Falling Drug Use: Keep Your Teen Clean
Teenagers aren't all addled cottonheads who nod off while watching the stoner antics of Pineapple Express. In fact, increasing numbers of teenagers are choosing to steer clear of illegal drugs, with just 9.5 percent indulging in 2007, down from 11.6 percent in 2002, according to new federal stats. Score one for clearheaded decisions! (By contrast, 18-to-25-year-olds increased their abuse of OxyContin and other prescription drugs.)
But how does one become one of those clear-thinking teenagers? That, it turns out, is a tough question to answer. To try to figure it out, I recently spoke with Michael Windle, Rollins professor and chair of behavioral sciences and health education at Emory University. He's spent the past 22 years finding out what happens to teenagers who drink and use drugs later, when they grow up. Some get seriously messed up for life, while others can binge drink and wind up as model citizens at age 30. Windle and other researchers have determined that about 20 to 25 percent of teenagers are at serious risk of having drug and alcohol problems. That's due to a combination of factors, including genetic susceptibility, social influences, and psychological issues. The other 75 percent of kids are probably going to be fine.
The problem is, there's no readily available test to tell if a child is among that high-risk 25 percent. Guess wrong and you could end up like Nic Sheff, who suffered the agonies of addiction to meth, alcohol, and other drugs in his teens. (I recently interviewed Nic and his dad, David, about Nic's struggle to get clean.)
Even if there were a standardized "drug risk" test for 10-year-olds, how would you help a child who tested positive? Current drug and alcohol awareness programs are one-size-fits-all, Windle says, which suggests they're largely wasted on the kids who are at low risk and not intensive enough for those who face big trouble. Schools and communities aren't organized to provide that kind of targeted preventive service, and insurance companies are in no hurry to add coverage, even though it might be more cost-effective, and certainly more humane, to pay for prevention than wait for people to get messed up. "I'm not saying your child has an alcohol disorder," Windle notes. "I'm saying they're at risk for it. A lot of insurance companies will not pay for that." He's planning to put together a study that will track students starting in middle school to see if the brains of those who use drugs and alcohol develop differently from the brains of those who abstain. But that kind of longitudinal study takes years to deliver results.
Until there are better programs to help teenagers who are susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse, parents can try these evidence-based tactics:
- Start talking about risks posed by drugs and alcohol early. Teenagers try drugs and alcohol earlier than many parents realize, with half of all 14-year-olds saying they've had a whole drink. The earlier a child starts using drugs or alcohol, the greater the risk of problems. Delay is good.
- Monitor your child's activities and friends. Peers have a huge influence on teenage behavior, and unsupervised teenagers are far more likely to get in trouble.
- Keep them busy. Activities like martial arts that offer a healthy peer group, rewards, and good adult role models are protective against use and abuse.
Tags: drugs | parenting | teens
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Spend time with your teen
Coming from a drug and alcohol counselor who works in an Alternative High School, parents need to spend time with their teens, know your child's friends, where they are, what they are doing and set limits. When they don't follow your rules, inflict punishment...by this I mean, take their cellphone, computer, free time, car, etc. Believe me, these things mean everything to a teen. Ask questions, assume the worst and never believe everything they say. Teens LIE all the time, they know what you want to hear, follow up on their stories of where they are going and who they are with. I've seen more heroin, oxycontin and marijuana users whose parents do not have a clue that they are using anything because they are so busy with their own lives.
Drugs aren't the only kind of addiction...
I'd also suggest to look out for process addictions in your teen, like binge eating, internet addiction, excessive TV watching or video-game playing, among others. If addiction is a type of learning process, I'll bet these behaviors can also set teens up for other addictions later in life.
You CAN choose your child's friends
Sadly, once you find out that your child is abusing drugs, they might already have an addiction. We were helpless as our 15 year old son became thoroughly addicted to oxycontin. Once kids are hooked, there is almost nothing a parent can do to stop them. Our child had no intention of stopping. He did not see the harm in it. We talked with police, school administrators, and the parents of the our child's friends. We sent him to an extended and expensive rehab center (against his will). Nothing worked. He eventually went to injecting oxycontin and then switched to heroin.
The law is not on your side as a parent. Kids on drugs are oblivious to your plea for them to stop drugs, and you can't spank or restrain them. When we put restrictions on our son, he simply would run away for days or a week. Pretty soon, he was known as a habitual run-away and the police wouldn't even look for him.
Drugs - especially the opiates like oxycontin turned our star athlete straight A student into a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. He started at 15 years old and by 16,he was either stoned out of his mind or FRANTIC for more drugs.
It tore our family apart and destroyed him as a person.
My suggestion is to be very careful with who your child associates. When our son switched from Junior High School to High School, he started hanging out with the wrong kids. We were too liberal and believed that "you can't choose your child's friends". We were wrong. Within months of hanging around with these kids, he was deep into drugs.
Do NOT trust other parents. Do not believe that since the parents are home when your child visits that things are supervised and "OK". We later learned that two different sets of parents were major suppliers to the drug trade at our child's school. One went to prison for one year. The other remained free and continued to supply drugs to kids. His son eventually died a tragic drug related death.
Young teens often do not really have the smarts to avoid choosing the wrong friends - especially if they were raised in a protected environment. The BEST kids are the most naive and most vulnerable.
Your kids will fight you tooth and nail if you try to restrict who they see. Yes, they might even be more motivated to rebel against you by seeing people that you disapprove, but it is your only chance. If you have a 25% chance of keeping your kids away from bad kids, that is a 25% chance that you will no longer have if they get involved with drugs.
Druggie kids aren't innocent victims. Druggie kids are a cancer and they spread the disease to other kids. Do your best to keep your kids away from the disease of addiction by keeping them away from the carriers of the disease - keep them away from bad kids.
Our son is now a full-fledged heroin addict. It seems hopeless right now. I wouldn't wish this hell on anyone.
Good luck
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