Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment

20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.

Drugs & Alcohol

Many Generations Have Suffered: What Can We Do?

Unfortunately, as parents, we are often the last to know, or believe it, when our children are in trouble. The American 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study¹ found that:

Less than 18% of parents believe their teenager has smoked marijuana, yet 39% percent of teens report using this drug. (And how many others who didn’t admit it?)
Just 1% of parents believe their teen has used Ecstasy; yet 9% of teens (approximately 2.1 million) state they have used this drug.
Although, most parents say they believe it is important to discuss drugs with their kids, less than 33% of teens report learning a lot about the dangers of drugs from home.

Why is this?

Family life today is hectic and stressful, where is the time to educate ourselves? Many of us believe that since our own experiments, or that of high school chums, didn’t cause long-term harm, that our children will be safe too. Or we may be unsure of how to talk to our kids when they ask us if we used drugs. Unfortunately, because the drugs of today are not the same strength or purity as those of a few decades ago we must make time and take a fresh approach. The statistics prove it.

In Canada in the year 2002, according to a new report² released April 26, 2006 by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs cost the Canadian economy 40 billion dollars! Add to this the immeasurable emotional costs, a cost unimaginable unless to have experienced it yourself.

Fortunately, it has been shown that youths who have been well educated during the elementary school years have a greater rate of abstinence. This does NOT mean they have been educated exclusively at school. Their parents have played a significant role in their early drug education.

“When children do not learn about the risks of drugs from home (other than the glamorized versions of drug addiction depicted on television and in the movies) you can bet they are learning it from their friends. This is exactly why education in the home is so important.”

– Kelly Nault, MA, Clinical Counselor and Author, 20/20 Parenting Founding Contributor

To assist you in educating your children, this section of the website is accepting articles on drugs and alcohol in general as well as on specific substances. Some will also cover treatment…what to do to help a child already using.

1. PDF: American 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study
2. PDF: The Costs of Substance Abuse in Canada 2002: Highlights

CBC NEWS article, Sun, Sep 24 2006: Half of teen drug, alcohol use slips by parents: study