White County Sheriff's Office Drugs of Abuse - A Message to Parents...
What is Your Child Taking in School This Year?The primary reason that kids get started with drugs is peer pressure. Children are insecure and gain security by being part of a group. Unfortunately, the groups that use drugs are looked up to by other kids. The desire to join this group is often the motivating factor in an experimentation with drugs. Gradually the family, school, and religious beliefs are forgotten and replaced by a drug subculture belief system with many of the attitudes learned from experienced drug users and reinforced by the statements and songs of certain rock 'n' roll stars.
The most important thing the family can do is to learn all the facts and to change its attitudes. The child must learn to suffer the consequences of his/her own behavior. The drug user controls the family by means of anger and the use of guilt. The rage felt by the drug user provokes the family to frustration and anger, which reinforces the user's own resentment, leading to continued use of drugs. At other times the family, propelled by guilt, covers up or rescues the drug user from trouble. If there are no consequences, the child does not have a reason to quit. A child with a drug abuse problem requires trained professional help. The family can not "Love" the problem away. Chemical dependency is a family illness with all family members involved in the "insanity" caused by the adolescent's behavior. The family must learn to change its attitudes to be able to deal with the child's anger and the family's need to protect.
One of the questions increasingly asked by parent's is:
"How can I tell if my child is using drugs?"
This is a very difficult question when signs and symptoms associated with behavior
are used as a basis for suspicion. It is difficult to separate the typical adolescent
behavior from the drug-induced behavior, but the parent should exercise common sense and
consider the following behaviors if a significant change is noted in the child:
| Decrease in the quality of schoolwork without a valid explanation. |
| New friends who are unkempt in appearance and/or sarcastic in their attitudes. The child is protective or secretive in giving information about these friends. |
| Irrational behavior such as explosive episodes at home or school. |
| Money, credit cards, checks, jewelry, silver or coins stolen or not accounted for. Drugs, clothes, money, albums, tapes or stereo equipment which "suddenly" show up in the house. |
| The presence of marijuana seen in the car or truck: any evidence of paraphernalia: hermostats, rolling papers, drug buttons, marijuana leaf buttons, belt buckles, pins, bumper stickers, T-shirts or HIGH TIMES magazines. |
| Physical evidence - pale face, red eyes, dilated pupils, mouthwash, chewing heavily scented gum, using heavy perfume or cologne, or using eye washes (to get the "Red" out). |
| Little motivation to perform tasks and an "I don't care" attitude. |