Reply to S/o How can you minimize the chance your kid will get into drugs in high school?

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[quote=Anonymous]Have been through hell on this one.  You have not lived as a parent until you find your child overdosing and have to call 911 and by the time the EMTs come their heart beat is down to 10 beats a minute.  Yes--I did all the right stuff.  No TV ever for anyone in the family on week days--my kids have even thanked me for this.  Had kids' friends over all the time. Family meals every night. Sports, scouting, lots of art supplies and projects.  Etc. But then disruptive and difficult to manage child health problems emerged.

I didn't jump right on when I noticed signs of pot use.  In retrospect, what I would have done now was immediately institute weekly or bi-weekly drug tests.  This is one thing that makes it more inconvenient for them to use; people stop when taking drugs becomes more trouble then it is worth.  Buy the tests off the internet--much cheaper than CVS--and get ones with a variety of drugs. Kids will switch to other drugs if they really want to experiment so get tests that cover THCs, opiates, cocaine, MMDA, benzos,PCP&lt; amphetamines, etc.  Bear in mind that THC can remain positive for two weeks or longer.  Most of the others take three to four days so twice a week should cover you.

When you child starts complaining about pain, do not allow doctors to blow them off.  Our pediatrician kept sending my child to the same orthopedist for pain that worsened over a year, with a strong suggestion it was psychosomatic.  Finally, after a year he grudgingly sent her to physical therapy.  The physical therapist recommended a prescription for a TENS machine, which the orthopedist declared she didn't need.  As I wondered what to do next she self-helped to opiates off the street, and I am still dealing with the fall out.  Don't allow this to happen to your child--we live in a world where it is far easier for a child to score opiates than a TENS prescription.  Doctors in general are utterly clueless about this, but you shouldn't be.  Demand early and aggressive investigation and (nonnarcotic) treatment of child pain.

Severely limit their access to cash.  This is the only way to pay for illegal drugs.  Give them their allowance on Visa gift cards.  They may still have friends who occasionally share pot with them, but kids do not tolerate free riders for long.

Mental health problems are a difficult confounding factor.  And some of the professionals actually make it worse by prescribing benzos, etc.  No only are these addictive in themselves, but like Adderall they can be sold for cash, enabling the child to have money to buy other drugs.  So keep these under guard and watch as they take them.  I don't really have good ideas for dealing with mental health issues--am still trying to cope and it is very difficult.  Websites are full of anodyne suggestions for therapy etc., but you will be extremely fortunate if somehow you stumble on something effective.  Many therapists and psychiatrists really don't seem that interested in getting your child better and out of therapy; in fact many are all too tolerant of drug use, particularly pot.

And adolescent residential treatment centers, like drug rehab places, tend to be very one size fits all.  In fact almost all the places that claim to be dual diagnosis (mental +drug issues) don't address mental health problems at all--the prevailing theory is that the mental health problems are all drug related.  I can't tell yo how many times I've been told I should really look into a certain rehab n Pennsylvania for my daughter--been there and done that.  Sent her there and was kicked out after a week for having an anxiety attack they couldn't handle.

Good luck.[/quote]

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