Why Are Parents Surprised to Find Out Their Kids Use Drugs?

                                                                                         

You often hear of parents who didn’t know their kid was taking drugs until they’re in the emergency room at the local hospital, arrested, or in some other serious trouble. They think their kids would never do that, or that they would tell them if they did. How can parents be so disconnected from what’s going on in their kids lives?

One of the major reasons is that parents have an image of drug-users that does not include their kids.

They see drug users as kids from horrible homes with horrible problems. Parents who take drugs, drink excessively, abuse their kids or neglect them. Or maybe they’re extremely poor and the parents are constantly stressed out trying to keep up with things.

Maybe they come from the ‘other side of the tracks’, or live in areas with gangs or high crime rates.

They see kids that use drugs as defiant, negative, rebellious creatures who can’t be controlled and don’t participate in family life, do well in school, play sports, and so on.

Whatever the specifics of the image, one thing we can be sure of is that the image was incomplete – because it didn’t include their kids.

In fact, the image has changed - many of the kids taking drugs these days do not fit the typical image of drug users. They go to good schools, have good grades (which starts changing when they’ve been taking drugs), they play football or basketball, they have nice friends, their parents treat them well, they have a pretty good relationship with them, and they have at least some of their dinners as a family.

What happened? Did nasty drug dealers sneak into the suburbs in the dead of night to get the ‘good’ kids hooked? Well, that may be partially true. As the drug addiction and abuse problem escalates it’s bound to creep into every nook and cranny of society.

But a more important factor is the drugs of choice. Kids used to try marijuana as their introduction to the drug world. Now they try Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin, Xanax, Valium, Librium, Serax – basically, whatever their parents or their friends’ parents have in the medicine cabinet.

They don’t necessarily have any big problems in life, they may even be pretty happy. But they’ve heard from their friends – and learned from their parents (who kids think take these drugs to feel good) and the Big Pharma ads that saturate just about every TV show – that they can feel even better with drugs. So, they try them out.

But they don’t know anything about these drugs. They think they’re safe: they come from a doctor and their parents, who would never ‘take drugs,’ take them. They don’t know specifically what they’re for, how much they can take or which drugs you can’t mix with other drugs. They also don’t know that a large percentage of the drugs carry black box warnings about serious side effects, including the potential of prescription drug addiction. They’re just checking them out.

And if they like how the drugs make them feel, they’ll keep taking them. And next thing you know, they’re in the emergency room at the local hospital, arrested, or in some other serious trouble.

That’s the drug scene today. Be aware of it, and really keep an eye on your kids. If you notice any changes in their personality, their school performance, their habits or their friends, dig in to find out why. And if you find or suspect they’ve been taking drugs, call a drug rehab referral service that can help you figure out what’s up and, if necessary, get them into a drug addiction treatment center.

About the author:

Gloria MacTaggart is a freelance writer that contributes articles on health.

info@drugrehabreferral.com

http://www.drugrehabreferral.com

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