Wal-Mart stores and employees continue to give generously to area charitable organizations, and without their help events would not run as smoothly. June 13th, 2009 brought the 2nd Annual Youth Bridge Breakfast Boogie and this year’s first Ozark Vintage Motorcycle Association Poker Run benefitting Youth Bridge. One event is a handful for a department of three, two events on the same is overwhelming. Step in the Wal-Mart Energy Department volunteers. Thanks to Kim Cannon and her leadership with this group, Youth Bridge was able to utilize volunteers for registration, sales of raffle tickets, beverage tickets, balloon pops, organization, decorations, set up, tear down, and the last minute snafus. The volunteers were split up and some handled the Breakfast Boogie, while others drove up to Bella Vista’s Spanker Creek to help with the Poker Run.

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U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Youth Bridge, Inc has been selected for the 2009 Best of Fayetteville Award in the Residential Care category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

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Since the late 90’s law enforcement has warily watched the trend towards increased illicit use of the anesthetic drug, Ketamine (“Special K” or “K”). Chemically related to PCP, Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has human and veterinary applications. Ketamine was first synthesized in 1962 and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans. A unique drug, Ketamine blocks messages traveling between the hypothalamus and the rest of the central nervous system. As a result, a person treated with Ketamine can be awake and but not experience pain caused by surgical procedures conducted on the limbs. Unlike most other anesthetic drugs though, Ketamine has been discovered to have a significant analgesic effect. Ketamine can relieve moderate amounts of pain. It can do this without decreasing heart rate or gastrointestinal tract activity.[1]

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Newsletter readers working on the front lines in the battle against substance abuse are becoming more and more familiar with the blank stare displayed by recovering methamphetamine addicts. Sometimes called the “1000 mile stare” or “blank affect,” the empty look communicates the neurochemical disruption caused by repeated use of this powerful stimulant drug. Effecting dopamine, norepinehrine and serotonin networks, serial methamphetamine use can result in neurotransmitter depletion that leads to depression, withdrawal, anhedonia and sleep disruption. Further, it seems that chronic methamphetamine use can also lead to disruptions in the size and volume of gray-matter and white-matter in the brain.

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A new national study of parents’ attitudes about teen drug abuse released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the MetLife Foundation shows strong increases in parents’ awareness of teen abuse of prescription medications.

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