Talking to Your Kids About Drugs/Alcohol-ages 15-17

[Plenty Fox]

The many suggestions offered for the previous age groups need to continue and if they were not initiated at those ages, it is even more imminent to do so now. Continue to praise and encourage your teenage children for all the things they do well and for the positive choices they make. When you are proud of your son or daughter, tell him or her.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Older teens have already had to make decisions many times about whether or not to try drinking or using other drugs. To resist peer pressure, teens need more than a general message not to use drugs.

· They need to be warned of the potentially deadly effects of combining drugs.

· They need to hear a parent’s assertion that anyone can become a chronic user or an addict and that even non-addicted use can have serious, permanent consequences.

· They need to be reminded that alcohol and drugs affect the brain and impair judgment, even when used in small doses.

· Because most high school students are future oriented, they may listen to discussions of how alcohol and drugs can sabotage their chances of being admitted into a good college, being accepted by the military, or being hired for certain jobs.

[quicksilverwade]

A lot of this comes down to supervision. I may sound crazy but the kids need to be supervised 24 hrs a day.

[scorpiostwin11_76]

I used to work with young adults within this age range. I can't say that I understand where exactly they stand on the issue of teens using drugs and alcohol, but I can tell you that I do understand their frame of mind on peer pressure. The young adults I worked with totally admitted to peer pressure on certain issues. When it came to drugs it was different. They shut down on that. I think the young adults are starting to notice the consequences of alcohol abuse, because they will openly admit that they do drink alcohol, or have tried it once or twice. When it comes to the drug part its like pulling teeth to get a true reaction out of them. Yes, they do openly admit having used drugs before, but they will not admit how it made them feel, or how they would get access to certain drugs.

I agree with the supervision comment by quicksilverwade. There are parents that go on with their lives thinking their child or children are not messin' with drugs/Alcohol. I guess its a denial issue on the parents'/guardians' end.

The real issue is cultural identity. I know young adults on my rez that have no clue about culture, yet they say they are proud to be N8V. I used to ask them "How can you be proud of your culture if you don't know anything about it?" Its not all young adults that are like that, just those who seem to be having a hard time going through life changes. I am 28 yrs old now, and I have always been respectful to elders because they KNOW more about culture than I. When I go to different reservations I am respectful to their culture because I'm considered a visitor. At the same time I do not see the youth of today respecting elders, fellow tribal members, or other tribal members at that. I think cultural identity for young adults plays a big role on the whole drugs and alcohol in their lives. I'm only one person telling my experiences, I am sure other people may see it different.

[cosmos]

Please share with family and friends. Protect them.

I thought this was important to all of us. Thought everyone who has kids, grandkids, and works with kids should know about this. True Story!!
If you have children or grandchildren please read! This was on Good Morning America last week.

First I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name is Jeff I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for its crime rate. We have a lot of gangs and drugs. At one point we were # 2 in the nation in homicides per capita. I also have a police K-9 named Thor. He was certified in drugs and general duty. He retired at 3 years old because he was shot in the line of duty. He lives with us now and I still train with him because he likes it.

I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house. Thor wouldn't allow it. He would tell on you. The reason I say this is so you understand that I know about drugs. I have taught in schools about drugs. My wife asks all our kids at least once a week if they used any drugs make them promise they won’t.

I like building computers occasionally and started building a new one in February 2005. I also was working on some of my older computers. They were full of dust so on one of my trips to the computer store I bought a 3 pack of DUST OFF. Dust Off is a can of compressed air to blow dust off a computer. A few weeks later when I went to use one of them they were all used. I talked to my kids and my two sons both said they had used them on their computer and messing around with them. I yelled at them for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them.

On February 28 I went back to the computer store. They didn't have the 3 pack which I had bought on sale so I bought a single jumbo can of Dust Off. I went home and set it down beside my computer.

On March 1st, I left for work at 10 PM. Just before midnight my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight. At 5:30 am the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school, before she left for work. He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed and his head leaning over. She called to him a few times to get up. He didn't move. He would sometimes tease her like this and pretend he fell back asleep. He was never easy to get up. She went in and shook his arm. He fell over. He was pale white and had the straw from the Dust Off can coming out of his mouth. He had the new can of Dust Off in his hands. Kyle was dead.

I am a police officer and I had never heard of this. My wife is a nurse and she had never heard of this. We later found out from the coroner, after the autopsy, that only the propellant from the can of Dust off was in his system. No other drugs. Kyle had died between midnight and 1 AM. I found out that using Dust Off is being done mostly by kids’ ages 9 through 15. They even have a name for it. It's called dusting. A take off from the Dust Off name. It gives them a slight high for about 10 seconds. It makes them dizzy.

A boy who lives down the street from us showed Kyle how to do this about a month before. Kyle showed his best friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn't hurt you. Its just compressed air. It can't hurt you. His best friend said no. Kyle was wrong. It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant called R2. It’s a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. It is a heavy gas. Heavier than air. When you inhale it, it fills your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out. That's why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. Kyle was right. It can't hurt you. IT KILLS YOU. The horrible part about this is there is no warning. There is no level that kills you. It's not cumulative or an overdose; it can just go randomly, terribly wrong. Roll the dice and if your number comes up you die. IT'S NOT AN OVERDOSE. It's Russian roulette. You don't die later. Or not feel good and say I've had too much. You usually die as you're breathing it in. If not, you die within 2 seconds of finishing "the hit." That's why the straw was still in Kyle's mouth when he died. Why his eyes were still open. The experts want to call this huffing. The kids don't believe it's huffing. As adults we tend to lump many things together. But it doesn't fit here. And that's why it's more accepted. There is no chemical reaction. No strong odor. It doesn't follow the huffing signals.

Kyle complained a few days before he died of his tongue hurting. It probably did. The propellant causes frostbite. If I had only known. It's easy to say hey, it's my life and I'll do what I want. But it isn't. Others are always affected. This has forever changed our family's life. I have a hole in my heart and soul that can never be fixed. The pain is so immense I can't describe it. There's nowhere to run from it. I cry all the time and I don't ever cry. I do what I'm supposed to do but I don't really care. My kids are messed up. One won't talk about it. The other will only sleep in our room at night. And my wife, I can't even describe how bad she is taking this.
I thought we were safe because of Thor. I thought we were safe because we knew about drugs and talked to our kids about them. After Kyle died another story came out. A Probation Officer went to the school system next to ours to speak with a student. While there he found a student using Dust Off in the bathroom this student told him about another student who also had some in his locker. This is a rather affluent school system. They will tell you they don't have a drug problem there. They don't even have a dare or plus program there. So rather than tell everyone about this "new" way of getting high they found, they hid it. The probation officer told the media after Kyle's death and they, the school, then admitted to it. I know that if they would have told the media and I had heard, it wouldn't have been in my house. We need to get this out of our homes and school computer labs. Using Dust Off isn't new and some "professionals" do know about. It just isn't talked about much, except by the kids. They all seem to know about it.

April 2nd was 1 month since Kyle died. April 5th would have been his 15th birthday. And every weekday I catch myself sitting on the living room couch at 2:30 in the afternoon and waiting to see him get off the bus. I know Kyle is in heaven but I can't help but wonder If I died and went to Hell.

----------------
This Officer is asking for everyone who receives this email to forward
it to everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement Officers.
Rita A. Marocco
Executive Director
NAMI-DE
2400 West Fourth Street
Wilmington, DE 19805
302-427-0787

https://www.namide.org

[onca-pintada]

the first step to help the younger generation is to look deeply at our own relationship with self-destructive habits

[nativehunny]

drugs and alcohol

I believe that the war with drugs and alcohol is far from over and that it is on an uprise.
The drugs is prevelant among the teenagers. I think that they need role models to look up to; whether the role models be siblings or a member of the community. They need positive reinforcement to overcome this poison.
The war with alcohol is also on an uprise. More and more teenagers are turning to alcohol. I think the parents' role here is to instill in their childs' mind that alcohol is not the solution to their problems or stress. As parents we must stand up to alcohol before it poisons our childs' heart, mind, body, and soul against us.

[chazziff]

i think you have to be completely honest - be it with your own previous personal use and the consequences of using drugs and alcohol. just saying "don't do it" and nothing else is not going to cut it - and you have to start young. if you don't start a good relationship with communication early it will be impossible later ...

i've been talking to my daughters since they were small - this one day we were at a red light and there was a group of people who were obviously down on their luck (possibly homeless) and obviously drunk ... i could see my girls looking at them - sharing a large pepsi bottle with clear liquid in it and another one wrapped in a brown paper bag...i just mentioned that "you know they didn't start out when they were little kids wanting to be out on the street like that ... it was just the decisions they made when they were younger that lead them to where they are now." "You have to really think about the things you do and will do ..." - they didn't say anything at that time ... but i know little kids are listening ... they always are even when you think they aren't