Talking to your kids about fentanyl is essential
This lethal drug makes a discussion urgent, writes Dr. Richard Thatcher.
The dangers of fentanyl as a frequently used mood-modifying, recreational drug, on its own or laced into other opiates are gradually becoming well known.
The substance has recently gained a reputation as the Grim Reaper of illicit drugs. The number of deaths and near deaths originating with fentanyl use is simply shocking. Surely parents must initiate a serious discussion with their children and teens about this and other drug use. In this case, talk is, arguably, the primary preventive measure.
Like their awkward approach to sexual topics, many parents, feeling inadequate due to a limited knowledge base and anticipation of not being taken seriously, tend to avoid a direct discussion with their dependents about drug use.
Unfortunately, children and youth also tend to have a superficial knowledge of drugs. Yet they are often encouraged to experiment with by their peers or older acquaintances. If they are at all insecure about their social status or they lack self-confidence, you can rest assured that they will be very tempted when the inevitable persuasion of their peers regarding drug experimentation is pressed upon them.
In short, joint fact-gathering should absolutely be on the discussion table but the topic itself must be initiated by parents.
While there is nothing new in the admonition that responsible parents should engage their children and adolescents in a serious discussion regarding their actual or potential drug use, the lethal quality of fentanyl makes that discussion a parenting essential.
The relevant research on street drugs has clearly indicated that fentanyl has been found in party drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine, and speed, as well as the more commonly used marijuana.
Overdose deaths directly from fentanyl or laced into other drugs can and does happen to those just experimenting with drugs, including even first-time users. In an obscenity of statistical frequency, the facts bear this out in spades.
Scaring children and youth off of drugs with exaggerated messages has a poor record of effectiveness, as illustrated by the track record of former U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign — an approach that has been ridiculed by serious public health research for many years.
Instead, researchers almost universally advise parents to avoid exaggeration and declarative instructions. Instead, they advise respectful and intelligent discussions with young people regarding the relative risks of different drugs and drug mixtures.
Yet even Reagan’s efforts should not be entirely rejected. Since her campaign, psychologists have developed a series of actions that enable children and youth to much more easily take a detour around social pressures to experiment.
As we enter a period of more legally available use of marijuana, we must recognize that, while legal regulation is important, there will be consequences, potentially including a shift of “dealer” marketing to the promotion and sale of harder drugs sold at more congenial prices.
Even marijuana itself, the price of which might potentially be set by organized crime below the prices charged through legal outlets, will be associated with continued risks.
The American College of Pediatricians reported in April that about 17 per cent of those who use marijuana during adolescence and 25 to 50 per cent of daily users acquire a dependency on the drug. And marijuana can be a gateway to other, less benign drug use. A recent study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health indicated that teenagers who regularly smoke pot are 26 times more likely to use other drugs by their 21st birthday.
So talk to your kids about drug use. Do so with respect and enhanced knowledge and encourage them to do some research on their own, thus being invested in the conversation. Treat it as a teaching moment for both of you. That time, knowledge gathering and sharing may save the life of one you dearly love.