Children Distilling Hand Sanitizer, What's Next?

The latest craze for children getting high: distilling hand sanitizer and drinking the liquid.  The problem with this is that the liquid is a highly concentrated alcohol that is sending many children to the emergency with alcohol poisoning or worse causing their death.  Being aware of this craze is not enough because every news program  is providing our children with a road map of how to distill this easily available product using salt. 

What should do to prevent your child from falling victim to this latest fad?  First, talk to your children about the dangers of this phenomenon.  In addition, consider replacing your home sanitizers with foam sanitizer, alcohol wipes or alcohol free sanitizers.  Contact your schools to make sure that they are aware of this trend and encourage the school to change over to these other forms of sanitizers.

The Life of Amy Winehouse and a Teachable Moment on Drug Abuse

Take the time to talk to your children about the tragic loss of the very young and talented Amy Winehouse. Use this death as a starting point for a very serious discussion with your children about the dangers of drug use. Children and young adults tend to believe that they are infallible and therefore will take risks that may end in their death. It may just sink in that engaging in dangerous behaviors and drug use leads to death even in young people.

Drug Use and Our Children...The Statistics

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.