Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Prevention Solutions - Older Child
[ Page 1 of 7 | print friendly version ]Youth Drug Experimentation: Simply a Matter of Choice?
This common viewpoint has been brought to my attention several times recently, prompting me to share how I now see it, in humble 20/20 hindsight, and having spent several years in layresearch as I’ve come to grips with my own late son Ryan’s apparently “simple” choice.
Agreed: The choice to experiment with drugs is a choice that has been the downfall of many (drugs including tobacco, marihuana, alcohol, and prescription medication).
Agreed: It would be wonderful if we could influence them all to choose not to ‘go for it’ simply by educating them to make that ‘cognitive’ decision. For many it is relatively simple and doable. However, for the remainder, other forces can impact their power of choice more powerfully than education on the hazards of drug use. I discovered some of them too late to help Ryan.
A greater understanding of these forces can empower us to act preventively, ideally, long before our children are introduced to drugs and alcohol.
Forces of Impact on The Power of Choice: Research in the psychological, neurocognitive, behavioural, medical, and social sciences reveal that the following ‘states of being’ play a powerful role in decision-making:
Genetics > predisposition for addiction may contribute to choosing to use drugs and alcohol however genes alone have not been found to determine outcome but rather to go hand in hand with the child’s environmental influences.1 In other words, given a healthy environment, genetic predisposition for addiction can be overcome.
