drug abuse prevention and anxious kids | ADHD Information
jaderock, that is horrible. I'd be so upset! The poor little guy!
I was watching the news here last night and they are doing this big special on teens and prescritpion drugs. The BIG one was Adderall. They kept saying it is SO easily accesible and this is part of why it is becoming a drug of choice. I thought, BOY, when we need my daughters meds it's not all that easy to get .
How sad, as my daughter, and others become older teens they can perceived as abusing drugs, or even if she saw the newscast, how she;d have felt.
The scary part was this police chiefs son they interviewed overdosed on precription meds, they take adderall or stims in the day then something to bring the "down" later in the afternoon or evening and he took prescripton methodone.
How do teens even know about things like this and/or get their hands on it. If it's the "old fashioned way" of buying them on the street, then it's not about being easily assessible, the story made it sound like, they go home and open Grandpa's med bottle for him, and pocket a few of his pills when they do..............and I am sure there are kids who do this, the same kids who would've bought them from whoever on the street..............
sorry, went off on a little tangent there, but this scare thing is really frustrating............
[QUOTE=Diane V]jaderock, that is horrible. I'd be so upset! The poor little guy!
I was watching the news here last night and they are doing this big special on teens and prescritpion drugs. The BIG one was Adderall. They kept saying it is SO easily accesible and this is part of why it is becoming a drug of choice. I thought, BOY, when we need my daughters meds it's not all that easy to get 
.
Adderal isn't a "drug of choice"--again the media scare tactics. The most popular drug is still alcohol
Followed by pot. Followed by cocaine derivatives and lab stimulants [meth]
How sad, as my daughter, and others become older teens they can perceived as abusing drugs, or even if she saw the newscast, how she;d have felt.
The scary part was this police chiefs son they interviewed overdosed on precription meds, they take adderall or stims in the day then something to bring the "down" later in the afternoon or evening and he took prescripton methodone.
That's why kids need to be educated.
Let's face it, some of them are going to try it--much as we might wish they do not. This anti-drug stuff isn't working.
It comes down to a bottom line--do we want a LIVE kid that tried it and realized it was a stupid experiment?
Or a DEAD kid to point to and say "look, that's what happens to a kid who uses drugs." Hardcore, educated drug users know that mixing drugs is more dangerous than singular usage.
How do teens even know about things like this and/or get their hands on it. If it's the "old fashioned way" of buying them on the street, then it's not about being easily assessible, the story made it sound like, they go home and open Grandpa's med bottle for him, and pocket a few of his pills when they do..............and I am sure there are kids who do this, the same kids who would've bought them from whoever on the street..............
Frankly, in all my years of working with drug users Ritalin was LOW on the list of "good" drugs. The media, quite frankly, is fueling this fantasy. I never found a drug user who did oxycontins until the media "exposed" the abuse of them and the next thing you know--every starving person with an oxycontin in the cupboard could find someone to sell it to. And long-time drug users still prefer heroin, morphine and old-fashioned dilaudid because of injectability.
Oxycontins tend to be used by people who have legal access to it [say, due to a car accident] then are craving more, or are not getting enough to dull the pain so they buy extras. Or by those who had them for pain and then the scrip was withdrawn improperly instead of tapered and now they're avoiding withdrawal. They sell in small towns where street opiates tend to be less available.
I see this stimulant "craze" as the same thing that's been going on for 50 years on campus. College/University students trying to make the grade will use them to study faster and stay up longer and the big weight loss strugge. If it isn't Adderal--they'll just buy black beauties. At least with the adderal there's no weird additives.
What really piffs me off is that 20+% of these kids are on anti-depressants--and nobody thinks that's "weird" or "drug abuse".
All the scare crap is just that. Kids aren't stupid and they know that one of cousin Frank's adderal is NOT going to kill you.
What I never understand it that the media focuses on prescription drugs yet there's a full scale supply of "uppers" being manufactured all the time in homemade labs. We never hear about that. I also have to wonder if it's like cigarettes--bootlegs are often made by the companies that make legitimate supplies.sorry, went off on a little tangent there, but this scare thing is really
frustrating............
What is worrisome as well is that the scare tactics just bully ADHD'ers who do well on stimulants into feeling even more stigmatized. And make everyone hypervigilent about the whole thing.
Oh amen to that! I'm so glad to find people outside the field that believe that too
What never gets mentioned is that you might feel crappy coming off stimulants but it's easier than quitting smoking or alcohol.
What also NEVER gets mentioned is that more people in North America die from complications due to over-the-counter arthritis medications that all the illicit drugs COMBINED.
Frankly, it's a bunch of right wing horsesh*t designed to make ADHD'ers and anyone else who's 'different' to be afraid--be very afraid. What else can ever be the reason for finger-pointing?
And these scare tactics designed for children [do we remember that the Nazi's taught kids to narc on their parents? is that really what it's all about?] are CHILD ABUSE in my opinion.
As Roseanne Barr said, "Just say NO to child abuse and the 'drug problem' will look after itself"
MetisRebel39413.2768055556My son also did the cub scout anti-drug thing and I was shocked. He too was concerned his Dad was an alcoholic because he drinks beer occasionaly, Everyone who smokes is going to die and I am good cause I do niether(even though I have the most problems). He formed some pretty stong opinions and we had to explain A LOT! interesting I am not the only one.
Drug abuse prevention booklet + 1 overly anxious ADHD 9 yr. = 
I know these things are well intentioned but I spent over an hour this evening calming my son down after reading this stupid booklet that came home from cub scouts.
First he worried that his dad and I are going to die because we drink beer and wine (only about twice a month)- but the booklet said it can kill you!
Then he worried that his baby cousins are going to die because their parents smoke cigarettes- and the booklet says cigarette smoke causes cancer, a disease that my grandmother died from just a few months ago.
By then of course I realized I ought to tell him about the difference between "meth" and methylphenidate and he really seemed to understand the difference between the stuff we buy at the pharmacy and the stuff people make in a bathtub with paint thinner and battery acid. However, under the stimulant section of the booklet it not only listed speed and meth, but also ritalin and adderall. 
And of course the booklet says stimulants can cause "instant death, even with the very first use." I know he knows I wouldn't ever give him anything dangerous, but he asked "what if you make a mistake?" He was visibly relieved when I pointed out that his doctor is an expert about medicines and she wouldn't give him anything dangerous.
I understand the importance of trying to keep kids off drugs, but I'm starting to wonder if this overly dramatic approach to drug prevention isn't going to do more harm than good, either by desenstizing them or by increasing their anxiety to the extent that they turn to drugs for relief.
Welcome to the world of idiots using methodology that scares the crap out of people and is NOT accurate information. If anybody sent my kid home with that--I'd be infuriated and lodging a major complaint.Then they wonder why, when the kid tries his first beer and toke--it feels good, they don't die and then find out how much bs they've been swallowing so off they go off to try something even riskier...
And folks wonder why teens don't believe adults? The best drug prevention is honest information so if the kid tries anything--it was exactly as described. It also tends to keep the rebellious use of drugs to a minimum simply because there's nothing to rebel against.
Countries that have legal prescribed access to substances have LESS drug use among teens [research from Sweden, England and Holland] because the results of drug use are openly discussed, publicly obvious and no one is lying about it.
I feel for the kid, I really do. Must have scared the poop outta the little fellow to read that.
I guess all you can do is teach him not to believe everything he reads because some people have an agenda and it's not your good health. It's pretty horrendous when you're forced to teach a nine-year-old that kind of cynicism
As for the odd drink--the only thing I've told kids is, "It's something you can try when you're older. A small amount won't hurt you. Some people like it and some people don't. Smoking isn't good for you at all and I'd rather you didn't."
Then again, as a harm reduction worker my job was to teach people to do what they did more safely--and hopefully increase their [and the community's] quality of life--not judge them for feeling the need to self-medicate.
[QUOTE=hausof4]
MetisRebel,
I have to laugh (sort of) about the needle phobic addicts. My best friends daughter (15 years old) who has a problem with "cutting" herself has had such a great phobia of needles and blood tests. And yet she cuts. She passes out at a blood test. Go figure.
I'm not surprised.
Do we not, as humans, try and overcompensate about the very things we fear?
[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=LonerGirl]
This is terrible! It reminds me of a girl I went to school with. She cried her eyes out in class because they were teaching an anti-smoking class and her parents were smokers. I remember them telling us we should go home and read over the facts with our 'smoking parents' and beg them to quit! In the 4th grade! That girl came back to class in tears the following day because her parents told her they wouldn't quit smoking! That is traumatizing to a child!
We as parents do the best we can for our children. We hope that our children trust us. Getting a pamphlet like that could break that trust! What these a$$holes don't share is that most of the drug users today are SELF-MEDICATING because they have an undiagnosed or untreated problem, LIKE ADHD. My father is a self-medicating alcoholic. He has ADHD and as a result he was abused terribly by his father.
His father chose to hit. ADHD just makes it harder for the kid to comply so hitting is sometimes a more frequent result with an abusive parent.
Unfortunately, he went undiagnosed until he was 40 years old!!! Why don't they teach these children to talk about their emotions, instead of teaching boys that crying is for girls and all the sexist crap that they teach boys and girls! Smoking weed kills! LMAO...Since when? Why don't we worry about the difference between drug abuse and recreactional use. But, oops, we couldn't say that it might be okay to smoke a joint every now and then or drink a glass of wine because we might become addicted and die! How do they know that the person 'abusing' the drug doesn't want to die anyway. :)
Anyway, I've ranted and raved enough. I'll leave space for someone else. 
You've just banged quite a few nails on the head there.
If they want to teach something useful--why not teach kids that everyone is human--even their parents and that most people are doing the best they can, sometimes under unfortunate circumstances?
It's the judgmental-ism and lack of critical thinking in schools that scares the h*ll out of me.
Then we wonder why the school is packed with bullying behaviour. What else are these pamphlets but a form of bullying people who are "different"?
Couldn't we teach children compassion and understanding, instead?
MetisRebel39415.3914814815
I think compassion and understanding are the way to go, too.
I've often talked with the kids about addiction and the fact that it's an illness that people need help with, along with our society's short- comings in these areas. We live only a few miles outside of Baltimore in a town that is home to a cold- weather shelter, mental health facility, out- patient rehab program, and many other services for the homeless and mentally ill.
As a result we see homeless people, many of whom have addiction problems, almost daily. I've even had to go purchase food to give to someone at the request of my kids- they wanted to know why I wouldn't give the man money if he really did need help. So then we had to talk about addiction and how he maybe wouldn't be able to stop himself from spending the money on drugs/alcohol instead, so we ended up going and buying some sandwiches to give to him instead of money. I have to admit being proud of them for insisting I do something rather than just talk about it.
[QUOTE=LonerGirl][QUOTE=MetisRebel]
I've never met an ten-year-old who said, "I wanna be a crack smoking hooker when I grow up!
[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]
Metis you never cease to crack me up! I have spent most of my youth unmedicated due to lack of interest of my parents growing up. It has affected me but I have learned to adjust. I hope my son does too. You could start your own web page for ADHDers.
Surprising how much kids can open your eyes if they've been raised to understand compassion and caring action.Kids often have an uncorrupted sense of social justice. Then they get lied to, get manipulated and learn to manipulate and whammo--blinded adults *sigh*
This is terrible! It reminds me of a girl I went to school with. She cried her eyes out in class because they were teaching an anti-smoking class and her parents were smokers. I remember them telling us we should go home and read over the facts with our 'smoking parents' and beg them to quit! In the 4th grade! That girl came back to class in tears the following day because her parents told her they wouldn't quit smoking! That is traumatizing to a child!
We as parents do the best we can for our children. We hope that our children trust us. Getting a pamphlet like that could break that trust! What these a$$holes don't share is that most of the drug users today are SELF-MEDICATING because they have an undiagnosed or untreated problem, LIKE ADHD. My father is a self-medicating alcoholic. He has ADHD and as a result he was abused terribly by his father. Unfortunately, he went undiagnosed until he was 40 years old!!! Why don't they teach these children to talk about their emotions, instead of teaching boys that crying is for girls and all the sexist crap that they teach boys and girls! Smoking weed kills! LMAO...Since when? Why don't we worry about the difference between drug abuse and recreactional use. But, oops, we couldn't say that it might be okay to smoke a joint every now and then or drink a glass of wine because we might become addicted and die! How do they know that the person 'abusing' the drug doesn't want to die anyway. :)
Anyway, I've ranted and raved enough. I'll leave space for someone else.
[QUOTE=MetisRebel]
I've never met an ten-year-old who said, "I wanna be a crack smoking hooker when I grow up!
[/QUOTE]
MetisRebel,
I have to laugh (sort of) about the needle phobic addicts. My best friends daughter (15 years old) who has a problem with "cutting" herself has had such a great phobia of needles and blood tests. And yet she cuts. She passes out at a blood test. Go figure.
Most of the injection drug users I worked with claimed they were scared of needles.
Obviously--fear is no great motivator to stopping substance use. The "just say no" campaign has not cut down the amount of people in the USA or Canada being arrested for illicit drugs, either. In fact--it's gone UP.
Yes, over time due to lack of hygiene people on meth or crack will exhibit dental problems. So do almost all people who are homeless because their diet is sadly deficient and they can't afford dental care.
But if you lie [even if you believe it] and tell a kid horrid things will happen if they try meth even once--and they find out it's not true--nothing you say after that will impress the kid.
I've never met an ten-year-old who said, "I wanna be a crack smoking hooker when I grow up!"
That's simple human psychology and logic.
What cuts down substance use is the truth, plain and simple alongside strong relationships with family and friends. And peer pressure counts more than any of us want to admit.
[QUOTE=spamula]My son also did the cub scout anti-drug thing and I was shocked. He too was concerned his Dad was an alcoholic because he drinks beer occasionaly, Everyone who smokes is going to die and I am good cause I do niether(even though I have the most problems). He formed some pretty stong opinions and we had to explain A LOT! interesting I am not the only one.[/QUOTE]
What really scares me is that this stuff is brainwashing bushwah pure and simple. A bunch of generalizations, slogans and outright lies about substance use and substance users NOT based in research or facts or medical reality. Yet it's like fighting smoke--it's impossible to get the writers of this garbage hauled in front of an academic tribunal because most of them don't even have degrees or work in the field they're blathering on about.
Nobody dies from the recreational use of wine, a beer, or the occasional joint, even.
I fail to understand why children should be subjected to the undermining of parental authority by this hogwash as well. Gee, daddy drank a beer during the football game so now he's a moral degenerate about to die from cirrhosis of the liver or become a raging alcoholic and drive the family into the poorhouse?
I mean really--how stupid is that in terms of scientific fact when 80% of the population drinks alcoholic beverages? And 60+% [yes, if you let folks answer anonymously that's the apx percentage] smoke pot in North America?
Yup--let's just teach the kid to be a good little sheeple and rat out daddy...
I'll be contacting BSA to complain- the more I thought about it the more rediculous is seems.
I understand the need to cover all catagories of drugs, but it would have made more sense to group presciption med. abuse in a seperate catagory while noting that these meds are ok as long as you're taking them under a doctors direction. Especially considering that, at least in our pack, there seems to be a higher than average number of kids who I either know or suspect have adhd- I think scouts attracts kids who need a little extra structure socially.
Metis- you said exactly what I was thinking when I read the booklet. I have to confess to having experimented a little in my youth and all I could think was "this is such BS- these drugs don't do that to you."
We did talk a good bit about alcohol because we've always thought that letting kids have a sip of whatever we're drinking was the best way to handle the curiousity. My son will often ask for a sip when we have wine or beer but has never actually taken one once he gets close enough to smell it. My daughter, however, tried to wrestle my wine glass away from me when she was two- gonna have to keep my eye on that one.
I'm just glad that this wasn't the first conversation we've had, and it definetely won't be the last now that I know what kind of info is gonna get shoved at him.
There was one part of the booklet that he found absolutely hysterical. It had a little blurb about steroids where it mentioned the side effects of taking steroids included "withered testicles, breast growth, and impotence" for boys and "underdeveloped breasts, hairy chests and sterility" for girls.
He couldn't wait to tell all his friends that if they take steroids they'll grow boobs. Thank goodness he didn't ask what impotence is. 
I'll be contacting BSA to complain- the more I thought about it the more rediculous is seems.
I understand the need to cover all catagories of drugs, but it would have made more sense to group presciption med. abuse in a seperate catagory while noting that these meds are ok as long as you're taking them under a doctors direction. Especially considering that, at least in our pack, there seems to be a higher than average number of kids who I either know or suspect have adhd- I think scouts attracts kids who need a little extra structure socially.
Metis- you said exactly what I was thinking when I read the booklet. I have to confess to having experimented a little in my youth and all I could think was "this is such BS- these drugs don't do that to you."
I actually worked with injection drug users and some of them brought their kids in. Or the kids brought in the parents. I know that's gonna freak everyone out that I should have jumped up and down that everyone should quit.
Well I didn't. And I didn't lie, either. The facts ma'am just the facts.
These kids were FREAKED by what they heard in school. And so were the parents of drug users when they'd get this horrid information that there kid was on the road to death--another load of bushwah.
There's no point in hysteria because it doesn't help anyone.
And some of these parents and kids were mentally ill and needed psych meds. Nothing like adding to the guilt and paranoia!
Oh and have the schools or cub scouts banned:
liquid paper?contact cement?varsol?kerosene?gasoline?Lysol?cough medicines such as koffex [a big street fav because it has alcohol, codeine and some strange ingredient that causes hallucinations as well]
All legal, major ways to get stoned and guaranteed to turn your brain into swiss cheese very quickly. Pot and ritalin aren't looking so bad now are they?
Frankly, on the internet anyone can find thousands of ways to get stoned nearly for free with common household items.
We did talk a good bit about alcohol because we've always thought that letting kids have a sip of whatever we're drinking was the best way to handle the curiousity. My son will often ask for a sip when we have wine or beer but has never actually taken one once he gets close enough to smell it. My daughter, however, tried to wrestle my wine glass away from me when she was two- gonna have to keep my eye on that one.
I had a bouvier like that--leave the room and SLURP it was gone
I'm just glad that this wasn't the first conversation we've had, and it definetely won't be the last now that I know what kind of info is gonna get shoved at him.
Keep the truth coming. Later the kids will make MUCH better decisions! They might try it, but like mom--it's likely to be a phase.
There was one part of the booklet that he found absolutely hysterical. It had a little blurb about steroids where it mentioned the side effects of taking steroids included "withered testicles, breast growth, and impotence" for boys and "underdeveloped breasts, hairy chests and sterility" for girls.
He couldn't wait to tell all his friends that if they take steroids they'll grow boobs. Thank goodness he didn't ask what impotence is.
Good luck when he finds out there's corticosteroids in asthma meds. Or just how prevalent steroid use is by high school athletes...
And if he finds out steroids can increase sexual drive when he's 17. Fortunately you won't have to tell him what "impotence" is after his 10th beer with the boys