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Cincinnati
Enquirer
Time
to 'Start Talking' to kids about drugs
Karen
Kasich
Jan.
24, 2014
No
family or neighborhood – affluent or disadvantaged, urban or rural
– is immune to the dangers of drugs. It’s naïve to think that
any of us can shield our children from peer pressure or the stresses
of life. However, we can empower our children to handle those
situations with confidence. We can educate ourselves, connect with
our communities and start talking to our children about drugs.
You
may be surprised to learn what a powerful tool conversation can be –
I was. Research shows that children whose parents talk early and
often about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use are 50
percent less likely to use in the first place. But for many of us,
having those conversations can be easier said than done. When it
comes to talking to our kids about tough issues like drug abuse, it
can be hard to know just what to say and how to say it. As parents to
twin 14-year-old girls, my husband and I have struggled with it, too.
But we all have to face our own fears and talk with our kids about
drugs – the drugs on the street and the drugs in our medicine
cabinets.
That’s
why Ohio is launching “Start Talking!” – a new drug
abuse-prevention initiative aimed at our young people. “Start
Talking!” provides parents and adults with the support they need to
have those hard conversations. To accompany the initiative, we’ve
launched a website that offers free tools for parents (as well as
teachers and community leaders) that will help them confidently and
effectively present the facts to adolescents and teens.
Prescription
medications, especially, are a huge risk and temptation to our young
people. Every day, more than 2,000 kids use a prescription drug to
get high for the first time. As parents, we must recognize that all
medicines, including prescription medications, have risks as well as
benefits. “Start Talking!” hones in on the dangers of
prescription medicines, which are misused and shared inappropriately
all too often – and have become an increasing cause of disability
and death across the nation and Ohio...
Read
the rest of the article at the Cincinnati Enquirer
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