Parents, here is a blog post that offered excellent insights, advice and resources to better understand the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse.
This
is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of National Institute on Drug Abuse
for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
When
my oldest son entered high school, I was invited to a meeting held for parents
by the school’s guidance counselors and police liaison officer to talk to us
about substance abuse in our community. Since this was both my first time
parenting a teenager, added to the fact that it has been a few years since I
was in school- I wanted to hear what they had to say. What would they tell me
about kids using alcohol and marijuana these days? Has the legalization of marijuana
for recreational use in some states coupled with the growing medical use of pot
making a difference in how it is being perceived by teens? Well- what I learned
at this meeting was pretty shocking. And it far surpassed just a discussion of
cannabis.
First
of all, they explained that today’s marijuana is much stronger than what was
sold even in the 1990’s by more than triple the amount of THC. So in spite of
the fact that we hear so much about legalization and might leap to the
conclusion that it must be “safer” as a substance, it’s just not. (Keep in mind
that alcohol is a legal substance for adults too). But what really got my
attention was the discussion of teens gaining access to parents’ prescription
pain medications (opioids). Think about it- maybe you had gum surgery two years
ago and picked up a script for Vicodin on the way home. Your pain wasn’t too
bad so you only used 1 or 2 of the dozen pills they gave you, and the bottle
with the rest of the pills just sits collecting dust in the back of your
medicine cabinet. Until a teen in your life (could be your child, your child’s
friend, or even a babysitter) finds them and decides to try one. And likes the
high.
But the pills are expensive and hard to come by. So they start to look for something cheaper to try that gives them the same effects. And that’s how heroin enters their life. (Screeeccchhh!) What? Heroin?
I
swear that before I attended this meeting I didn’t even know that heroin was
around anymore! According to NIDA’s website:
“Nearly
half of young people who inject heroin surveyed in recent studies reported
abusing prescription opioids before starting to use heroin.”
Clearly
as a parent of teens, it is time for me to re-educate myself with drug and alcohol facts.
National
Drug & Alcohol Facts WeekSM (NDAFW) is an annual, week-long observance that
brings together teens and scientific experts to SHATTER THE MYTHS about
substance use and addiction. Held January 25-31, 2016, it is sponsored by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), both part of the National Institutes of Health.
The week-long observance was launched in 2010 to counteract the myths about
drugs and alcohol that teens often hear from the Internet, TV, movies, music,
or friends. Events are designed to link teens with scientists and other
experts, creating a safe place for teens to ask questions about drug and
alcohol use, without judgment or lectures. One of the key resources for National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week is the National Drug & Alcohol IQ Challenge –
a 12-question multiple choice quiz that teens and adults can take to test their
knowledge about drugs. Parents can take the IQ Challenge and use the results to
start a conversation with their teen about drugs and alcohol.
I
took it myself- and wasn’t surprised by how much I didn’t know (but now I am
learning). The website also has a Family Checkup which provides parents with
research-based skills to help keep their children drug-free and videos that you
can watch to learn how to talk to teens about what is going on in their lives.
(I found these to be helpful). So how much do you think you know about teen
drug use?
