So What's Up with Parents?

I recently ran across some astonishing study information.

I myself am a parent and understand the importance of talking to kids about drugs and the risks involved with taking them.

However, today’s parents see less risk in drugs like marijuana, cocaine and even inhalants, when compared to parents just a few years ago.

How could that happen?

My guess, advertising and poor or no education on the subject.

The number of parents who report never talking with their child about drugs has doubled in the past six years, from 6 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2004. Read that again!

On top of that, only 51 percent of today’s parents said they would be upset if their child experimented with marijuana.

While most parents believe it’s important that parents discuss drugs with their children, fewer than one in three teens (roughly 30 percent) say they’ve learned a lot about the risks of drugs at home.

I think the real problem is that parents simply do not have the knowledge they need on how to talk to their kids about drugs.

The fact is that many of today’s parents (those with pre-teens and teens) were high school students themselves during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s – a period when teen drug use reached its absolute high point.

This tells me a lot about the education today's parents have on the subject of drugs.

Even though few of today’s parents currently use drugs (11 percent report smoking marijuana in the past year), 58 percent have tried marijuana at least once in their lives. A significant percentage report trying other illicit substances as well.

Another thing found was that today’s parents significantly underestimate the presence of drugs in their teens’ lives. I have found this to be very true in my own personal research.

In fact, I was just at the Los Angeles Coroner's Office meeting with them about doing some filming there. One of the executives said, "Almost every parent tells us, 'Are you sure it's my daughter and not someone else's? Our daughter would never do drugs.'"

He told us this is the number one response from family members.

I think it is a sad state of affairs when someone's kid is dead, at the coroner's office with proof he had been doing drugs, and the parents still don't want to believe it.

This is something that must be addressed if we are to help parents keep their kids drug free and alive.

That is why we released the new DVD feature "Why Parents Are The Last to Know". It is a must-see program for ANY parent.

Call Friends of Narconon at 1-800-882-6862 and ask for Donna today to get your copy of this important information.

I will guarantee you, it will shed a whole new light on the subject, regardless of your education about drugs.

Sincerely,
Robert Hernandez, CCDC*
President Friends of Narconon, Intl

*Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor

Website: www.friendsofnarconon.org

© 2005 Friends of Narconon, Intl. All rights reserved. Narconon is a registered trademark and servicemark owned by the Association for Better Living and Education International and is used with it’s permission.