How Do You Talk to Kids About Drugs?

Have you ever experimented with illegal drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, PCP, Molly, or prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Percocet, or Vicodin? Have you ever had to overcome your drug usage? Do you ever worry about your children, and what they might start experimenting with? Are you ever concerned that your child might develop an addiction to drugs? One of the best ways that parents can help guard against the threat of drugs for their children is to talk to them about drugs, including illegal drugs, and misused prescription medications. It might be awkward, but it’s necessary-it could be one of the most important conversations you ever have with your children.

And parents need to keep up with trends. Even though the abuse of prescription medication is a huge problem and growing (accounting for three quarters of all fatal drug overdoses), 86 percent of parents didn’t mention it to their children when they talked about drugs. The CDC has said that one in five teenagers in America has misused those kinds of painkillers. So what can parents do:

•Research current drug trends

•Be honest, especially about their own past drug usage and the consequences

•Emphasize the dangers of drug abuse and drug addiction

If you ever need any help talking to your son or daughter about drugs, please let Retreat at Lancaster County and Palm Beach know. We understand what you are going through. Most of us went through it ourselves.

How Do You Talk to Kids About Drugs?