Talking about addiction
‘Night of Conversation’ seeks to open dialogue between parents and children about drugs
When Dr. Mehmet Oz asks his TV audiences what health issues worry them most, they keep it simple. Weight loss usually tops the list.
But the last time Oz posed the question, viewers trusted him with a darker truth: They were fearful their kids had picked up deadly drug habits.
Oz learned that drug overdoses have surpassed traffic accidents as the leading cause of death among young people and that prescription painkillers, and even heroin, are seeping into American middle schools and high schools. That’s when the cardiologist, host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and father of four, decided to use his bully pulpit to focus on youth addiction and recovery. Oz, health officials and addiction experts around the country are calling for a “National Night of Conversation” on Nov. 19. They are hoping families will set aside that Thursday evening for heart-toheart talks about drugs.
Oz, no stranger to controversy or personal or
professional criticism, says he took on adolescent addiction after advice from another talk-show host.
“When I first started the show,” Oz says, “I had dinner with Phil Donahue, and he said, ‘If you want to do your job right, shed light where there is darkness.’ And I think he was right.”
A Baylor College of Medicine associate professor has been sharing his knowledge of addiction and recovery with Oz.
“Parents are the anti-drug,” Scott Basinger says. “They should start asking kids in fifth or sixth grade openended questions. ‘What do you know about drugs in your school?’ ‘Do you have friends who use?’ ”
Every middle school child, Basinger says, knows someone on drugs. “If the kids won’t talk, at least you tried, and they know you are concerned.”
In a nonthreatening way, Basinger says, return to the conversation. It is OK, even wise, to ask the questions on the tip of every parent’s tongue: “Have you used drugs? Which ones? Are you drinking?”
Adults are shocked when they find out their kids are experimenting or, worse, already hooked, Basinger says.
It’s sad, but it happens. What should a parent say next?
Tell the kids that you love them, that you appreciate their honesty, that you will get help as a family, Basinger says. But where? In Houston, places to turn include the Council on Recovery, Cornerstone Recovery, Lifeway International, Teen & Family Services and Palmer Drug Abuse Program or PDAP.
Therapists for adolescents also abound in Houston, Basinger says.
Don’t be surprised, he tells parents, if kids ask them uncomfortable questions about their histories with drugs and alcohol.
“You tell the truth,” Basinger says. “It’s important. If anyone in the family has already had problems with drugs or alcohol, other family members are much more likely to get in trouble as well.”
Children who have been abandoned or abused are also at risk, Basinger says. “They’ll develop shame and low self-esteem, then they’ll use drugs and alcohol to medicate that shame and fear. The next thing they know, they’re hooked.”
Both Oz and Basinger point to Houston as a city working hard to help young addicts.
For kids just out of rehab programs, there are “alternative peer groups” scattered all around the city.
“They can trade their old drug buddies for kids who are already sober, kids who will act as mentors and friends,” Basinger says.
Houston has two sober high schools, Archway Academy and Three Oaks Academy, and help for college students, Cougars in Recovery, at the University of Houston.
“It’s unusual for a city to offer a continuum of care and to be so ready to help,” Basinger says, “but parents are really the key. Sometimes they ignore the warning signs: isolation, strange smells, a change in friends. Parents notice all that, but they are afraid to ask. That’s why this National Night of Conversation is such a gift.”
“You tell the truth. It’s important. If anyone in the family has already had problems with drugs or alcohol, other family members are much more likely to get in trouble as well.” Scott Basinger, Baylor College of Medicine