Have an Honest Conversation about Drugs with Your Kids
A sensible drug policy starts at home. When we lie to our children about drugs, we give them a reason never to trust us again.
Remember this disturbing drug commercial in between episodes of “Different Strokes?” You’d have thought smoking marijuana would put you in a holy stupor of a coma, which is in fact what the commercial turned out to be.
Anti-drug commercials lie.
The scan in this commercial was actually found to be the brain scan of a person in a deep sleep or coma.
If we lie to our kids and exaggerate the dangers of drugs, they’ll learn never to take us for our word. If we lie to them about pot, they’ll assume any similar lecture on heroin, crack or PCP is exactly the same.
Drug research shows that D.A.R.E. drug education programs don’t work. Children enrolled in D.A.R.E. programs are even more likely to use drugs than those never exposed to the program. D.A.R.E.’s tendency to exaggerate facts and slant half-truths does more harm than good at educating our children about drug effects and drug abuse.
Talk to your children about drugs, openly and honestly. They will double-check your facts against their own experiences. If we are truly going to educate them about the pitfalls and challenges that can be brought about by drugs, it needs to be an honest discussion. Exaggeration and misinformation only destroys their trust in what you have to say.
Be detailed about the different effects of specific drugs, their potential for addiction, and any potential for overdose. Talk to them about your own experiences; share what you have learned. Admit that no one has died from an overdose of marijuana, and that it is not physically addictive. Let them understand that not everyone who experiments with drugs become full-time addicts. Be realistic that exposure to drugs does not necessarily ruin your life.
If we can provide our children with an open and honest conversation about drugs, we give them the tools to live in a culture that indulges in chemicals, whether the drugs are illicit, illegal, or simply dieting pills.
Tired of irrational US drug policies? You should be.