Teen Drug Abuse - Part 1

As I have often written in this blog and explained to parents, drug use among teens is highly prevalent, from the lowest parts of the country to the upper echelons of society. Essentially, drug use knows no boundaries and it has infiltrated our kids at alarming rates. The combination of peer pressure, teens feeling unloved, stress, and availability of inexpensive drugs, has proved to be attractive to teens and, in some cases, lethal.

Over the next three Saturday posts, I will be highlighting the words that were recently released in a report from the “National Institute on Drug Abuse”, along with my comments interspersed throughout the article. The articles words will be in bold, while my words will be in regular type.

Our teenagers are using methamphetamine, but reductions in marijuana use have stalled and abuse of prescription drugs remains high, U.S. health officials report.

In addition, they said that newer drugs, such as the hallucinogenic salvia leaf and the prescription medication Adderall, which is intended for treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), appear to be gaining a foothold among teens.
The findings are in the annual report from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, issued Dec. 14.

"Every time this study comes out, there is both good news and bad news," said Dr. Wilson Compton, director of the agency's division of epidemiology, services and prevention research.

"The long-term trends show some very positive changes in stimulants and methamphetamine, some improvements in cocaine that are very promising, but we don't see the ongoing improvement in marijuana or the overall measures of illicit drug use," he said.

"On the one hand, you could say it's stable, [and] that's not too bad," Compton said. "But when you are stable at very high rates, that tells us we need to redouble our efforts."

The big news in this year's report, he said, is that declines in marijuana use have stalled. "This has us concerned about a resurgence and also about what we can do to reduce the rates from where they are," he said.

On the plus side, smoking rates among teens are down, Compton noted. He added, however, "we are now seeing illicit drugs more commonly used than cigarettes."
That is the part that scares me, even though I have seen it steadily occur over the past ten years, or so. “We are now seeing illicit drugs more commonly used than cigarettes”. 


Can you remember when you were a teen? A few “losers” smoked cigarettes, while only one or two actual “burnouts” used drugs. Now, both have increased in usage and the use of drugs is now outpacing the use of cigarettes!

Are your kids using drugs, either regularly or recreationally? If you said “no”, how do you know? Are you with them at school? Is there a window of time in the afternoon during which they could have access to drugs before you get home? Do you really know who shows up at a friend’s house when your own child is also visiting? Unfortunately, there is no way to know the answer to all of those questions.

As such, it is of the utmost urgency that you constantly monitor your child’s activities. Yes, take off work at 2:00 p.m. one day and find your child. If he/she is home playing safe video games or eating a sandwich, terrific! If not, find him/her and find out what is going on.

In another scenario, when your child is visiting a friend, stop over the friend’s house about two hours into the visit and find out who is really at the house! Your kid will be mortified, but it’s not your job to keep him/her "un"-mortified, it’s your job to keep him/her alive and away from drugs and those who use them!

The times have changed rather drastically since the time that we were teens. We were scared to death to be home 5 minutes late after eating too much pizza and having to many soft drinks. In today’s society, with busy parents working, with teens feeling more unloved than ever, and with the added stress and peer pressure, having too many pizzas and soft drinks should be the least of your concerns.

Find out what your kids are doing, keep them away from all drugs, and do it now before it is too late!

Just one more sign that parenting is not easy, but, by staying involved, we can be triumphant!

(Please come back next week for Part 2)


Paul W. Reeves

Exercise - Lifelong Values

Having watched my own dad and some of my uncles live their lives in less-than-stellar physical condition, the direct result of eating the wrong foods and never exercising, I decided that I would be the first in my family line to reverse that trend when I became an adult.

Long before I stopped playing competitive sports after high school, I had decided that I would embark on a lifelong journey to stay in good shape and to stay healthy. My goals included establishing a regular workout regime and mostly eating and drinking items that were healthy for me (of course, the occasional candy bar or ice-cream never hurt anybody!). I decided to not be excessive and allow the regime to control my life, but I wanted to be in good shape, healthy, and relatively pain free, unlike my own dad and uncles.

Starting at about age 13 while watching the Summer Olympics on television, all the while hoping that nobody would notice that I had started a “plan”, I began to do several minutes of jumping jacks for cardio, sit-ups for flexibility, and lifting bowling balls to build strength (to get dumbbells or barbells, I would have had to reveal my actual plan to my parents!).

My plan worked and I later escalated to jogging outside, investing in a treadmill, a rowing machine, and actual weights, while mostly staying away from the beloved Twinkies, pies, and Dunkin’ Doughnuts!

Throughout the rest of my adolescent years, through college, and into adulthood right through to this very morning, I have worked hard to keep myself in fairly decent shape – some would joke that it’s why I seem to have more energy than many who are much younger ….. and they’re probably right!

Of course, as I wanted to be the first in my family line to live a healthy lifestyle, it was also my goal to ensure that my own children would get it in gear and follow the lead of the favorite dad! As a part of my journey, I made sure that I worked out with them in the room, showed them how to use the machines, often discussed the benefits of lifelong health, gave them books to read, designed workout plans for them and ………. other than a few passing glances and some minimal involvement, my own kids, while showing an interest, always seemed to find other activities in which to engage, such as playing video games, watching television shows, and other such valuable endeavors.

However, I never gave up! I continued to workout in the house when they were present, jogged on the beach in front of them during vacations, and kept on with my quest to get them to engage in exercise ….. all to no avail!

FINALLY, when my youngest son was 13-years-old (the same age as I was when I began my health journey), I suddenly heard the rattling of weights and the motor of the treadmill emanating from the basement! YES, my son was working out!!

And, wow, was he ever working out! For a variety of reasons, he had decided to engage in workouts at a frenzied pace, almost too much of a frenzy in my view, as his type of frenzy often leads to burnout and quitting exercising. However, he had kept it up and now he is the epitome of physical health for a teenager! No more Twinkies (well, not too many!) for him! Now, he runs several miles and utilizes the weights every day.

For years I tried to get my kids involved in physical fitness as a part of their lifestyle and, for years, I failed miserably. But, then one magical day, it all changed and my son, realizing the benefits of working out, had adopted a healthy lifestyle of his very own!

So, while I decided to be the first in my family line to be healthy on purpose, my son has obviously decided to be #2. Hopefully, his son will be #3, and so on!

The lesson to be learned: Decide the values and habits that you want your kids to develop for their own good; teach them well; consistently model the desired behavior; and, who knows, they just might decide to adopt the desired values as their very own!

How about you? What values or behaviors do you want your kids to develop? Which goals have you set forth for your kids that have come to fruition? Write back and let me know!


Paul W. Reeves