Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2006
Source: Tri-City News (Port Coquitlam, CN BC)
paper=74&cat=48&id=777052&more
Copyright: 2006 Tri-City News
Contact:  http://www.tricitynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1239
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

LET'S TALK DRUGS

Teen drug and alcohol use is a fact of life in every community. Most  
of it is experimental; rarely does it lead to addiction.

It's not a crisis but it shouldn't be ignored either, judging by the  
latest McCreary teen health survey. In 2003, kids aged 13 to 18  
filled out a survey and one in five said they had tried marijuana and  
more than half said they had used alcohol. These are not surprising  
statistics but they should make parents take notice.

Parents, their own lack of confidence notwithstanding, are the best  
preventers. They are their child's first teachers and are the role  
models most copied by young people. Yet many probably don't know how  
to talk to their kids about the issue and most don't realize that  
simply conversing at sensitive times in their kids' lives, and  
possibly role-playing responses to hypothetical scenarios, will do  
more than any scary lecture in PE class. Parents don't have to be the  
experts either, they only need to raise the topic and know where to  
go for extra resources.

Schools are often a great help in providing materials and talking  
points for parents, many of whom can use their own experiences in  
explaining the downsides of experimenting at a young age. Drugs are  
now more potent, more accessible and contain more impurities than  
ever before. Alcohol poisoning and driving while drunk are very real,  
yet extremely dangerous, possibilities. New studies claim even  
marijuana has connections to psychosis and, at the very least, can  
impair teens at a point when their brains are at a critical  
development stage.

Schools can't do it alone. Parents need to connect with their kids  
and be prepared to be a sounding board, a consistent role model and a  
partner in a journey of inquiry.

That said, there is a role for school trustees, as well, in making  
sure students are allowed to participate in the McCreary study. As  
the third largest district in the province, Tri-City students must be  
allowed to provide their views and information on their behaviour for  
this study on youth health habits to be credible. Everybody needs  
information to make sound decisions and youth, parents, educators,  
health officials and prevention workers are no exception.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl