcement and fire fighters, but some marginal operations claim connections with such groups yet provide them with very little support.  Contact your local sheriff or police or fire department or veterans? organization to check out claims that a donation ?will be used locally.? 

Ask questions.  Be wary of claims that the caller is a charity worker or volunteer, that most of your donation goes to the cause, or that your donation will be used locally.

Ask phone solicitors to send written information.  Check out the charity before you make a decision.  Be suspicious if they insist on a pledge before they?ll send you information. Check them out at the national Better Business Bureau ?wise giving? site ? www.give.org.

Don't give your credit card or checking account numbers over the phone to someone you don't know. Give wisely!  Giving to a known charity you?re confident about is often the best option.

By Patrick Zickler, NIDA NOTES Staff Writer
Women who are sexually abused during childhood are at increased risk for drug abuse as adults, according to NIDA-supported research conducted at the Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Using data gathered from interviews of 1,411 adult twins, Dr. Kenneth Kendler and his colleagues assessed the association between three levels of childhood sex abuse (nongenital, genital, and intercourse) and six adult disorders -- major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, bulimia nervosa, alcohol dependence, and drug dependence. Women who experienced any type of sexual abuse in childhood were roughly three times more likely than unabused girls to report drug dependence as adults.

"Overall, childhood sexual abuse was more strongly associated with drug or alcohol dependence than with any of the psychiatric disorders," Dr. Kendler says. "Only drug and alcohol dependence were significantly associated with all levels of abuse."

1,411 women born between 1934 and 1974 responded to written questionnaires that asked them if, before they reached age 16, any adult or person older than they had ever ("never," "once," or "more than once"):

• involved them in an incident that included an invitation or request to do something sexual,
• 
  kissed or hugged them in a sexual way,
• 
  subjected them to genital display or exposure,
• 
  touched or fondled them in a sexual way,
• 
  made them touch the older person or adult in a sexual way, or
• 
  attempted intercourse.

Among more than 1,400 adult females, childhood sexual abuse was associated with increased likelihood of drug dependence, alcohol dependence, and psychiatric disorders. The associations are expressed as odds ratios: for example, women who experienced nongenital sexual abuse in childhood were 2.93 times more likely to suffer drug dependence as adults than were women who were not abused.