Caught in a Storm of Alcohol and Drug Addiction

Headlines have been flooded with news of young adults, teens and even children experimenting with drugs and alcohol as early as 3 years old. Many of these addictions can be attributed to the greater availability of harmful substances and parents monitoring their children on looser terms.

Studies have shown that drinking earlier in life can lead to heavier drinking. Also drugs, even marijuana, take heavier tolls on young growing bodies. While these studies bring light to the dangers of starting young we have continued to see a growth in experimenting youth.

It seems as though better examples need to be made for our future generations. The accessibility of illegal substances is something an individual may not be able to control, but warning your children of the dangers, practicing a healthy lifestyle, and removing in home accessibility are smaller steps to stopping the trend.

One major lesson to bestow is clearing up major misconceptions amongst drugs and alcohol. Teens and young adults often times have impressionable minds and tend to follow the crowd in binge drinking as a social lubricant rather than a spark to full blown alcoholism. “It’s just one night” or “I’m not drinking alone” pose excuses for heavy alcohol consumption rather than warning signs. Or the myriad of arguments that say marijuana isn’t harmful to your body, it’s natural or even used in medicine.

Talk to your kids, loved ones and peers starting young. We cannot blame them for increasing the statistic if they are uneducated on the problem.