Your Teen and Drug Use

As a parent, it is important to know what are some of the destructive influences that might be impacting your child.

For example-
Marijuana, Availability Up Sharply
Between 2007 and 2009 there was a 37 percent increase in the percentage of 12- to 17-year olds who say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs (19 percent to 26 percent).

Forty percent of teens (10 million) can get marijuana within a day; nearly one-quarter of teens (5.7 million) can get it in an hour.

Teens who say that the decision to use marijuana by someone their age is not a big deal are four times more likely to use it compared to teens who say this decision is a big deal.

Teens whose parents believe the decision to use marijuana is not a big deal are almost twice as likely to use the drug, compared to teens whose parents say this decision is a big deal.

Most teens who smoke cigarettes (56 percent) say the decision to use marijuana is not a big deal.

Other Notable Findings
• Two-thirds of high school students say that drugs are used, kept or sold at their school.
• Sixty percent of parents say that their child’s school is not drug free.
• Of parents who say their teen’s school is not drug free, almost half think there is nothing they can do about it, and only a quarter have even tried.

These stats are taken from the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV: Teens and Parents, the 14th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

As a parent or loved one, how does this information effect your view on who your child spends time with or some of the activities they are engaging in? Talk with your child, let them know you care about them and perhaps are concerned over some of the choices they are making. Change often begins with communication.

Best of health and warmest regards, Paul Radkowski


-Saving and transforming lives and families 24/7

info@liferecoveryprogram.com
http://www.liferecoveryprogram.com/