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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]WMS parent again - I haven't heard of H at WMS, I've heard that it's pills from personal prescriptions or taken from home medicine cabinets that are sold to other students. And apparently the OD was on these types of pills.

Maybe our new interim principal will speak out on this issue. Or she's too busy writing about fidget spinners and the kids that walk to the Lee-Harrison shopping center after school. Bigger problems here, lady![/quote]

any time there are kids that rich, there will be drugs.[/quote]

Unfortunately it happens at poor schools, too.  The drug problem is growing and it is scary.  It seems to be on a few fronts including prescription medications [b]as well as kids beginning with gateway weed [/b]and moving into harder stuff more quickly than 'the good old days'.  It could also be that the high is more intense and the younger kids aren't recognizing the risks.[/quote]

Ugh, weed is not a gateway anymore than cigarettes or alcohol are. Not everyone who smokes weed moves onto anything harder. It's unlikely that any kid would start out, before even smoking a cigarette, by injecting heroin. That's not how it happens. But there's nothing unique about marijuana that makes it anymore of a gateway drug, Jeff Sessions.  :roll:

The REAL gateway here is LEGAL prescription medication, opiods specifically. Because they are extremely powerful and physically addictive and lead, quite quickly, to heroin use. But who's standing up to Big Pharma? Nobody. 
[/quote]

Actually, speaking with the experience of one who has worked with high risk kids for 15+ years, weed still is a gateway drug.  Your insight is wrong and not backed by research.  However, this is besides the point.  What are the most important factors?  Nature and nurture.  Genetics play a role and environment plays a very strong role.

Frequently what I will hear kids say is that they started with weed because they didn't want to 'become a drunk' like mom or dad.  Or maybe the parent isn't an everyday drinker but a binger.  This in my opinion is usually worse because it indicates a temperament type and set of behaviors that certainly become internalized by the kid.

So after experimenting with weed they then move onto other things because they were looking for a better and more intense high.  At that point the kids aren't so much anti-parent as now in with a crowd where drug use and experimentation is accepted and expected.  It has become 'cool' OR makes the kid feel 'better' to 'escape'.  The environment now supports this continued drug use.

Moving to drugs is a coping behavior.  It is not a desirable coping behavior but it is a coping behavior.

[quote]Worried about drug use in your school?  Start by looking at your school and what kids are doing before/after it.  Are they supervised?  Do they have things to do?  One middle school recently had a kid OD before school started because the kid and friend were completely unsupervised, waiting for the bus and decided to try then what they thought they would do after school.  Another person talking to the both kids teachers confirmed that there were lots of good intentions but little supervision and little to keep the kids occupied.
[/quote]
This is a community problem.  It will take a community to band together to fix it.

And this is why I'm worried that with all the overcrowding at APS, they'll move to offering more online classes and staggered schedules.

[b]Also, why isn't anyone talking about this?  Do parents not "see" what is actually going on?  
[/b]

[/quote][/quote]

It is scary so it is easier not to talk about it.  Keep bringing it up.  Keep trying to get the PTA and the school administration and the school system to work together on this.

There are resources, too, at the county level.  Are those services being offered to the most at-risk kids?  Do they have the county program in place so someone is working directly with the kids at school to talk about risk behaviors and how to stop?  Is the school putting on any 'say no' programming?

This is a problem that crosses all demographics:  SES, race, ethnicity, family type.  It will take a community to come together to 'solve' this.

In the meantime, keep your own kids active and engaged through sports, arts, chorus and band, clubs, church.  Do things with them so that they know you are interested and supportive.

The tween years are so important and it usually is when parents begin to drop supports (like checking homework) but most teachers and counselors will tell you that this is when you need to be more visible and present than ever to help provide structure.  Sure you can start releasing controls but in a controlled way so that the kid doesn't go in to a free-fall.

But don't let the school or the school system slide.  They need to do their part by identifying and working with the most at-risk kids so that they can get the help they need and the problems don't spread.

Keep in mind that peer pressure works both ways.  It can be bad but it also can be good.  Active, involved, happy kids will get much more accomplished than a few counseling sessions for bored, unhappy, un-involved kids.[/quote]

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