The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse states the following regarding the "gateway drug theory":
- Adolescents between 12 and 17 (that do not display other behavior disorders) who drank or smoked cigarettes within the past month are 30 times more likely to use marijuana than the teens that didn't drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. Girls are more likely than boys but not by much.
- When adolescents between 12 and 17 (that do not display other behavior disorders) smoked tobacco, drank alcohol and did marijuana within the past month they are 17 time s more likely to use harder drugs such as crack cocaine, LSD, and heroin. Boys are more at risk here (likelihood is 29 times more) and girls are 11 times more likely to use further drugs.
This is a key indicator that prevention is the key. Drug awareness is a big factor in kids making wise choices and parents need to be more involved in what their kids are doing. These discussions must be had a a great way to do that is through things such as parent contracts. This allows you to talk to your children about drugs, alcohol and smoking and what they can do to their bodies as well as what your expectation as a parent is along with what the consequences are if your child does such things.
A few ideas on preventing teen drug use are:
- Keep in touch with your child after school hours.
- Get your child involved in extra curricular activities.
- Know your children's friends by name and know their parents if possible.
- Talk to you kids explicitly about drug use.
- Be a role model, kids who see their parents do drugs, smoke or drink are more than likely to repeat the behavior.
Parents can do a lot to help avoid drug use in their teens. Communication is key!
