Don’t want your teen to drink, smoke or do drugs? Well, there's no easy one answer, but one easy step in the right direction is as simple as sitting down at the dinner table together, as a family, 5 or more times a week.
Research by the National Center on Addiction and Substance abuse compared the drug and alcohol consumption patterns of teens that ate family dinners 5 or more times per week, with those that ate them 2 or less times per week, and the difference revealed is dramatic.
Families that don’t often eat together have teen children that are:
300% more likely to smoke marijuana
250% more likely to smoke cigarettes
150% more likely to drink alcohol
Wow!
What an easy way to make a real difference, in your teen's life, and for the family as a whole. The study authors state that although the simple act of eating together as a family seems most important, the experience can be enhanced with conversation and by ensuring the TV is turned off throughout the meal.
Research continually demonstrates the influence of family and parental involvement on the likelihood of teens avoiding the troubles of drugs and alcohol. And this recent study shows just how easily parents can ensure they exert that influence.
Make it fun for all, order a pizza if that’s what it takes, and sit down as a family, at the table. It's worth it.
Recently in Troubled Teens Category
A new study conducted throughout New England health care clinics that was looking to evaluate teenage substance use prevalence brings us some astonishing…and worrisome, results.
Teens visiting the doctor throughout New England were given a confidential questionnaire to fill out surveying their alcohol and drug use behaviors.
Now we know that a lot of teens are using drugs and alcohol, and we know that about 80% of teens will have done so by the time they finish senior year in high school, but we didn’t know that so many of these teens that are experimenting with drugs and alcohol are consuming these substances at such a significant rate.
Fifteen percent of teens screened in New England self reported substance use behaviors that met the criteria for substance abuse. Not substance use, substance abuse.
Kids aren’t dumb, they may not know much, but they have a funny way habit of learning stuff, and they also seem to remember what we tell them.
So why do we lie to them?
We teach them in drug education classes about the harms of drugs and alcohol, and the pains that these can bring to those that would abuse them. We teach them these things because we love them and we worry for them and we know the perils they face as they proceed through the turbulent years of adolescence.
Our intentions are good, and all we wish to do is to spare them pain; but we almost always take things too far. We scaremonger; we say all drugs are bad…equally bad, and we present worse case scenarios as commonplace occurrences. And it works fine for a while, and they believe us…for a while.
But then they get a little bit older, and they see that some people that smoke marijuana don’t seem to be experiencing all of those drastic consequences that we foretold of. They get a bit older, and they learn a bit more and they start to realize that they were lied to! They learn that not everyone that smokes a joint becomes a junky; in fact mostly they seem to do just fine.
And then we wonder why they don’t believe us when we warn them of the dangers of meth…but why should they, we can’t be trusted.
We need to start teaching kids the truth about drugs so that they can be informed about the real risks and consequences of their actions. We need to teach them that marijuana is not as harmful as a lot of other drugs and that most people that use it will not become raving lunatic drug addicts. We need to teach them that there are a lot of legitimate risks associated with today's marijuana, but we need to stay real about it, and tell them the truth. They'll learn it for themselves eventually anyways.
And maybe if we tell them the truth about marijuana, maybe they'll smoke it or maybe they won’t (it's pretty unlikely that more will smoke it than do know!) but at least they will know that they have been treated with respect, told the truth and educated to make their own decisions; and maybe then they will believe us when we warn them of the real dangers of a lot of other life-destroying drugs floating about out there.
Kids aren’t dumb, they'll learn the truth, and they will remember being lied to.
Billions have been spent educating our kids in schools about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and despite the best of intentions; these programs have failed. Independent evaluations of DARE and other school anti drug message courses show absolutely no difference in drug taking behaviors between teens exposed to school education, and those not.
In response, a lot of schools (with justification) have decided that their scant resource dollars would be better spent elsewhere, and the intensity of drug education in our nation's schools has fallen somewhat.
A better way?
University researchers at USC decided to change the matrix slightly, and see if they couldn’t design a better drug education program.
They enlisted the help of approximately 500 alternative school high school students, a traditionally high risk group for substance use and abuse, to participate in the pilot project. These students were randomly assigned to two protocol groups. The first group received drug education within a traditional teacher led classroom program, and the second group participated in a self directed peer based program.
The peer based students elected a classroom representative to lead the program, and the students ran a self directed drug education module, where they spent time divided into small groups, discussing issues pertaining to the dangers of substance abuse.
The results were mixed
On average, after evaluating drug taking behaviors for a full year after the completion
of the program, students who had participated in the peer led group reported 15% less drug taking behaviors than those who had been randomly assigned to the teacher led group. Which sounds like great news, until researchers reveal that those students who participated in peer led programs amongst other students in favor of drugs…actually increased their drug usage as opposed to the teacher led group.
A bit worrisome to say the least!
It's encouraging to see continuing research in a needed area, but for now, schools cannot be relied on for effective drug education, and as always, the job must fall to parents.
Thankfully, although research has proven school programs a dismal failure, it has also revealed just how effective an open dialogue from parents on the subject of drug and alcohol abuse can be.
Kids whose parents talk to them about drugs don’t use drugs as much…period.
Kids whose parents let the schools do it…well, that's a bit of a gamble, and if the above study tells us anything, the kind of drug education peers are getting from peers may not be the sort of thing parents envision when they imagine "school drug education".
Teens that use drugs other than marijuana are three times as likely to have suicidal thoughts…and only about a third of teens at risk for suicide receive any preventative counseling.
Revealing statistics by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) show that although we know that the best way to lessen the prevalence of suicide is through early intervention and counseling, we are failing to intervene with the vast majority of at risk kids. Additionally, we also know that those kids who use drugs other than marijuana are three times as likely (29% as versus 10% for non drug using kids) to have suicidal thoughts.
Also disturbing is that the vast majority of kids who do eventually get preventative therapy for suicidal ideations receive this treatment only after an unsuccessful suicide attempt or voiced suicidal thoughts.
Although we aren't doing a great job recognizing and intervening in the lives of at risk kids, nobody really has any concrete ideas or plans for doing better; and any attempts at bettering our track record of intervention surely have to begin in the home, and with the only people who have much real influence over at risk teens…their parents.
A wake up call for parents
Parents who catch their kids using illicit drugs need to understand the accompanying risks associated with drug seeking behaviors, and recognize that almost 3 in 10 teens that are using drugs are at risk for suicide. Parents need to stay involved and vigilant in the lives and behaviors of teens prone to experimentation, and be ready to take appropriate action should teens exhibit drug seeking behaviors.
Don't take a chance...get professional help!
Substance abuse is always best caught as early as possible, and in the early stages very low intensity therapy or treatment can have great effects. Another compelling reason for catching substance abuse at the earliest possible opportunity is to identify kids at risk for suicidal thoughts…and some professional involvement may be advisable when kids are experimenting with drugs other than marijuana.
Although most kids experimenting with harder drugs do not have suicidal thoughts, enough do that early drug experimentation must be a call to preventative action and possibly professional intervention.
It's not often that I find myself on the same side of a policy argument with our esteemed president, but when President Bush started promoting further use of drug testing in schools, I cheered of concrete action being taken to help reduce the risks of drug and alcohol use behaviors in a group of people so very at risk to develop substance abuse problems and dependencies.
Anyone could see that the issue would create some controversy, but I can’t believe the strength of opposition to a privacy rights violation confirmed as permissible by the Supreme Court.
First of all, let me clarify…I am very much against the "war on drugs" and I don’t believe that enforcement of drugs and alcohol addiction issues will ever create any positive change in our society. I also believe that rigid criminal penalization of drug use does far more harm, and promotes far more criminal activity than it could ever hope to reduce; and I am uncomfortable siding with an administration that (despite a dubious personal history of abuse by our commander in chief) has done very little to reduce harsh federal sentencing and done equally little to improve access to treatment by those that need it.
But done well, and with sensitivity, school drug testing gives school administrators and through them parents, the information they need to take concrete and productive steps towards intervention and possibly treatment…as early into drug abuse as is possible. We should not look at drug testing as an enforcement issue, but instead as a fantastic way to improve treatment intervention for a group uniquely vulnerable to the effects of drugs and alcohol.
Early drinking and or drug abuse dramatically increases the risks of ultimately having an abuse issue or dependency to drugs or alcohol, and if we could just keep kids from experimenting for a few more years we would achieve a massive reduction in eventual dependency rates, accompanying social costs and personal devastations.
There have been a number of arguments put forth by those that ideologically oppose drug testing in our schools, and while I respect the motivations of those people that hope to put a stop to the testing, I question their ideations.
Myth no. 1…drug testing won’t protect kid's rights to confidentiality
Opponents of drug testing in the school blast measures that don’t do enough to protect the privacy rights of kids using drugs or alcohol…but it's not as if other teens don’t already know who’s using and who isn’t; it's just educators and parents who are largely in the dark…and kids sharing a joint under the bleachers certainly aren’t hiding their consumption from other teenaged eyes.
We won’t "out" kids abusing drugs or alcohol, we'll just be able to help them.
Myth no. 2…drug testing will damage trust issues between educators and teens
Another major point of contention amongst opponents to the policy is a belief that drug testing will increase the adversarial nature of the teacher student relationship, and reduce the ability of educators to positively influence the actions of teenagers.
I find this one also pretty ridiculous. Almost 3 quarters of high school kids will illegally use alcohol and almost half will try illicit drugs…clearly the influence of educators has some pretty serious limitations outside of the school environment, and I would even argue that conclusive evidence of abuse would reduce the adversarial nature of a relationship.
Things tend to get most heated when one side accuses without proof, and one side denies while unable to prove absolute innocence. With drug testing, there is no need for uncertainty, and neither is there any need for an adversarial relationship. A positive drug test does not need to be handled punitively within the school environment, but that information does need to be passed to concerned parents who are in a far greater position of influence, and far more able to effect change.
Myth no. 3…drug testing won’t reduce drug taking in schools
Opponents point to studies that polled high school students about whether drug tests would cause them to reduce their consumption as evidence of their ineffectiveness; but drug testing has had real success, most notably in the military where compulsory drug testing has dramatically lowered levels of abuse over the last years.
We should never be drug testing kids looking for an excuse to punish, and all we should be trying to accomplish is to protect teens at risk of abuse and addiction from the greater dangers of drug use. Schools should not be responsible for enacting policies against drug usage, and only parents have enough influence and control over their kids to really induce any real change…unfortunately most parents either never know about drug use, or don’t find out about it until it's too late, and a recreational usage has become a serious problem.
We don’t need or even want schools to try to influence drug taking…that's a job for the family; but they are in a great position to spot and conclusively test for usage, and give that information to people who really care and want to see a behavioral change. Parents deserve information that will allow them to take concrete and constructive steps towards drug and alcohol avoidance.
We will have to see…
Drug testing non compliant teenagers does carry some risks, and I don’t think that it should be done with a heavy hand or with punitive measures in mind. But if it is done well, and if schools allow parents the right and responsibility of taking appropriate action after a positive test…I can’t see how drug testing could be anything but a very positive step to protect our kids.
It's a frightening time to be a parent, and when access to potent drugs is but a mouse click away, parents have just cause for concern about the very real dangers of pill abuse. There are some signs of abuse that parents should be looking out for, but ultimately all you can do is to educate your kids, stay involved and hope for the best.
What can parents do when the "pusher man" has become an easy to access online website selling potent drugs without the need for a prescription?
It's a scary time to be a parent, and while parents of every generation may have felt the same way, with the incredibly easy access to drugs that today's teens have, parents often feel a bit overwhelmed at how to protect their impressionable teens from dangerous pharmaceutical abuse.
A quick survey of internet pharmacies proves that there is little that cannot be bought through the services of an illegitimate pharmacy located out of the country. Oxycontin, hydrocone, xanax, and benzodiazepines are just a few of the many drugs that are but a mouse click away. Pharmaceutical abuse is rising, and while yesterday's teens may have raided the family liquor cabinet, today's teens can easily supply their own drug needs through online ordering or even through the misuse of over the counter medications.
These drugs are pretty scary too; some of them are very addictive, and some of them are very risky for dangerous overdoses, especially when taken in conjunction with other pills or with alcohol, which research indicates is a very common practice.
The misuse or abuse of these pharmaceuticals is misperceived as relatively safe and harmless, and does not carry the stigma associated with the usage of "illicit drugs" such as heroin, marijuana or LSD; but these drugs are just as dangerous as illicit drugs, and are also very addictive, and with an estimated 6 million Americans currently addicted to pills, the danger of a crippling and potential destroying addiction is very real…and very scary.
So what can we as parents do?
Try to monitor your teen's internet activities, and be very suspicious of any activity at online pharmacy websites, or drug info related sites. Most teens get the information on dosages that they need from the internet, from sources that may or may not be providing credible and safe information.
Be aware of any pharmaceutical paraphernalia. Empty bottles of cough syrup, empty pill wrappers, or other such medication related debris are not normally carried around, and probably indicate at the very least some experimentation with pharmaceuticals.
Educate your teens as to the risks involved with using pharmaceuticals, and make sure that they are aware of the dangers and the possibility of death.
Don't keep a lot of old and unused medications hanging about in the medicine cabinet. If you're finished with the pills but have some remaining, dispose of them properly. Also, be aware of the quantities of medicines used regularly, and if you seem to be refilling prescriptions for certain drugs more often than you think that you should…this may indicate a problem.
Be involved and try to be a part of your teen's life. It can be difficult to determine whether changes in behavior are a normal part of adolescence, are in fact caused by something more sinister, but by staying active in your teen's life, you are in a better position to spot trouble before things get serious.
We as parents can only educate our kids as to the dangers, be on the lookout for trouble, and hope for the best. It is truly a frightening time to be the parent of a teenage kid.
Your kids will hate it, and they may even resent you for doing it, but if they have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, a drug test is the only way you can be sure that they remain sober. Cheap, reliable and accurate drug tests give you peace of mind, and also let you get them the help needed quickly, should a test come back positive.
There is nothing an adolescent hates more than an intrusion into their privacy, and drug tests are certainly intrusive, but they are also very accurate, and can be a very useful tool for parents concerned about substance use and abuse.
I don't think that drug testing is necessarily appropriate as a preventative measure for kids without a history of abuse, and if they have acted responsibly they should be rewarded for that behavior with increasing levels of trust; but for kids with a history of abuse, I feel that they are a valid parental tool.
About half of all kids who enter a residential treatment program will relapse back to some degree of drug or alcohol abuse at some point, and the earlier this use is detected, the earlier help can be arranged and the greater ultimate probability of success.
Kids who have a history of drug and alcohol abuse should be informed that drug testing is to become a regular part of the family life, and there should be no exceptions made once this announcement is made. Today's testing kits, particularly urine testing kits, are inexpensive, very reliable and accurate; and provide an easy way for parents to be sure of their kid's use or non use. The fact is that all kids will lie to their parents at some point, and kids with drug or alcohol abuse problems are even more prone to lying to cover their abusive behaviors; but a drug test does not lie, and teens will also know in advance that if they use, their parents will know.
The ideal result for the introduction of family drug testing is not to catch teens in the act as such, but to keep them from indulging, knowing that if they do they will certainly be caught. The consequences for a positive test result should be made clear in advance, and if a test does come back positive, parents must have the strength to implement whatever treatment or consequences had been pre agreed to. If a kid knows that a positive drug test means another session at a drug rehab facility, that may be enough to keep them from using.
Kids are pretty clever though, so you have to be sure that the test you are using is reliable, and as well be aware of any possible ways to "fool" the test. Kids get the information they need to beat drug tests from the internet, but that info is there for you too. Speak with an addictions specialist on the best way to implement reliable and accurate drug testing into your family's routine.
Your kids will hate it, but it might just be enough of a deterrent to use that it will keep them safe…and they'll thank you for it later.
Parenting an adolescent is never easy, and when your teen is using or abusing drugs or alcohol, this transitional period is especially complex. Drug testing can help.
Inhalants can be fatal the first time they are tried, and the long term and irreversible health effects of inhalant abuse are tragic. The really scary part is that the most common abusers of inhalants are our very young kids. Parents need to be on the lookout for any of the signs of inhalant use, and if any usage is suspected, need to get immediate professional help.
More than 17 million Americans have used inhalants at least once.
Inhalants, which are a class of drugs in which the user inhales the vapors of a gas, are incredibly damaging and can be very addictive; and studies report that a whole lot of young people are experimenting with these scary drugs.
Inhalants tend to be most widely used by the very young, presumably due to ease of access, and when the drug of choice is located in the closet or in the garage, it's very convenient for these young people to get a cheap and very intoxicating drug.
Some commonly abused inhalants are paint thinner, shoe shine, turpentine, hair spray, gasoline, glue, and many many others. There is both the risk of immediate cardiac arrest from the use of inhalants, and a very real and very frightening possibility of long term, severe and irreversible cerebral and physical impairments. Inhalant abuse seems to attack the central nervous system in a way very similar to alcohol, but at an extremely exaggerated pace.
It's very important for parents to be aware of the abuse of inhalants, and also to be aware of the signs that may indicate the usage of this class of drugs.
Some of the signs of inhalant usage are:Because the health effects of these drugs are so severe, and because the most common abusers are our very young kids, parents need to be especially aware of the risks of inhalant abuse, and need to get professional help if they ever suspect that their kids may be abusing inhalants.
- Chemical odors on the body or clothes
- Paint or other chemical stains on the face hands or clothes
- Hidden inhalant paraphernalia (empty spray cans, rags, strong smelling plastic bags)
- Looking drunk, confused or un coordinated
- Frequent nausea and a loss of appetite
With the FDA announcement that 2.4 million American teens have tried dextromethorphan, and that the drug was now available in pure capsule form at the street level, parents have cause for concern. How can we protect our kids when the "dealer" is only as far as the local pharmacy?
How can parents protect their kids from drugs, when the drugs are available for sale at the local pharmacy?
Firstly, I'm going to preface this posting with an apology, I don’t know how to protect my kids from this new threat. I've talked about the dangers of drugs until I've grown hoarse, and they've grown bored, and they are some pretty well educated kids on the dangers and realities of drug abuse. But when the FDA reports that 2.4 million American teens have used dextromethorphan (the active ingredient in a number of cough and cold medication) I'm not to sure how much effect my words can have; I mean surely at least some of those parents had warned their kids about the dangers of drugs too!?!
Dextromethorphan (DMX) when taken in large quantities can cause euphoria, slight hallucinations, slurred speech and uncoordination, and when taken in very large quantities can cause out of body experiences like with ketamine or PCP; and in a new and disturbing trend, street dealers have started selling pure DMX in capsule form.
A quick browse on the web should be enough to scare parents, and all the information needed on how to use DMX, how to extract it, which brands to buy, the dosage by body weight…everything is there. If only kids worked as hard in biology as they do at self pharmacology!
The FDA reports that at least 5 kids have died from overdose, it can cause brain damage, seizures and heart arrhythmia, and the really scary part is that nobody really knows what the long term consequences of this drug will be. Kids are taking it and they're taking a lot of it, and it's probably going to do them a lot of harm.
Common parental guidelines suggest watching the medicine cabinet, and watching for intoxicated behavior, but how much does this really do? The amount needed to get high is more than most people stock in their medicine cabinet, and kids are pretty good about hiding things when they want to?
I guess it just comes down to being involved in your kid's lives, to watching for the warning signs, being ready to help, and hoping for the best. Good luck to parents everywhere, and this is just one more thing to add to that long list of worries.
