You have to hand it to the ever-resilient tobacco industry. While the rest of us were focused on e-cigarettes and the dangers of vaping, they were busy creating new nicotine products for our kids to ingest. The latest is called the oral nicotine pouch. It is sold at gas stations and convenience stores for about five-to-ten dollars per package, with brand names like Velo, On!, and Rogue. The brand Zyn is the JUUL equivalent in the nicotine pouch world, accounting for most of the marketing and sales.  

I hope everyone reading this article had a safe Purim. In a recent article, I suggested several approaches parents might take to help their kids make it safely through Purim, including: 1) educating teenagers about alcohol effects and safe drinking, 2) reaching out to hosts about their plans to supervise drinking and provide transportation, and 3) remaining “on call” to drive kids home as needed. The point was that some teenagers will drink on Purim with or without our permission, and a pro-active approach may mitigate harm.

Dear Dr. Kidorf,

I started cleaning for Pesach this week and took the opportunity to clean my eighth-grade son’s room while he was in school. I was going to surprise him with a clean and orderly room. It occurred to me that maybe I shouldn’t go into his drawers, but I had to put things away, and I figured he is still young, so he probably wouldn’t object. Anyway, I found some things that are concerning. I wasn’t sure what they were, but my friend confirmed that the small colorful tubes and other paraphernalia are used for vaping. I am quite upset. I realize that young teens experiment with smoking, but I didn’t think my son would do it. Although he is not the most popular kid in the class, he has friends, and he is a fairly good student. He was never a troublesome kid and basically gets along at home and in school. I have two questions: Is this dangerous for a child his age? More importantly, what is the right approach now that I have made this discovery? Should I just ignore it and pretend I didn’t see, or should I confront him. If so, how?

The wonderful holiday of Purim is once again on the horizon and, along with the feasting and fun, comes the yearly challenge of teenage drinking. Many of us would like to say to our teens, “If you are offered alcohol, just say no,” and if they listened, there would be no need for this article. The reality, however, is that teenage drinking on Purim is common and perhaps even encouraged (or at least accepted) in some parts of our community. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to present harm reduction strategies for teenagers who choose to drink on Purim.

Dear Dr. Kidorf,

I just came home from Israel. I was in a good yeshiva, and it was a great two years. I learned a lot, saw the country – it was great. One thing I learned in Israel was how to drink on Shabbos. Most guys did, so I tried it. And I liked it. But I only drink on Shabbos; never during the week.

Before my first Shabbos home, I asked my mother if she would buy some beer. (I can’t buy it myself as I am only 20.) She agreed. On Friday night, I was trying all the wines on the table. My parents always put out a lot of bottles of wine, all different kinds – not that anybody drinks a lot. But they enjoy wine.

n this series of articles about addiction, sponsored by the organization Chayeinu, we have been discussing paths toward opioid addiction and opioid overdose. In the last article, I wrote about the problem of teenagers progressing from alcohol or marijuana use to opioids. Often, they start with prescribed opioid medications (found in the family medicine cabinet, perhaps) and transition to illegal drugs. This is the most common path to opioid addiction. In this article, we will consider an alternate path to opioid addiction that might occur as a result of opioids prescribed to treat pain.

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Opioid analgesics like oxycodone and hydrocodone, and to a lesser extent codeine and tramadol (a synthetic analgesic), are considered frontline treatments for moderate to severe pain, including some chronic pain conditions. It is interesting to consider that over any two-year period, about a third of all adults in this country receive an opioid prescription. Physicians in the United States seem to be more open to prescribing opioids than doctors from other countries.