Parents
The first thing to say to parents if they have worries about their children using drugs is
“DON’T PANIC!”
Let’s look at some of the worries around young people and drug use:
- All young people are taking drugs.
- Many young people will choose not to take drugs.
- Of the estimated 1/3 to 2/3 of young people who have tried drugs before the age of 16, with the vast majority, it will have been cannabis use. Of these, many will have tried once or twice to experiment and then decided not to it again!
- If they do go on using it will most probably be on an occasional basis.
- Drugs are more available now and young people are using at a younger age.
- Most people who use drugs will come to little or no harm, using occasionally or more often, but in a controlled manner. In the same way everyone who has a drink doesn’t become an alcoholic, so every young person who tries drugs doesn’t end up addicted or dead.
- Young people who use drugs are not abnormal or deviant. To some young people drug use is fairly normal. Young people may experiment with drugs for much the same reasons as parents may have done with alcohol. Because it is seen as being fun and for the thrill.
Parents may often feel that if their children are exposed to anyone who is taking drugs, or chose to do so themselves, they are in danger of losing them to an uncontrollable and all consuming monster that will drag them down to the lowest and darkest of places.
These fears are constantly being reinforced by the ignorance and secrecy that surrounds the use of drugs in our society. Sensationalism of the issues by the media, and the refusal of government to sanction a serious informal debate on the issues leaves us all less informed and more concerned.
It is in this climate of misinformation and mythology that parents are expected to make their own judgment’s and dictates the manner in which they react when they suspect their child may be involved in the use of drugs.
Many parents may fear that they are unable to protect and keep those they love & care for safe from a powerful and destructive force, more persuasive and influential than themselves.
The premature loss of what may be seen as a childs innocence and control over what they chose to do can also be a difficult thing for a parent to come to terms with.
If we were to visualise our fears about drugs as a room, I am sure it would be a dark one with vaguely threatening shapes and shadowy indistinct corners.
Well then let’s throw open the door; pull up the blinds, open the windows and take a good look!