Lung Cancer Partners

Drug abuse among teenagers has reached epidemic proportions. No matter how on top of it you are, your teenagers are going to be exposed to drugs at school, the very place you believe to be a safe environment. Mrs. Reagan's 'Just say no to drugs' campaign was a complete failure. The truth is that teens view adults as old fuddy-duddies that don't know anything. Parents, try as they may, face an uphill battle in safe guarding their children from the ravaging effects of drugs.

The challenge is made more difficult by the fact that most of us have prescription medications in our cupboards. When confronting the issue of teens and drugs, you have to present a sound argument that differentiates between necessary prescriptions and illegal drugs. This isn't easy. Some common prescription medicines are being sold at school as a way to catch a buzz. Kids don't realize that these medications are issued in duplicate or triplicate, as a way to control the use of certain narcotics. Not having experienced a real need for these drugs themselves, they could well come to the conclusion that their parents are experiencing and liking some buzz that they are somehow being forbidden.

One more problem with educating children on the issue of teen drug abuse is that this society does not show any differences between drugs. Some pharmaceutical drugs are needed, but when it comes to our youth and drugs, we say that every drug is bad. This is a deception. Some children need specific drugs for a legitimate condition. Used improperly, that medication can teen] high who doesn't need it. Sometimes, that medication can have lethal consequences when used as a 'recreational' drug.

Kids are not able to make those distinctions. For example, a patient with severe pain because of arthritis or cancer, could be prescribed codeine or another opiate to manage the pain. Kids don't comprehend that this person doesn't get high. That medication only eases the pain. However, in the world of teens and drugs, this potentially dangerous drug becomes an opportunity toget high. They don't realize the difference.

One huge deception that encourages teenage drug abuse is the fable of marijuana. This street drug is posited as the first step to drug addiction, thrown in the same category as heroin and crack cocaine. The same hour that high school kid tries pot, the child sees that even though it gets them high and they like it, they can hide this new habit from their parents and it doesn't make them crazy. They make the conclusion that the rest of the warnings about teenagers and drugs are deceptions. That's the reason why they fall into the jaws of the really dangerous drugs.

As a world village, we need to teach our children. Explain the effects of drugs. Mescaline, crack, heroin and drugs like 'ecstasy' can destroy their lives or kill them. Tell the truth. We can help our children.Addiction is a serious problem in our society today but with the right education we can teach our future generations the truth and consequences of addictions and drug abuse.

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