Are you the parent of a child? If so you always have some concern that they may become addicted to drugs or alcohol. With prescription pain medication as easy to get as ibuprofen in local high schools, parents’ concerns are well-justified.
This is the third in a series of blogs addressing the drug use among out nation’s teens. What do you think the answer is to curbing teen drug use? As reported in www.courierpress.com.
Here’s how scary it is. If statistics play out, one in five kids in high school are using prescription drugs.
As a counselor for both in-class and online drug classes I often speak at local schools. I'm tired of going to places and have people say, we've lost a generation to prescription drug abuse. It's time for us to get in front of the next generation and ask you to not get hooked. But we need not just ask, we must help them not get hooked!
The situation is changing. Three years ago, one in 10 teens were reportedly using prescription pills for nonmedical reasons. Unlike marijuana and alcohol which have strong smells, prescription meds are easier to mask. Kids take them , get hooked on them and suffer from their addiction. They never thought it could happen to them.
Drug abuse isn't discriminatory. It doesn't care about race, gender, age or social status.
If someone takes that first pill and gets that first high they will spend the rest of their time chasing that feeling. Then you take more and more pills and try different drugs to mimic that first high.
We all have to help our children make the smart choice – not to use drugs. Drug minor in possession classes help. Most important are good parental role models. Please, everyone do you part so we do not lose a generation to prescription meds.