A heroin victim's poetic warning for her sister – and the world |

A heroin victim's poetic warning for her sister – and the world |  "It was written by the young Harrisburg-area woman on Christmas Day 2005 – three months before she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 20 – to warn others about the dangers of abusing drugs. Natalie wrote the poem from Dauphin County Prison. She died 19 days after she was released."

Heroin

By Natalie Cribari

Through poison-tainted veins, I feel

A warmth that soothes, but is surreal

It's funny how we became acquainted

He made me quiver, I almost fainted.

He seemed so cool, so calm, and sweet

He swept me off my virgin feet.

We fell in love, or so I thought

My soul, Almighty love, is what he sought.

He hid his identity with a comforting mask,

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Mentors help at-risk youth avoid addiction

Helping mentor kids is a great way to volunteer for drug addiction prevention. The Momin the story below is dealing with the overdose death of her son by reaching out to other young people and sharing her experience. This is one of the ways to deal with grief and really help others--one real person sharing an experience with another--its real and it comes from the gut.

Other ways to share are by providing workshops that young people can come to, MIXED WITH ADULTS--like the young man below at a photography workshop in Alaska for the community--there were many teenagers taking the workshop with parents, professionals, and seniors--mixing the ages in activities betters communications and gives young people
respect and closeness with elders. 

Reach out to young people--not as an expert--not as an authority figure, but as a colleague and friend, by sharing your experiences, including young people in mixed generational activities. Include them--don't push them to be with their peers all the time (so they bond against adults) --they need varied experiences with all ages. That is how we learn. This summer be a mentor for young people, by sharing with them in conversations, activities, and respect.

Mentors help at-risk youth avoid addiction - News - Times Reporter - New Philadelphia, OH: "Otte’s son, Joey, died of a heroin overdose in September 2013, leaving her and her surviving sons devastated. That’s why she agreed to act as a mentor to a student who recently had gotten into trouble for drug use.
“I don’t want his death to be in vain,” Otte said. Telling her son’s story to other young people gives her hope that they may have a different outcome."

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Weekend-only drug use frequently slips into weekday drug use,

Peole don't "fall" into addiction and insanity--but build up slowly. They didn't need a study to know that weekend use graduates into weekday use for addicts..what we'd like to know, is why do some poeple NOT build into wekday use? Is it becasue they don't have the genitics to ease into addiciton? Is it becasue of their environment? Many questions...still too few answers--here is the study from the LA Times.

Weekend-only drug use frequently slips into weekday drug use, study says - LA Times: "ware, weekend ragers: A new study suggests that people who use drugs only on the weekends frequently begin using them on weekdays too."

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Offering Money to Smokers to Quit Pays Off, Study Finds

I like this!!!! It's a new look at getting people to do somehting that is good for them but maybe they don't really want to..like kids and drugs. We know that these things don't work:

scolding
saying, "When I was your age..."
shaming (trying to make them feel guilty)
contracts
letting them drink at home so they won't drink with their friends

Howver, if you piad them not to do drugs...would it work? Somehting to think about! If it works for smoking, it just might work (at least with some kids) for drinking and druging...

Offering Money to Smokers to Quit Pays Off, Study Finds - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids: "Offering financial incentives to smokers to quit is more effective than offering free counseling and nicotine replacement therapy, a new study concludes.

More than 2,500 CVS Health employees participated in the study. They were assigned to one of five groups: individual reward (based on their own performance); collaborative reward (based on their group’s performance); individual deposit (requiring an upfront deposit of $150 with subsequent matching funds); competitive deposit (competing for other participants’ deposits and matching funds) or usual care (including free smoking cessation aids and informational resources)."

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Vaping Tricks Increase Teens’ Attraction to E-Cigarettes

Whaever happened to blowing bubbles and creating "tricks" with soap bubbles--now it has to be vaping??? Oh my, how times change.

Vaping Tricks Increase Teens’ Attraction to E-Cigarettes - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids: "Many teens who use e-cigarettes say they enjoy performing tricks with the vapor, such as blowing smoke rings or creating funnels of smoke that look like tornadoes. Performing tricks is one of the top two reasons teens say they enjoy using e-cigarettes, Reuters reports."



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More parents fret over kids’ mental health than drugs

It's a shame but so many parents think their kids do not do drugs--or expeiriment..I've had so many kids come to me and ask me not to "tell my parents" and then confess to out of control driking or drugging. I've received messages form my web sites like www.YoungSoberFree.com   why is it so difficult to bleive--we know that most kids experiement with drugs, many abuse them, and yet parents always think they are the exception. Wishful thinking?



Are tyou a parent? Are your kids between 10 and 20? Then take this test:  from www.SoberCoachingYourTeen.com

More parents fret over kids’ mental health than drugs: study - NY Daily News: "Sixty-five percent of the 3,100 parents surveyed worry that their teen suffers from anxiety or depression, with nearly half saying that their kid has confessed mental health struggles to them.

But more than 75% kept their heads in the sand when it came to substance abuse, saying their little angels would never partake."

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