The Parent Blame Game | In Recovery Magazine- My Story

I ran across this article again. I wrote it last year for In Recovery Magazine. It's my story with my daughter and the basis for the book from my brother and myself, Sober Coaching Your Teen, as well as the rewrite of Young, Sober, & Free from Hazelden.. If you are a parent and have an addicted child or one experimenting--read my story. Don't let this happen to you.

The Parent Blame Game | In Recovery Magazine: "“Repeat that. He said the joke’s on me?” She nodded. Alcoholism and addiction runs in our family. In fact, it is very aggressive within the Marshall family. My mother, father, uncle, brothers and cousins all suffer from this destructive brain chemistry disorder. Today, most of us are clean and sober. The few who aren’t are in the process of destroying themselves or have already died from the disease."

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Teens teach teens about drug abuse

I like the concept of Drug Story Theater, and we know that peer talking to each other works pretty good--but in this case I would be cautious. Kids may be more likely to listen to other kids, but once they walk out of the theater, they are more likely to listen to the guy beside them--and not remember the story on stage. it's the way of things. Still, this is a lightly better approach than having kids lectured by adults...



You can read about it below.

Teens teach teens about drug abuse - News - The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA - Quincy, MA: "atos, 17, is reading the words from a script, but the story is familiar. Like all the vignettes featured in the Drug Story Theater production, it’s the staged version of what the actors themselves experienced.
The concept came to Dr. Joe Shrand years ago: Many schools have assemblies about drug use, but adults telling kids what not to do just doesn’t have the same impact as teens talking to other teens about real-life experiences."



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Ever get that Sinking Feeling when explaning Drugs verses Alcohol?

WalkSoftlyandCarryaBigBook.com

Students teach parents that their prescription pills can start kids down road of drug addiction

Hey, these kids are teaching their parents about prescription drugs! I love this. If you set kids on a mission (or anyone for that matter) to research something so they may teach it to another--who learns the most? Great approach and I applaud the teacher who created this "lesson". Remember Johnathon Livingston Seagull? "You teach best what you most need to learn."

In Hillsdale, students teach parents that their prescription pills can start kids down road of drug addiction - News - NorthJersey.com: "As part of a sophomore honors English course, the students spent most of the school year researching how teenagers use prescription drugs, how prevalent their use is and how parents can curb the dramatic rise in drug abuse. Their work culminated Monday night in a class presentation of the first of two forums for school-district parents as part of their “Lock It Up, Drop It Off” project. "

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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,

read more

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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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Santa Monica 'Reality Parties' To Scare Parents Into Thinking Their Kids Are Addicts

Never heard of this before--reality parties. It is designed to get parents to see what a party is really like and is supposed to "scare" them into thinking their kids are headed for tragedy if they pal around with their friends at these parties--the article here is sarcastic but the concept is intriguing. these "reality" parties for parents might be poorly done, but I think if done right, it could be a good thing--open up dialog, and help parents see thsings they are blind to. It might be a good way to teach parents about Sober Coaching their kids.

Santa Monica 'Reality Parties' To Scare Parents Into Thinking Their Kids Are Addicts: LAist: ""The goal of the #ItsTooEasy Reality Party is to create an opportunity for parents, administrators and community leaders to come together to discuss how we can better protect our youth from the misuse and abuse of drugs and alcohol," Brenda Simmons, Director of the Westside Impact Project, told the Santa Monica Mirror. Her organization is co-hosting the reality parties along with the CLARE Foundation and Straight Up Reality Improv, and will be sponsored in part with your hard-earned taxpayer dollars from the City of Santa Monica and its police department."

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Former anti-drug activists reflect on marijuana legalization

It's a thorny issue--this stuff about legalizing Drugs. Since we do allow the recreational use of drugs, mainly alcohol and cigarettes, I find it hard to rationalize why marajuana can't be among them. It certianly is less violent and disruptive than the drug acohol in the family and community. Humans use drugs. They always have and apparently always will. If we want to control their use as a culture and society, it woud lbe best to make it the least harmful form a societal and familial sense--that means taking the money out of it for the gangs and cartels (and some say the CAI). These women have an intersting take on it.

Former anti-drug activists reflect on marijuana legalization - The Washington Post: "But there was something different, Vonneva Pettigrew could tell, about her neighborhood that day. She could smell it when she walked along the residential streets lined with tidy brick houses and sense it when she talked to the neighbors. More people were smoking pot. And they were doing it in the open. Marijuana may have been legal for only a day, but for Pettigrew, 76, it was the 1970s all over again."

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Breaking through crowd not always easy.

Some times you just have ask people to get out of your way.



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“Palcohol” Maker Says His Product is No More Dangerous Than Liquid Alcohol

Unbelievable!!!! You got to read this one. Now kids can snort their alcohol. I hope this manufacturer is proud of what he or they have accomplished.

“Palcohol” Maker Says His Product is No More Dangerous Than Liquid Alcohol - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids: "The maker of the powdered alcohol product “Palcohol” says it is no more dangerous than liquid alcohol, The New York Times reports. Palcohol, recently approved for sale by a federal agency, has been banned in six states. A bill to ban powdered alcohol’s sale and manufacture nationwide has been introduced by Senator Charles Schumer of New York."

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Students teach about drug dangers -

Often, kids will listen to other kids before they listen to their parents. People think that kids get hooked ondrugs from the local drug dealer down the street--but research shows that kids are more like to get on drugs fromt heir older siblings and fromtheir friends at school--finding the local drug dealer comes AFTER they were introduced from their frinds, not before.

In any case, I like the concept here of middle school kids working with grammer school kids. I'd like to revisit this in a year or two and see what happens.



Students teach about drug dangers - Mount Airy News - mtairynews.com: " Surry County Schools are hoping to spark a culture change among local families to combat prescription drug abuse. This year marks the fifth year a student task force has planned and held programs shared in schools."



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Local agency offers free drug testing kits for teens

I'm thinking I like giving these test kis out for free--It's not so pleasent to ask your child if they are doing drugs."mind if I test you?"  that might be hard. Unless they are acting really really weird and you need to know why. I think this is an individual choice, however. Waht is going to work in your family? Are you doing this becasue you need an answer or are you testing becasue you want to humiliate them? You need to be clear on why you are doing it and what the answer will set in motion.

Local agency offers free drug testing kits for teens - WPSD Local 6: Your news, weather, and sports authority: "A $20 test offers results for ten types of illegal drugs, but Andrea Hoskins with The Graves County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy and Prevention said it also can offer parents peace of mind. "Parents can have that open communication with their child about drug use that they may not have had before, especially if they suspect it."
"



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Maryvale to mandate drug forums for parents -

I like the idea of parents learning about drug abuse--BUT mandatory? By whose authority? The school systems work for us. We don't work for them. Just another Big Government power grab. "We know what is best for you, so you have to do what we say."



Yeah right--like when they told us speed was not addictive, that eating 3 meals a week with your kid prevents addiciton, like saying marajuana will drive you instantly mad...like when they used to tell parents they should teach their children how to drink at home--all expert advice at one time or another. Wake up parents.



Maryvale to mandate drug forums for parents - City & Region - The Buffalo News: "During its meeting Monday night, the Board of Education approved mandatory parent meetings to begin next academic year.

Parents of students in sixth to 12th grades will be required to attend the forums or their children will be unable to participate in extracurricular activities, such as sporting events, dances and clubs. In consideration of families with more than one child, attendance would cover parents for four years."



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