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What I’d Say to My Kids About Drugs
Honest conversations can make all the difference
Though I don’t have kids, my personal experience more than qualifies me to write this. I have two kids in my life I consider nephews, who mean the world to me and a 20-year history of battling the demon of addiction.
Though I believe addiction and alcoholism is very much a genetic problem, this doesn’t mean anyone’s fate is pre-determined when it comes to substance abuse. What it does mean, is some are more susceptible to succumbing to it than others. However, if you never pick up, regardless of family history, you’ll never fall victim to it.
Part of the problem is, so much of what they teach you in school about drugs is wrong, least it was when I was a kid. They demonized Marijuana, via the D.A.R.E program and other propaganda. Our education system and parts of our society at large label Marijuana as the gateway drug, with the help of misinterpreted and forged statistics.
My biggest issue with this is Marijuana is so commonplace, eventually, most kids figure out for themselves it’s not the villain so many adults in their lives make it out to be. Speaking from my experience, once I realized so much of what I was taught about pot in school was more or less bullshit, how was I to believe what they told me about other drugs?
