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government but the supposed ban on the cycle rickshaws in Delhi will require a huge increase on the reliance of other methods of transport, mainly those with engines.

One of a very neglected or unnoticed area is pollution created at the Cremation Grounds though many countries in the World today, practice this system of cremation of human bodies besides the Hindus. The Cremation Grounds are mostly located in and around the habituated areas affecting seriously the living population. Observing such usefulness of Havan Samagri in cremations, the ‘PARYAVARAN SANRAKSHAN NYAS CHANDIGARH’ – a registered Trust constituted by prominent citizens of this City, had resolved for voluntary contribution of 5 kg. of Havan Samagri mixed in 1 kg. of Desi Ghee on every cremation of any caste, creed or faith at the Chandigarh Crematorium and thus save the City from such threatened possible pollution.

It is just an effort to bring this awakening in the society and sincerely believe that the awakened members of the society and the enlightened residents of the City, shall come forward to support and work for this project. In view of its global acceptance, the civicminded people shall come forward to contribute liberally their share to this noble project undertaken by Paryavaran Sanrakshan Nyas. Everyone is welcome to join us in this fight against this extremely harmful pollution, both financially and physically by giving some time, for the benefit of our own selves, for our future generations, the humanity and all the living beings around.

Athens has become known for poor air quality. During the city's frequent severe incidents of nephos (smog), many citizens require medical care for circulatory and respiratory ailments. Athens's climatic conditions favor formation of photochemical that trap pollutants close to the ground, partly because the reconstruction activity that began after World War II has proceeded without a comprehensive plan for traffic and industrial location. The same conditions contribute to air pollution in Thessaloniki, but to a lesser degree.

Sulfur dioxide, contributed chiefly by industrial effluents, has severely damaged stone buildings and monuments in Athens and Thessaloniki and generated acid rain that has caused some deterioration to forests in Epirus, Macedonia, Central Greece, and around Delphi, east of Athens. According to estimates, the Parthenon, the best-known of Greece's remaining architectural monuments from classical times, has sustained more atmospheric damage since 1970 than it did in its first 2,000 years of existence.

Water pollution has likewise become a serious problem because of industrialization and development policies. Greece has shared in the general deterioration of water quality in the Mediterranean Sea in recent decades. In addition, Greece has drained many lakes completely to generate hydroelectric power or to expand agricultural land. Several animal species have disappeared from Greece as a result of habitat alteration caused by this process.

Scientists now predict that by the year 2050 the population will be doubled what is today. The fact remains that the rate of food production fell behind population growth in many of developing countries. The annual fish catch already exceeds what the world ‘s oceans can successfully sustain. If we go on using our natural recourses at today’s rates, we will have used up the entire reserves of cooper, natural gas and oil by the year 2054.

References

1.Oxford English mini dictionary & thesaurus.715 p.2002 year.

2.www.academic.ru

3.www. greece. russiansobroad country.ru

4.www. regnum.ru

5.www. wikipedia.ru

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Evgeniya Ilchuk,

5th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific adviser: Elena N. Albey, Instructor

PREVENTING OF DRUG ABUSE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

One of the extremely complex and socially dangerous problems of our society is the drug abuse. It is easy to notice, that distribution of drugs and psychotropic substances touches interests of all mankind and in the long term the existence of a society in general. Traditionally the policy of struggle against drug abuse in the USA is based on a combination of informational, socially-precaution, medical and repressive approaches. Each of them has the advantages and disadvantages. The information approach is based on conscious perception of norms and values of a society. It is a question of propagation of a healthy way of life and about informing of negative consequences of drug abuse. Social precaution is aimed at elimination of external (social and economic, socially-psychological) reasons and conditions of a deviating behavior. The medical approach helps to overcome internal, subjective obstacles in a stressful situation. The application of sanctions protects the standard rules of behavior, using the opportunities of compulsion for their violation. The main accent is done on the struggle against drug-dealers. Application of sanctions against drug-dealers and drug users is the main strategy of struggle against drugs .Nowadays the rigid control over all kinds of drugs is carried out. There is an active opposition to drug-dealers. There is a punishment not only for storage and the use, but also even for attempt of purchase of drugs in many states of America. Struggle against drugs in the sphere of the law is combined with the most powerful informational and propaganda campaign aimed, first of all, at the most vulnerable categories of the population - unemployed, pupils of schools and students.

Drug abuse is connected with the huge losses for a society - annually the damage from it makes approximately 150 billion dollars. The American government does the main rate on propagation of a healthy way of life. Employees of the governmental organizations and many business concerns were obliged to pass testing on drug abuse because their further career depended on its result.

The strategy-program on drug abuse struggle:

1.Recognition of a problem of a drug abuse as national and development of the long-term program-strategy for ten years;

2.Allocation of necessary financial resources for law-enforcement structures in order to conduct an active struggle both inside of the country, and behind its border;

3.International cooperation with the purpose of drugs receipts prevention on the territory of the USA;

4.Well-defined informational campaign. It is easier to prevent the use of drugs, than to treat patients;

5.Purposeful and wide involvement of social movements and structures at all levels - from national up to communes;

6.bringing of the most significant political (including the President of the USA) and public figures (movie stars and sportsmen) in anti-drugs campaign;

7.Stimulation of the commercial and financial structures which are taking part in a struggle against drugs.

It is necessary to note, that expenses on anti-drug campaign for the last years were about one billion dollars annually. The certain efforts are undertaken from the United Nations Organization in international level.

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First of all, it is the steps of the information plan connected with carrying out of a global monitoring of a state of affairs with drugs and development of the general recommendations to the governments on drug abuse struggle. The problem of a drug addiction rises practically in all key documents of the UN and its specialized agencies.

Secondly, rendering of the practical help to a number of the countries-manufacturers of drugs in order to reorient the peasants to cultivation of agricultural structures (first of all in a number of the states of Latin America).

Thirdly, conducting the register of forbidden drugs. Nowadays it includes about 200 drugs from which only seven are natural, and the others - synthetic.

Viktoriya Katkova,

4th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific advisers: Elena N. Albey, Lydmila A. Fisyk, Instructors

PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF HIV AND REDUCING ITS IMPACT

This report is about AIDS/HIV, its consequences and how to prevent you from this disease. AIDS is one of the most important diseases in XXI century. Till nowadays people can’t cure AIDS, and a lot of people die from it every year. The most difficult situation is in

Africa. I used three countries: China, the USA and Brazil in the report and described the situation with this disease.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in humans, and similar viruses in other species (SIV, FIV, etc.). Although treatments for AIDS and HIV exist to decelerate the virus' progression, there is currently no known cure.

Most researchers believe that HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the twentieth century;[4] it is now a pandemic, with an estimated 38.6 million people now living with the disease worldwide. As of January 2006, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on June 5, 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. In 2005 alone, AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4–3.3 million lives, of which more than 570,000 were children. A third of these deaths are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital. Antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but routine access to antiretroviral medication is not available in all countries.

Many people are unaware that they are infected with HIV. Less than 1% of the sexually active urban population in Africa has been tested, and this proportion is even lower in rural populations. Furthermore, only 0.5% of pregnant women attending urban health facilities are counseled, tested or receive their test results. Again, this proportion is even lower in rural health facilities. Therefore, donor blood and blood products used in medicine and medical research are screened for HIV. Typical HIV tests, including the HIV enzyme immunoassay and the Western blot assay, detect HIV antibodies in serum, plasma, oral fluid, dried blood spot or urine of patients. However, the window period (the time between initial infection and the development of detectable antibodies against the infection) can vary. This is why it can take 3 – 6 months to seroconvert and test positive.

Commercially available tests to detect other HIV antigens, HIV-RNA, and HIV-DNA in order to detect HIV infection prior to the development of detectable antibodies are available.

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For the diagnosis of HIV infection these assays are not specifically approved, but are nonetheless routinely used in developed countries.

The symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not normally develop in individuals with healthy immune systems. Most of these conditions are infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that are normally controlled by the elements of the immune system that HIV damages. Opportunistic infections are common in people with AIDS. HIV affects nearly every organ system. People with AIDS also have an increased risk of developing various cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as lymphomas. Additionally, people with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection like fevers, sweats (particularly at night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and weight loss.

The three main transmission routes of HIV are sexual contact, exposure to infected body fluids or tissues, and from mother to fetus or child during perinatal period. It is possible to find HIV in the saliva, tears, and urine of infected individuals, but there are no recorded cases of infection by these secretions, and the risk of infection is negligible.

The majority of HIV infections are acquired through unprotected sexual relations between partners, one of whom has HIV. Heterosexual intercourse is the primary mode of HIV infection worldwide. Sexual transmission occurs with the contact between sexual secretions of one partner with the rectal, genital or oral mucous membranes of another. Unprotected receptive sexual acts are riskier than unprotected insertive sexual acts, with the risk for transmitting HIV from an infected partner to an uninfected partner through unprotected anal intercourse greater than the risk for transmission through vaginal intercourse or oral sex. Oral sex is not without its risks as HIV is transmissible through both insertive and receptive oral sex.

Exposure to infected body fluids is particularly relevant to intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions and blood products. Sharing and reusing syringes contaminated with HIV-infected blood represents a major risk for infection with not only HIV, but also hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Needle sharing is the cause of one third of all new HIV-infections and 50% of hepatitis C infections in North America, China, and Eastern Europe. The risk of being infected with HIV from a single prick with a needle that has been used on an HIV-infected person is thought to be about 1 in 150.

All AIDS-prevention organizations advise drug-users not to share needles and other material required to prepare and take drugs (including syringes, cotton balls, the spoons, water for diluting the drug, straws, crack pipes, etc). It is important that people use new or properly sterilized needles for each injection. Information on cleaning needles using bleach is available from health care and addiction professionals and from needle exchanges. In some developed countries, clean needles are available free in some cities, at needle exchanges or safe injection sites. Additionally, many nations have decriminalized needle possession and made it possible to buy injection equipment from pharmacists without a prescription.

The transmission of the virus from the mother to the child can occur in utero during the last weeks of pregnancy and at childbirth. In the absence of treatment, the transmission rate between the mother to the child during pregnancy, labor and delivery is 25%. However, when the mother has access to antiretroviral therapy and gives birth by caesarean section, the rate of transmission is just 1%. A number of factors influence the risk of infection, particularly the viral load of the mother at birth (the higher the load, the higher the risk). Breastfeeding increases the risk of transmission by 10–15%. This risk depends on clinical factors and may vary according to the pattern and duration of breast-feeding.

Prevention strategies are well known in developed countries, however, recent epidemiological and behavioral studies in Europe and North America have suggested that a substantial minority of young people continue to engage in high-risk practices and that despite HIV/AIDS knowledge, young people underestimate their own risk of becoming infected with

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HIV. However, transmission of HIV between intravenous drug users has clearly decreased, and HIV transmission by blood transfusion has become quite rare in developed countries.

The United States of America has one of the largest HIV epidemics in the world, with an estimated 1.2 million [720 000–2.0 million] people living with HIV in 2005 (UNAIDS, 2006). Based on data from the 33 states and four dependent territories with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting, men still account for most of the HIV or AIDS diagnoses among adults and adolescents in the United States: 74% in 2005, according to the most recent data.

Unprotected sex between men remains the most common mode of HIV transmission. In 2005, more than half of the new diagnoses of HIV infection (53%) were among men who have sex with men. Persons exposed to HIV through heterosexual intercourse with a nonregular partner comprised just under one third (32%) of newly diagnosed HIV infections and AIDS cases, while about 18% of newly diagnosed HIV infections in 2005 occurred in injecting drug users (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

The main routes of HIV transmission differ between men and women. Most HIV infections diagnosed among men in 2005 (67%) occurred in men who have sex with men with no history of injecting drug use, 5% in men who have sex with men who were injecting drug users, and 13% among injecting drug users who did not have sex with men. An additional 15% of infections were attributed to heterosexual intercourse with a non-regular partner.

More information has become available on the effects of wider access to effective antiretroviral therapy in the United States. In the state of South Carolina, found that 41% of diagnosed HIV cases in 2001–2005 were such “late testers”. In the latter study, three quarters (73%) of the “late testers” had visited health-care providers at least once before being diagnosed with HIV, but most had not displayed symptoms that would have prompted HIV testing under a risk-based testing strategy. Based on these findings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has recommended routine, opt-out HIV screening of all patients in healthcare settings (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006).

About one third of all persons living with HIV in Latin America reside in populous Brazil, where a simultaneous focus on ensuring access to prevention and treatment services has helped to keep its epidemic stable. National adult HIV prevalence has stayed at approximately 0.5% [0.3%–1.6%] since 2000 (UNAIDS, 2006). Mother-to-child transmission of HIV was sharply reduced after 1997 (de Brito et al., 2006), from an estimated 16% nationally in 1997 to less than 4% in 2002 (Dourado et al., 2006).

Although HIV infections have been reported in each of China’s provinces, most of the people living with HIV in China are believed to be in Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Xinjiang and Yunnan provinces (Ministry of Health China, 2006). In Yunnan province, HIV surveillance at antenatal service sites found that 0.3% [0.21%– 0.31%] of pregnant women was infected with HIV, although prevalence was as high as 1.6% in some counties (Zhang, Hu & Hesketh, 2006). A little less than half the estimated 700 000 [390 000–1.1 million] people living with HIV in China in 2006 are believed to have been infected while injecting drugs with contaminated equipment, while a similar proportion acquired the virus during unprotected sex (Ministry of Health China, 2006; Lu et al., 2006).

The overlap of injecting drug use and sex work is an important aspect of China’s HIV epidemic. An increasing number of women are injecting drug users in China and, in some places, as many as half of those who do so also sell sex. Many male injecting drug users also buy sex, often without using condoms.

Overall, though, China has stepped up its response to the HIV epidemic in recent years. Free HIV testing is available at more than 3000 sites in all 31 provinces (Wu et al., 2007), and an estimated 30 000 patients were receiving antiretroviral treatment at the end of 2006 (Wu et al., 2007). However, research suggests that the response would benefit considerably from

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stronger coordination between and across relevant agencies and actors, and from a more concerted focus on most-at-risk groups (Gill, Huang & Lu, 2007). In addition, improved comanagement of HIV and tuberculosis needs to be a priority and should include improved laboratory diagnosis, earlier commencement of antiretroviral treatment, stronger adherence strategies and better community awareness. Field studies are reporting significant levels of co infections of HIV and tuberculosis. In a rural study in 2003–2005, nearly one quarter (22%) of persons with HIV also had tuberculosis. Death rates among them were high, largely due to low tuberculosis treatment completion rates (Dahmane et al., 2006). Overall, although high levels of risky behavior have been documented in some provinces of China, and prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are increasing in some population groups, it is difficult to generalize on the basis of that information. China’s HIV epidemic is heterogeneous and is evolving at different rates in different regions.

Oleg Korobkov,

4th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific advisers: Elena N. Albey, Lydmila A. Fisyk, Instructors

HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS SITUATION IN RUSSIA AND CHINA

This is the report about HIV situation in two countries: Russian Federation and People's Respublic of China. There are two main logical parts: Situtation with HIV in the country and mejures of preventing HIV. Both of the countries estimated by the same parameters.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retroviruses family) that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system ,begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Previous names for the virus include human T-lymphotropic virus-III (HTLV-III), lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV).

Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unprotected sexual intercourse, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (Vertical transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.

HIV infection in humans is now pandemic. As of January 2006, the Joint United Nationas Programme on HIV\AIDS(UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981. It is estimated that about 0.6 percent of the world's population is infected with HIV. In 2005 alone, AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4–3.3 million lives, of which more than 570,000 were children.

HIV in Russia

Russia has recently emerged as a new epicenter in the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, with one of the world's highest rates of new infection. As of August 2003, there have been more than 245,000 officially diagnosed cases of HIV infection in Russia, over 80 percent of which were reported in the last three years. It is widely acknowledged, however, that Russia's official statistics represent only a fraction of the actual number of HIV-infected Russians; most experts estimate that the true number is somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million citizens, or over 2 percent of the adult population.

Epidemiologists warn that up to 8 million Russians - over 10 percent of the adult

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population - could be infected by 2010, under worst-case scenarios. The epidemic is growing fastest among young people aged 15-30, the very same group that should be leading Russia into the 21st century. Figure 1 shows the dramatic growth of Russia's HIV epidemic between 1994 and mid-2003, as measured by official cases of HIV diagnosis registered with the Russian Federal AIDS Center.

Recent reports that the rate of new HIV infection in Russia is declining are almost certainly misleading. Since 2000, the number of people in high-risk groups tested for HIV has declined dramatically. According to official statistics compiled by the Russian Federal AIDS Center, the number of injecting drug users tested for HIV infection dropped from a high of 524,300 in 2001 to 331,100 in 2002; this may explain why there were only 10,298 cases of HIV infection registered among drug users in 2002, when almost three times that figure were diagnosed in 2001. Moreover, the federal government has recently stopped the supply of HIV test kits to the regions; for those regions that cannot afford to purchase their own test kits, the number of tests (and the number of officially diagnosed HIV-positive people) has therefore declined. Although HIV infection has been reported in virtually all of Russia's 89 regions, there are a number of geographic "hot spots" where HIV prevalence rates are much higher than average. Russia's largest urban centers, Moscow and St. Petersburg, are epicenters for HIV/AIDS, as are the strategically important cities of Kaliningrad, Togliatti, Norilsk, and Khanty-Mansiysk. In Norilsk, over 1 percent of the adult male population is already officially diagnosed with HIV.

At the end of 2002, 11 regions of the Russian Federation reported HIV-prevalence rates above 300 cases per 100,000 citizens. Of greatest concern are six regions that have prevalence rates higher than 500 cases per 100,000: Sverdlovsk oblast (which includes Yekaterinburg); Leningrad oblast; St. Petersburg; Samara oblast; Irkutsk; and Orenburg oblast. According to the Russian Federal AIDS Center, 39 percent of the entire Russian population is now living in regions where between 0.2 percent and 0.6 percent of the population is officially diagnosed with HIV.

HIV in China

There are currently an estimated 700,000 people living with HIV in China, including about 75,000 AIDS patients. During 2007 around 39,000 people died from AIDS. These large numbers must be considered in the context of China's extremely large population which is estimated at around 1,300 million. Although UNAIDS reports that China’s HIV epidemic remains one of low prevalence overall (0.1%), there are pockets of high infection among specific sub-populations and there is danger of the epidemic spreading further into the general population. With one in five individuals in the world living in China, it is critical that the country continues with its efforts to prevent a generalised epidemic, as well as raising awareness and reducing infections in the higher prevalence groups of injecting drug users, men who has sex with the man and sex workers.

Initially characterised by denial and inaction, the Chinese government has recently realised the danger of ignoring HIV\AIDS and has initiated a broad programme to tackle the epidemic. China’s first AIDS case was reported in Beijing in 1985. In the following five years a small number of further cases were reported among foreigners and Chinese, who were infected overseas or by imported blood products.

During the early stages of the AIDS epidemic the Health Ministry concentrated its prevention efforts on the risk of infection from abroad. In 1986 it announced that it planned to test all foreign students for AIDS who had been in the country for more than a year, and students entering China would require a certificate from their country of origin testifying that they were not infected with HIV. Although a National Programme for AIDS Prevention and Control was set up in 1987, the Public Health Authorities reported that AIDS would not

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become established as homosexuality and "abnormal" sexuality - thought to be the main causes of the spread of HIV - were a "limited" problem.

In 1989, 146 injecting drug users (IDUs) in Southwest Yunnan were identified as HIV positive. By the end of the year the total number of infected people was reported as 153 Chinese and 41 foreigners. At that time AIDS and drug addiction were seen as consequences of contact with the West, and AIDS was known as aizibing, the "loving capitalism disease".

By late 1994 it was clear that the reported AIDS cases amongst IDUs in Yunnan had signalled the beginning of an epidemic amongst drug users. National figures for HIV infection were growing quickly – in 1996 the Minister of Health, Chen Min-Zhang, put the number of infections at between 50,000 and 100,000 - and new cases were being reported in more regions. By 1998, HIV infections had been reported in all 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, with drug users accounting for 60-70% of reported infections.

The sharp increase in AIDS cases in China in the 1990s was also attributed to a large number of people infected through blood donation, which was widely reported by the western press, as well as transmission through heterosexual sex, which increased steadily to represent 7% of all HIV infections. There was a notable shift in government response to the epidemic in the new millennium. On World AIDS Day 2001, stories and testimonials of those infected with HIV alongside a television drama about AIDS reflected a far greater willingness to discuss the emerging epidemic. The same year, the "China Plan of Action to Contain, Prevent and Control HIV/AIDS (2001-2005)" was published, which included plans to screen all blood for clinical use for HIV. In 2003, the Health Minister’s change in attitude was evident, it is widely felt that the 2003 SARS epidemic prompted the change as it demonstrated to the government the impact public health could have on social and economic stability. He described the fight against AIDS as a "long-term war" and, as well as showing a new willingness to accept overseas assistance, requested that China’s AIDS budget of US$12.5 million be doubled. On World AIDS Day 2003, Wen Jiabao became the first Chinese premier to shake hands with an HIV-positive person. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS commented: “I really feel that there is a change going on... I know that for top state leaders in China today, AIDS is on the agenda.”

HIV/AIDS prevention in China

Partly because of the national failure to educate Chinese citizens about AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s, stigma and discrimination towards those living with HIV in China is still a major problem. Stigma, fear and discrimination constitute a vicious circle which fuels a hidden epidemic, presenting serious obstacles to the design and implementation of effective HIV prevention programmes. In 2003 China initiated an ambitious programme to raise awareness of the disease, reduce stigma and prevent a generalised HIV epidemic in the country. It includes educational campaigns, HIV testing outreach projects, targeting high-risk groups and preventing of mother to child transmission.

HIV prevention in Russia

There are just 69 needle exchange programmes in Russia to cover as many as 2 million IDUs and UNAIDS estimated in 2005 that just 5% of all IDUs had access to such preventive measures. Despite this, the government cut its funding for needle exchanges from 15 programmes in 2006 to just 3 in 2007. Of the $289m in state funding for HIV just $7.75m was allocated to prevention. The bulk of what little harm reduction measures there are has therefore been left to bodies such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculoses and Malaria implemented through NGOs including the Russian Harm Reduction Network and the Global Efforts Against AIDS in Russia (GLOBUS) consortium.

As we can see Russian and Chinese governments are interested in HIV preventing, but only with the help of us, young citizens they can solve that problem. Whole societe should take part in it.

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Ekaterina Kupriyanova,

5th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific adviser: Elena N. Albey, Instructor

PREVENTING ALCOHOLISM, SMOKING, DRUG ABUSE

AMONG YOUTH IN CANADA

Drugs

And according to results of sociological researches, in Canada drugs the youth for which "poison" has turned to invariable attribute of steepness plays about basically. Following facts eloquently testify to it. If in 1990 marihuana was smoked by 26 % of boys and 2 % of the girls visiting a graduation class in eight years this indicator has sharply raised to 44 and 41 percent. More than hemp use has twice increased also.

Researchers have shown that in 1999 at youth the hemp (34, 7 %), hallucinogens (16, 3 %) and aerosol preparations (10, 9 %) used the greatest popularity. "The Honorable" fourth place occupied amphetamine (7, 1 %), the fifth - cocaine (5, 1 %), the sixth — sedative means (3, 5 %) and the seventh - опиаты (2, 8 %). The youth gave the greatest preference accessible and cheap to marihuana, ecstasy and GHB. Last still name «liquid ecstasy», before prohibition in 1990 the preparation was used by athletes as it promotes essential increase of level of a hormone of growth (in 16 times and more).

Not less a challenge became for Canada and marihuana. This autumn in the country are going to pass the law on marihuana decriminalization: for storage of a small amount of a drug it will be possible to get off with the penalty.

The conducted researches have shown that 70 % of the population does not object to marihuana decriminalization, 47 % demand its legalization, and over 90 % consider possible application of this drug in the medical purposes. At the same time marihuana creates many problems in the country. 75 % of all crimes connected with drugs, concern marihuana, of 65 % make punishments of them for storage of small amounts of hemp. The question on marihuana decriminalization is discussed about 30 years. Today it again in the attention centre as hemp smoking considerably exceeds all former indicators.

How the life of Canada, if to decriminalize the marihuana use will look? According to the professor of jurisprudence Dzheroma Young, in the country a little that will change also to Canadians the risk does not threaten to become "smoked". There, where marihuana have legalized, level of its use has not changed, and here and there even has decreased. Such effect partly speaks "a forbidden fruit" syndrome. The youth which is the basic consumer of "grass", gives it preference because of is false understood romanticism. As soon as marihuana "will discredit", its use will essentially decrease. The professor also believes that thanks to decriminalization it will be possible to save many means which it will be possible to direct on struggle against serious crimes.

The Canadian addicts will treat heroin

In Vancouver (Vancouver) plan to open clinic where heroin addicts can receive a drug dose, informs Associated Press. The action purpose is to establish, whether introduction methadone with heroin will help to cope with dependence better, than introduction only methadone, and also attraction of addicts in clinics where they, except a heroin dose, can receive psychological and medical aid.

In the project will take part 157 addicts taking heroin within at least 5 years. From them 70 persons will receive 3 times a day injections methadone, the others - methadone with heroin. Some examinee from last group will enter a heroin substitute hydromorphone - if addicts are, except clinic, to enter to themselves heroin somewhere on the party, it will be

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reflected in urine analyses. The estimation of efficiency of the given project will occupy 1215 months. Over similar programs scientists of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Spain work also. Under recipes heroin already receive about 400 British addicts. In the USA such program has not received government support as unethical and potentially dangerous. As the representative of Office of the White house on struggle against drugs (White House Office of National Drug Control Policy) David Mjurrej has noted (David Murray), "we after all do not concede in struggle against a cancer, in this light the drug dependence concession looks frightening and unethical".

In the answer the professor of University of Toronto (University of Toronto) Benedict Fisher (Benedikt Fischer) and one of authors of "the heroin project" has declared that the Canadian scientists and physicians consider such action, as a way to involve addicts to treatment.

Smoking

And here after all is that the most interesting. Smoking among teenagers, apparently, has ceased to be a problem in Canada. The reason is in enough rigid tax policy. Constant increase of taxes to tobacco has made it almost luxury — the pack of cigarettes costs in Canada approximately $5.

Alcoholism

In Canada about 90 % of pupils of 7-9 classes take alcoholic drinks. Growth of the use of alcoholic drinks by teenagers and youth last decades the multi-year-old panel and comparative researches spent to the USA, Canada, Germany and other countries eloquently testify. For example, the data of panel research in Canada for 7 years has shown substantial growth of the use of alcohol by pupils. The percent of the pupils taking alcohol within last year has made the following dynamic number: 1998 – 65 %, 2008 – 86 %. In 2008 there have been interviewed 1004 teenagers concerning consumption of alcohol by them. Among teenagers of 16-18 years occurring from families where seniors consumed alcohol, 94 % regularly drank alcoholic drinks, the others of 6 % had to it distinct propensity; the corresponding data for girls was 68 and 32 %. Neglect of children was the important negative factor. Among teenagers of 16-18 years, whose parents did not find time for dialogue with them, 65 % of young men and 62 % of girls regularly accepted alcohol. The author pays attention that parents often did not suspect that their children abused spirits. Concerning regular consumption of alcohol by children out of holidays many parents have not been in-are formed (in 58 % of cases for age of 10-14 years, in 35 % of cases for age of 14-16 years, in 11 % of cases for age of 16-18 years).

Thus, the rate of increase of the use of alcoholic drinks among girls (girls) goes faster, than at boys (young men). Girls as researches of foreign authors testify, on all indicators of the use (a dose, frequency, a fortress of drinks etc.) Catch up the young man. Despite diversity criteria of revealing abusing alcohol and sick of an alcoholism at youthful age, the data of various authors all the same allows to judge that their number is great enough (tab. 2). The analysis of the materials resulted in the table, testifies that for last 100 years irrespective of level of the use and abusing spirits distribution indicators actually an alcoholism at youth remain at stable enough level which is not exceeding 5 % of patients till 20 years and 8-10 % of patients till 25 years (from total number registered). This fact has basic value as testifies to dynamics of occurrence and development of early forms of alcoholism in complete structure of alcoholic disease.

Many researchers ascertain the tendency to increase in consumption of alcoholic drinks and disease growth by a chronic alcoholism last decades. In Canada to achieve reduction of places of sale of alcoholic drinks, cost of the patent for the pub maintenance is finished in separate districts to 10 thousand river Great value in business of struggle against an

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Smoking affects the work of the lungs. They cannot fully perform its primary function - breath and exhale, as formed during the combustion of oil, which eventually settles in the lungs and they become less flexible.

Approximately 25% of regular cigarette smokers will die prematurely because of smoking. Many of them could survive for 10, 20 or 30 years longer.1

Drug abuse - a serious disease caused by drug abuse. It applies a constant need for acceptance of drugs, because mental and physical condition of the sick depends on whether it is medicine, which developed a habit. Drug addiction leads to a gross violation of vital body and social degradation. This is a disease with a chronic course, develops gradually. The reason it is the ability of drugs to cause the state of intoxication, coupled with a feeling of complete physical and mental comfort and well-being. Drugs - it is a poison that slowly destroys not only the internal organs of man, but his brain and psyche. Drugs - it is a poison that slowly destroys not only the internal organs of man, but his brain and psyche. Gasoline or glue "Moment", for example, makes people mentally disabled for 3-4 months, "safe hemp" - within 3-4 years. A man who used morphine, after two three months, so loses the ability to do anything that stops for a caring and completely loses its human face.

Influence of drugs on breathing

Breathing is to one of basic terms of life. All know that during inhalation an organism gets oxygen, during exhalation selects carbon dioxide.

Drugs block chemo receptors, hereupon at the accumulation of carbon dioxide these receptors to the normal level do not become excited. Goes down inevitably, and then and activity of respiratory center is oppressed. A drug addict already will be never able to breathe one's fill. He dooms itself on lifelong anoxaemia (hypoxia).

Drug addicts also more frequent than all die from the stop of breathing at the casual overdose of drugs. Death comes already in 5 minutes after intravenous introduction of drug.

Influence of drugs on a cough

Cough - it is a protective, useful to life reaction. There is a cough then, when in respiratory tracts arise up obstacle for passing of air.

A man, beginning to accept drugs, disconnects the syndrome of cough. Even at the cold of cough does not arise up. Sputum, mucus, dirt, pus, components of smoke, dust from air, accumulates in lights of drug addict. A drug addict converts the lights into the overcrowded ash-tray.2

It is pleased that the propaganda against drugs continues. And whole world take a part in it. Propaganda against the drug out a new plane: now computer games - for a healthy lifestyle.

Discs with a game «Country Antinarkomaniya» received some orphanages and schools. This is the first home game, developed by state order from the management of the Federal Service of Russia for control of drug trafficking (UFKSN).3

In the youth movement «Russia Young» start a new project - «Youth Against Drugs!».

The project activists will engage in several directions at once:

1.Will be operative to identify points of selling drugs;

2.Helping patients, including rehabilitation;

3.Prevention of drug abuse;

The direction has already begun its work.4

There are a lot of advertisements against drugs.

1http://revolution.allbest.ru/life/00060938_0.html

2http://nodrugs.ksu.ru/tebe/book.html

3http://59.ru/newsline/2009/06/04/

4http://rumol.ru/news/3786.html

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Participate in conflict-management programs. Learn anxiety-reduction strategies, like deep breathing or sitting quietly for several minutes.

Get involved in organizations with positive messages, like school or religious groups, sports, marching bands or Scouts. These activities teach you important skills and decrease your chances of getting involved with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.

Understand the importance of school and education. Participate in programs that help with school, like a homework help line, tutoring, mentoring and peer programs.

To counteract the affects of peers who engage in the problem behavior:

Choose your friends carefully. A true friend would not pressure you to do anything you don't want to do.

Carefully think through situations when you are offered alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.

Don't drink or use other drugs to fit in. Remember, most kids don't drink, smoke or use other drugs. You won't be the only one who refuses.

Learn how to refuse a ride with someone who has been drinking or using other drugs.

To prevent early initiation of the problem behavior:

Adhere to no-use policies in your home, your school and your community regarding alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Participate in youth-oriented alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention programs.

Choose your friends carefully. A true friend would not pressure you to do anything you don't want to do.

Don't drink or use other drugs to fit in. Remember, most kids don't drink, smoke or use other drugs. You won't be the only one who refuses.

Be a positive role model for your younger brothers and sisters and help them stay away from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Learn how to stand up to peer influences and refuse alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Carefully think through situations when you are offered alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.

Don't drink or use other drugs to fit in. Remember, most kids don't drink, smoke or use other drugs. You won't be the only one who refuses.

Key points to remember as peers:

Alcohol and other drug addiction are treatable and curable diseases, not weaknesses.

Don't belittle or shun others who have alcohol or other drug problems. They need the assistance and support of nonusers to get the help they need.

And, most importantly, if you have an alcohol or other drug problem, tell someone. Talk to your parents, a relative, your favorite teacher, your youth group leader or your guidance counselor. Any of these people can help you find the support you need.

Natalia Popova,

4th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific advisers: Elena N. Albey, Lydmila A. Fisyk, Instructors

INSURING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY:

PROBLEM OF CLIMATE IN CHINA, BRAZIL AND INDIA

Our world is wonderful. It has so many sceneries that impress people and sometimes even make them change all views on the world. People can't stop admiring raining, snowing. Humanity is impressed by the power of nature. Earthquakes and volcano eruption may

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destroy cities and islands. And at the same time the blossom of flowers may heal a person's soul. And sometimes you can't stop admiring flower and animals.

Humanity has always been connected with the world that surrounded it. But industrialization and the use of Earth's resources have become very dangerous recently. People use the Earth's resources, polluting water and air and don't think about future. People pollute it to satisfy their needs in metal, gas, petrol, etc. Breathing the air in Mexico and Cairo may harm your health. And oncology is the result of air pollution. Greenhouse effect is one of the most serious problems nowadays. Climate changes because of it. As a result glaciers may melt and the land may be covered with water.

Fortunately people begin to realize the danger of environmental problems and try to solve them. There are a lot of groups that gather to clean some areas and to fight pollution. Worldknown "Green Peace" is trying to influence the world politics and to attract attention of the whole world to the problem of pollution.

Our planet needs care. It gives us everything it has.

There are a lot of global problems that influence the life of people. And measures should be taken to solve these problems. The UNO tries to do something to reduce the negative impact of these problems, but still there are a lot of problems that should be solved.

People pollute air, water, declare wars and use violence to gain their aims; they lie and test bombs, use all resources of our planet and don't think about consequences.

By the middle of the 20th century, it was becoming clear that human action had significantly increased the production of these gases, and process of “global warming” was accelerating. Today, nearly all scientists agree that we must stop and reverse this process now – or face a devastating cascade of natural disasters that will change life on earth as we know it.

Two years later, the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina in the United States was attributed in large part to the elevated water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. And in one of many terrain changing developments, 160 square miles of territory broke away from the Antarctic coast in 2008 — its bindings to Antarctica having literally melted away. The UN family is in the forefront of the effort to save our planet. In 1992, its “Earth Summit” produced the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a first step in tackling the problem.

In 1998, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide an objective source of scientific information. And the Convention’s 1997 Kyoto

Protocol, which set emission reduction targets for industrialized countries, has already helped stabilize and in some cases reduce emissions in several countries.

The Kyoto Protocol set standards for certain industrialized countries.

Various disastrous consequences will ensue as the earth's climate grows warmer and warmer. Oceans will rise to submerge large expanses of land. Floods and droughts will increase to cause more human and economic losses. Agriculture will be impacted to aggravate hunger in Africa. Diseases and viruses will become more capricious to control. More species will become extinct. All these changes will find their final consequences in the human race's economic, social, cultural and political lives, resulting in a more turbulent world.

The future of the earth is worrying to everybody. In the not too distant future, the global climate and the consequent changes will become too disagreeable for the human race to bear. And the changes will happen to every nation, whether they are developed or developing ones.

The whole world should take joint actions to curb the worsening situation, for no single nation can do it alone. Different countries, however, see the problem from different perspectives.

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Cooperation between developed and developing countries is needed. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development issued in Sydney set a good example.

More important, however, is action. Global climate changes have left us little time to dawdle. And to tackle climate change is no less important an issue than the anti-terrorism campaign.

It’s not a new today that China is maybe the world's number one CO2 polluter should come as no surprise. But responsibility for China's soaring emissions lies not just in Beijing but also in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo.

China is beginning to realize the consequences of this policy, not least because it is suffering serious impacts from climate change including strengthening typhoons, desertification and melting glaciers. China's National Climate Change Program outlined measures China would take to combat climate change. This at least shows that the Chinese government acknowledges the problems of climate change as well as the responsibility of China to help tackling these problems.

The program does not include a mandatory cap for China's total greenhouse gas emissions. China should take up some form of obligation to cap emissions under the Kyoto framework. However, a cap will only work if developed countries seriously commit themselves to help developing countries in areas such as clean technology transfer.

The Centre for Asian Pacific Studies (CAPS) and the Environmental Studies Program (ESP) at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, are jointly organizing a conference on "China and Global Climate Change." The conference will address the problem of how to reconcile China's growing greenhouse gas emissions with the Chinese government's unwillingness to join binding international commitments to reduce those emissions. President Hu Jintao recently reaffirmed that China will not commit to mandatory emissions-reduction targets before the world's wealthy countries take the lead in addressing global climate change. He has also called on affluent countries to pay for emissions limitations in China and other developing countries.

Brazil plays an important and unique role in climate change. It is one of the ten largest economies in the world and — most importantly for climate change — home to one of the greatest ecosystems and forests of the planet: the Amazon. Brazil is the eighth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the third largest emitter in the developing world after China and India, according to 2000 World Resources Institute figures.

In international negotiations, Brazil points out that climate change is driven more by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than by yearly emissions, primarily because the most important greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) remains in the atmosphere for more than a century on average

Brazil therefore says that it will not limit its greenhouse gas emissions until the middle of the century. Brazil is vulnerable to climate change, not least due to its fragile, biologically diverse ecosystems. The tropical rain forest in the Amazon and the Pantanal wetland are of particular concern.

Changing rainfall patterns, especially in the drought-affected northeastern region of the country, will mean poorer water resources and a reduced water supply. Agriculture will suffer, aggravating the risk of famines. Less rain will also affect the hydropower supply, which, according to the International Energy Association, provides more than 80 per cent of the electricity Brazil generates. Floods, which are already a serious problem for various regions, may increase. Coastal areas, where the bulk of the population and economic activities are concentrated, will be vulnerable to rising sea levels.

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How climate change will affect agricultural productivity is not yet understood in detail. But possible effects on crops that are particularly important to the country's economy, such as corn, soybean, wheat, coffee and oranges, are a great concern.

Brazil has implemented many programs where the primary objective was not to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but this has happened as a 'side-effect'. They include the ethanol and PROCEL programs. Other programs, such as the PROINFA and the biodiesel projects, were created with the express intention of reducing emissions. The Brazilian ethanol program was first launched in 1975, when international sugar prices tumbled, and the oil bill of 1973 had increased the country's financial burden. The program remains the largest commercial application of biomass for producing and using energy in the world. It succeeded in demonstrating the technical feasibility of large-scale ethanol production from sugarcane, and its use as a fuel for cars.

Brazil's size in geographic, demographic and economic terms adds to the complexity of the climate change problem. Brazil leads many other countries in promoting renewable energy sources, which already occupy an important share of the energy mix and have great potential to grow further. Deforestation in the Amazon comes hand in hand with considerable biodiversity loss and the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This is a crucial problem that must not be denied. Brazil claims a right not to be bound by the requirement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce its emissions (even after the Kyoto Protocol has reached its term in 2012).

The effects of global warming on the Indian subcontinent vary from the submergence of low-lying islands and coastal lands to the melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, threatening the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of India and South Asia. In India, such effects are projected to impact millions of lives. As a result of ongoing climate change, the climate of India has become increasingly volatile over the past several decades; this trend is expected to continue.

Several effects of global warming, including steady sea level rise, increased cyclonic activity, and changes in ambient temperature and precipitation patterns, have affected or are projected to affect India. Ongoing sea level rises have submerged several low-lying islands in the Sundarbans, displacing thousands of people. Temperature rises on the Tibetan Plateau, which are causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat. Increased landslides and flooding are projected to have an impact upon states such as Assam. Ecological disasters, such as a 1998 coral bleaching event that killed off more than 70% of corals in the reef ecosystems off Lakshadweep and the Andamans, and was brought on by Elevated Ocean temperatures tied to global warming, are also projected to become increasingly common.

There is a reduction in fresh water availability, disturbance of morphologic processes and a higher intensity of flooding and other such disasters.

Thick haze and smoke, originating from burning biomass in northwestern India and air pollution from large industrial cities in northern India, often concentrate inside the Ganges Basin.

Dust and black carbon, which are blown towards higher altitudes by winds at the southern faces of the Himalayas, can absorb shortwave radiation and heat the air over the Tibetan Plateau. The net atmospheric heating due to aerosol absorption causes the air to warm and convect upwards, increasing the concentration of moisture in the mid-troposphere and providing positive feedback that stimulates further heating of aerosols.

The harmful effect of climate change is looming large over India, a predominantly agriculturally driven country. As the nation reels under the vagary of extreme temperature and a heat wave, the surface air temperature is rising alarmingly at a rate of 0.4 degrees Celsius per century. The most worrying part of the prediction is the estimated increase in winter and summer temperatures by 3.2 degree and 2.2 degrees Celsius, respectively, by 2050. Such

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abnormal rises will surely have an adverse impact on agricultural production in the form of a reduction in total crop cycle duration.

In a developing and densely populated country like India, climate change puts additional burden on an already overstressed ecological and socioeconomic system due to rapid economic activities. To improve environmental quality and limit human health hazards from air pollution, New Delhi has a well defined goal of conventional and renewable energy and economic development. However, the flight of polluting industries from Europe and America to the developing world must be arrested at all cost. It is nothing short of a tragedy that a potentially polluting petrochemical hub will shortly come up on an estuarine island adjacent to the protected Sundarban biosphere reserve.

So, the climate is changing. The earth is warming up, and there is now overwhelming scientific consensus that it is happening, and human-induced. With global warming on the increase and species and their habitats on the decrease, chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing. Many are agreed that climate change may be one of the greatest threats facing the planet. Recent years show increasing temperatures in various regions, and/or increasing extremities in weather patterns. The world mostly agrees that something needs to be done about global warming and climate change.

Alina Safronova,

5th year student, International Economic Relations Department, Far Eastern Institute of International Relations Scientific advisers: Elena N. Albey, Lydmila A. Fisyk, Instructors

PREVENTING ALCOHOLISM, SMOKING, DRUG ABUSE

AMONG YOUTH IN THAILAND, JAPAN AND RUSSIA

Do not spoil your health and do not poison your life!

Drugs, alcohol and cigarettes are a big problem today. Many people suffer from it. Alcohol serves as a means of entertainment and enjoyment for young people and adults,

and even a means of resolving all problems. For some of it has become a tradition, lifestyle. To date, many people due from drugs. They have a detrimental effect on human health.

Young people use drugs without thinking about consequences. The new generation is born with diseases (cancer, heart disease and others). For them, it provides a means to relax, to get adrenaline, relief. Cigarettes are also considered to be harmful to human health and have a bad effect on health. Today more than half the people in the world smoke.

Alcohol is bad in excess but not in moderation.

The logical conclusion to be drawn from this is that children should be introduced to alcohol gradually, by responsible adults, in enjoyable social situations. Given the destructive effects of alcohol on many people’s lives this could, in fact, be considered to be an important aspect of someone's education.

Unfortunately, it is all too common for school children to introduce each other to the use of alcohol which can be quite dangerous. Drinking whole bottles of spirits on the way to school and during break-times, bringing drinking at each others houses and stealing alcohol are quite common activities.

Schools have a lot to answer for it because they are instruments in setting children and adults against each other. Within the culture of a school it is not acceptable for children to fraternize too much with the teachers, and this carries over to the home: children cannot reveal anything to their parents that their parents may then report to the school or to the parents of their school friends.

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If we sat down to try to devise a system for getting our children hooked on drugs, cigarettes and alcohol we would be hard-pressed to come up with something as effective as the school system. Schools create a division between adults and children and this division makes children vulnerable.

Some of the reasons why children smoke are as follows:

-They are away from their parents.

-They are bored.

-Older children smoke.

-Teachers tell them not to smoke.

-Cigarette companies are clever at promoting their brands.

-It’s a way of rebelling without really rebelling.

-Getting the cigarettes is exciting because you have to pretend to be sixteen.

Just as no one knows how much children drink and smoke, no one knows the extent to which they use other drugs. The fact that they have to lie and be deceitful in order to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol means that, in their eyes, there is no real difference between these drugs and cannabis, LSD, Ecstasy etc.

They do not realize that by buying and using these drugs they are coming into contact with the world of organized and unregulated crime. The people from whom they buy the drugs seem to be their friends - other children like themselves - and it is not apparent that these young people may have severe problems that have put them under the direct control of committed criminals - people who will disappear if the drugs cause harm or death.

The Solution

These are not insoluble problems. It simply requires that parents re-establish a good communication with their children and are honest with them.

They also need to be a part of their children's everyday lives.

It is lack of proper information that makes children susceptible to drug taking: children do not want to inflict harm upon them and when they realize that this is what drugs do, they scrupulously avoid them. Children can only be given this information when they are treated with respect - you cannot just lecture about the dangers of drugs, there has to be a two-way conversation in which they can ask questions and receive honest answers.

Parents need to be involved in their child's everyday life because it is not realistic to expect a very young person to be able to withstand the pressure placed upon them by their peers if they are left for long periods of time without proper parental supervision.

Imagining that schools can control drugs problems is simply wishful thinking and it represents a failure on the part of parents to accept responsibility for bringing up their own children. As a parent you have to know what is happening to your child all of the time - until you are confident that they are old enough to look after themselves.

The practical implications of this are that school hours need to be shorter and that there has to be much closer cooperation between parents and the people teaching their children.

Alcohol, Narcotics, and Tobacco in Thailand

To examine the relationship between working status and behavior of substance use such as tobacco, alcohol, and drug among adolescents, a survey of 215 students in the seventh to ninth grades was conducted in urban area of Thailand. The sample consisted of 100 workers (46.5%) and 115 nonworkers (53.5%). The percentages of participants with some experiences of smoking, drinking alcohol, and drug use were 17.2%, 48.8%, and 3.3%, respectively. The participants with experiences of smoking and drinking alcohol in the working group were significantly higher than in the nonworking group (P<0.001), while the relationship between working status and drug use was weaker than the other relationships between working status and tobacco or alcohol use. The backward logistic regression analysis was refined until it included three independent variables: tobacco use, alcohol use, and household income. On the