How do we go about talking to teenagers about drugs and alcohol?

I have been getting more and more calls from parents who have children in the 15-18 year old bracket, concerned about their teens either experimenting or having a problem with some sort of substance. The topic was resurfaced when a parent I know asked me a similar question: How do we go about talking to teens about drug experimentation? How do we handle it?

One of the things I see as most important in dealing with this is to lead by example. If a teenager sees a parent using and abusing drugs or alcohol, they automatically view it as alright. When your parent is doing something, it comes across as an acceptable thing. Part of what needs to be explained is that many people/parents do and can socially have a drink or two. Adults can have a drink occasionally and it does not affect their life, but in the same right, there are people who cannot.

I have always taught my own kids in this way. I use my own sister as the perfect example. She is a hardworking professional, mother of two successful children who occasionally has a glass of wine with dinner. The point is, she knows when and where the proper time and place to do so is. This is what most teenagers don’t know.

The key is keeping the lines of communication open. It is what I have always done with my children, really educating them on what the use of drugs and alcohol can do to an individual. I believe that parents should always let their kids know that they can tell them about their thoughts and questions in this area, what they are thinking about it. What I can’t stress enough is how important it is to educate young folks on the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol, to share your own experiences.

For many years, I have gone to speak in elementary, middle, and high schools, with kids of all ages about the medical, psychological, and personal problems that drugs and alcohol can cause. My own daughter had come home once in her junior year after hearing a professional speak at her high school. She was so struck by the way they went about teaching them, the way they displayed to the students the damage this can do, how wrong things can go from what they think is pure fun.

We need to start educating them on the severity, on how fatal innocent experimentation can be. And, we as parents need to start this process as young as early middle school. If we establish that open communication early on, then it will always be there. That makes all the difference.

Let’s continue to communicate and educate, getting through to teenagers before they are surrounded by the peer pressures that inevitably come. And, by the time there is that high school party, they will know what the right thing is to do.

Please comment with any specific additional questions I might be able to answer for you, because it is such an important topic for us to address.

Chronic Pain

Last week while doing a group at Sunrise Detox in New Jersey, I found that eight of the fourteen patients were there because of an addiction to pain medication. Many of those people stated that prior to their injuries or surgeries, they had never had any drug problem. In addition to that, a few even stated that they had drank socially throughout their lives. And, of course, the number one question that I was asked by the group was ‘How will I live without my pain medication, and am I really an addict?’

After the group, it made me question the same thing: Are these people addicts, or are these people just victims of working with some uninformed medical professionals when it comes to narcotic medication. One of the patients was put on methadone after having major knee surgery. I am not a doctor, but to me, that is a recipe for disaster.

I wondered as to why it is that some medical professionals insist on giving patients such large doses of narcotic medications. I find that in the year 2010, after working with some holistic based treatment centers, there are other options out there for one’s pain i.e. acupuncture, yoga, physical therapy. I have even heard from some professionals that EMDR has helped in some cases.

I feel that we owe it to the individual to allow them to explore the options more, deal with their chronic pain without medication before we give them any sort of narcotics.

Over the past six months, we at Sunrise have seen more chronic pain patients addicted to narcotics than ever before. I personally believe that some people are predisposed to addiction, which is all the more reason to be careful not to give out opiate based medications for pain.

I now refer back to my original question: Are these patients addicts, or have they just had medical care by professionals not fully trained in addiction?

COLLEGE PARTYING- the problem

I want to open by saying I know that I have not written in the past few weeks, a combination of spending time with my family over the holidays and trying to stay warm in New Jersey. I will be back to blogging regularly and posting for you all to read. I am proud to say that at the time I am writing this, we have ten patients in our freshly opened New Jersey facility.

The reason I came about my topic for this week is that on my flight back from New Jersey the other day, I read a disturbing article in USA Today. The article dealt with the issue of college drug use and binge drinking being on the rise. Some interesting studies were provided by the National Center on Addiction Substance Abuse. Some of the facts that alarmed me were that 23% of students meet the medical definition for alcohol or drug abuse dependence, which seemed to me astonishingly high. Another was that 43% of all students report drinking in a high risk manner at some points in their college career.

I have a daughter who is a college student and have talked with her and her friends about the topic before. These are people who do not drink or take drugs, but all of them have mentioned dealing with a problem with another student who was abusing drugs or alcohol, or being at a party that got so out of hand that the police were called.

What I have learned about this from hearing what my own kid has to say about it is that it’s gotten worse as the years have passed, and the attitude towards drinking and drugs is a frightening thing. It is the mentality of being invincible, that she explained many of them have. That is what causes the trouble, the thought that no matter how far they go they will be fine, that it is just fun or “not a big deal.” Many of them just think that nothing bad will happen, that they could never become an alcoholic, that it just couldn’t happen to them. What I know to be true though, is that we don’t choose to become addicted.

I guess my opinion is that the key to helping people at this age prevent being in these scary and potentially dangerous situations is simple, talk to them. By having folks like myself on staff to be able to educate these people on the pitfalls of drugging and drinking. I honestly must say though, that more than anything I believe that the parental/family role in all of this is huge. Tell them about your experiences, the things that have happen to you.

It is not that I am saying we will ever stop this problem completely, but I am saying that I believe that it can be made better.