Browsing the archives for the Alcohol Drug Detox category
Peer pressure during the teenage years is at the top of the list of factors pushing youngsters into experimenting with drugs, according to Dr. D. Vincent Biase, former director of research and development at Daytop Village, a leading drug treatment center. But it shouldn’t be blamed for drug abuse, which is usually the result of [...]
Some drugs leave an open trail. Cigarette smoke settles in hair, in clothes, and on fingertips, where a parent can smell the evidence. Inhalants often have a peculiar odor, and the containers from which they came are easy to identify. But other drug use is harder to detect.
Parents are understandably reluctant to invade a child’s [...]
Parents try to understand today’s world through the world they experienced growing up. It won’t work. The transition from simple disciplinary problems to major police and health problem is the result not only of the passage of time but of major social upheavals.
For one thing, divorce has become a way of life, placing extra burdens [...]
If such use is unacceptable to you, then you must say so unequivocally. You can point out that it is illegal, adding, “We enjoy your visits, but not your smoking.” A woman who had smoked pot herself in the sixties put is this way to her daughter: “I can’t control what you do.
Since schools are where the kids are—or should be—most of the time, they are often the setting for the discovery of the drug problem or for conflicts because of it. Parents sometimes saddle them with both the blame and the responsibility. Yet, as an administrator points out, although “the parents think the schools should crack [...]
Many parents ask, “What should I do if my son lights up a joint while he’s visiting us?” First of all, be clear about your convictions before an incident occurs. If you’d rather your child didn’t hide the fact that he or she is using pot, make this plain.
He’ll get the message when you let him know that it’s no fun for you or anyone else to have him around when he really isn’t functioning. Be prepared for an angry response, but try not to give in. Your child must learn to suffer the full consequences of his behavior.
Some parents prepare to deal with their own children by recalling how they were treated by their parents and what their feelings were on the subject of drugs and drinking. First you can consider how they spoke to you, what they expected of you, how much they trusted you, and the degree to which you [...]
A “Reaching Out Room” in which these students can eat lunch and build new friendships with other recovering kids is also part of the program. This room is staffed all day, so there is always someone to talk to when the going gets rough.
Deerfield High School in Illinois assigns each returning youngster to a student who has been back in school for a while and can act as a guide.
You can try to hook him up with a counselor or psychologist in school or a student assistance program. Some high schools have special classes or sections for students who have been rehabilitated to provide a buffer between them and those who are still using.
On the other hand, there will be new friends who will respect him for having turned around and will not try to underline his commitment.
Crisis intervention centers are often community-based storefront facilities staffed mainly by nonprofessionals who have themselves been drug abusers. They are not likely to fall for the youngster who says, “I experimented just that one time,” or “I was keeping the stuff for a friend.” The centers provide emergency help, short-term treatment, and evaluation and referral. [...]
The child has learned to say no, but the temptation will be there, and a lot of it may come from students who will try to lure him back into the drug scene or make fun of him for having been caught or for going “straight.”
One youngster said, “It’s not as hard to go home as it is to go back to school.” He’s right, because in school, your child will once again be with the kids with whom he did drugs.
Just as colleges are different, each community has its unique characteristics. National publications may alert you to the dangers of designer drugs or homemade PCP (angel dust), and those substances may or may not be of major concern in your area. Usually a drug fad will start on one coast or the other, and then [...]
Although it’s not always easy to distinguish between drug use and abuse, in young children any use is abuse and should be taken seriously. The same is true of junior high students, although the one-time experiment with beer is not necessarily a sign of worse things to come. However, if drinking or smoking marijuana is [...]
She explained that the girl was sneaking pre-party drinks from her father’s liquor cabinet and drinking anytime she had to face a difficult social situation. Three years later, the young woman thanked her mother for engineering that visit to her first crucial AA meeting.
When a child runs away, it is like a punch in the nose, a shocking message that says, “You’re such a lousy parent, I don’t even want to live with you.” The child perceives the world away from home as a source of freedom, a carefree playground. Yet most teenagers who run away stay close [...]
Myths have grown out of the sixties experience. One of them is that if you don’t talk about it, it will go away. Another is that if you do talk about it, it will be okay. A bewildered mother who believed this, and whose son became seriously involved with cocaine, kept repeating, “But we communicate. [...]