Parents get advice on keeping kids off drugs
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s full exploration of the responses of the region’s largest school districts to the opioid epidemic, of which this is one part, is available online at post-gazette.com.
Parents can find reasons for hope, and fear, in the latest research on teens and drugs. They can also find more nuanced do’s and don’ts than their predecessors typically got during the “Just Say No” era.
Take 1,000 kids ages 12 to 17, and chances are you’ll find just six opioid abusers, according to research out of Penn State
Health Children’s Hospital, published this month in the magazine Pediatrics. But in the 18-25 group, the prevalence of opioid addiction is roughly double that.
Experts say most addictions start with substance use in adolescence, and marijuana use among high school seniors has been growing. While there’s dispute on whether marijuana is really a “gateway drug,” the nonprofit Institute for Behavior and Health reports that “teen marijuana users compared to their non-marijuana using peers, are … nine times more likely to use other illicit drugs, including opioids.”
Experts agree that drug abuse is more likely to start in the teen years than in any other period of life. The earlier that use begins, the more likely it is to grow into addiction.
“All drug-use is interlinked,” said Robert L. DuPont, a psychiatrist, former White House drug czar, first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and now president of the Institute for Behavior and Health. “Prevention is about kids not using any alcohol, any tobacco, any marijuana or any other drugs.”
His message isn’t “Just Say No,” but rather “Make One Choice” — the choice not to use anything.
That’s not wishful thinking, Dr. DuPont said. Surveys show that 26 percent of high school seniors have not tried drugs — including alcohol and cigarettes — and half report that they haven’t used anything in the prior month. Non-use by 12th-graders has steadily increased since the 1970s.
The best bearers of the “one choice” message, according to Dr. DuPont, are the abstaining students themselves.
“There will be a lot of them who are athletes and are doing a lot of other things and are very socially active,” he said. Schools “need to get them out in front of the other kids to talk about it.”
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has a website on drug prevention for parents of teens. NIDA’s advice:
• Talk with your children about drugs. Then text them “positive messages” about their behavior.
• When with your child, turn off your electronics, put down your phone and give them full attention.
• Know where they are and what they’re doing. Set clear rules and enforce them fairly.
• Talk with your children about how to refuse drugs if they are offered them in social situations.
• Keep an eye on medicines and cleaning products in the home.
What if your child asks about your past drug use? NIDA recommends against providing lots of details and suggests an emphasis on any problems that your use caused, opportunities lost, mistakes made.
If your teen is using, you might first notice a withdrawn, tired, depressed or hostile attitude, or a change in friends, disinterest in grooming and declining attention to school or activities.
Most teens aren’t going to seek treatment without pressure from family or law enforcement, but dramatic “interventions” can backfire. NIDA recommends “creating incentives to get the teen to a doctor,” and having the medical professional direct them into treatment.
If your teen is using, you might first notice a withdrawn, tired, depressed or hostile attitude, or a change in friends, disinterest in grooming and declining attention to school or activities.