At the beginning of each series that I write to you about, I try to start by painting a picture of how important the topic is to the well being of our children. When it comes to the topic of drug use, it quite literally is a topic of life and death.
National surveys report that the average age that children first try alcohol is eleven and marijuana is twelve. Keep in mind that this is the average, so many children are reported to have tried it much earlier, if this is the average.
The good news is that illegal drug use is down among teens and it is believed to be due to education about drug use. he bad news, prescription drug use among teens is on the rise. This rise may be due to a belief that prescription drugs are safer than illegal drugs. Alcohol kills six and a half times more teens than all other drugs combined.
These statistics may be surprising to you but here is one that should send you running to have these talks with your children. Teenagers whose parents had frequent discussions with them about the dangers of drug use are 42% less likely to use drugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment