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| |    Why Children Use Drugs by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. reviewed by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. Adapted from Baby and Child Care, by Dr. Benjamin Spock. American children are being raised in a drug culture, plain and simple--if you have a problem, take a pill. We grow up with the implicit understanding that drugs are a legitimate solution to many problems. In the younger years, children imitate their parents. Many parents have alcohol or drug problems, or too readily turn to drugs to solve problems of all sorts. If children see their parents using drugs such as alcohol and tranquilizers, they may find it easier to justify their own use of drugs. Many children also have an impulse to run risks--taking wild chances, accepting dangerous dares, being proud of burning the candle at both ends, proving their courage. This is one reason why so many boldly take up smoking tobacco while older people are striving to give it up. At the same time, they may be secretly afraid of facing new and difficult situations. A drug like alcohol may hold the promise of numbing inhibitions, erasing apprehensions, and increasing courage sufficiently to get a youth over the threshold of taking a chance--of lovemaking, for example. As children get older, peer influence becomes increasingly important. Sadly, drugs are easily available to them at this vulnerable time. Adolescence is a period in which children are making a tremendous effort to be independent. Drugs appear to give an immediate answer to some of the needs they have. The drugs can make them feel more comfortable and help them be accepted by their friends. Different types of drugs First, you should remember that alcohol is the drug most frequently and heavily abused by adolescents. Other drugs get more publicity, and the expression "drugs and alcohol" leads people to infer that alcohol isn't a drug. But alcohol does more damage to more teenagers than all other drugs combined. Many teenagers see drinking by parents and even by characters on television, where the negative effects are rarely shown. This makes it seem glamorous. Just because a drug is illegal (like marijuana) doesn't mean its potential for harm is greater than a drug that is legal (like alcohol). We have given a confusing, mixed message to our youth, who have to wonder at the inconsistency of allowing some drugs to be legalized while banning others that appear less harmful. Youths also understand that all drugs are not the same. Parents tend to lump them all together; heroin is like cocaine is like LSD. But each drug is unique in its effects (some put you to sleep and make you passive while others wake you up and make you aggressive), its addictive potential, and its health impact (cocaine can cause sudden death but a glass of wine a day may actually be good for the heart). As adults, we only undermine our credibility by lumping all drugs together or by implying that all drugs have an equal potential for harm. Heroin is, of course, extremely dangerous from every point of view. LSD (acid) often causes serious emotional disturbance. The abuse of amphetamine (speed) and the closely related Ecstasy may lead to physical collapse and serious emotional disturbance. Cocaine and its smokable form, crack, are extremely dangerous and addictive. Experimenting with marijuana is simply not the same as experimenting with heroin or cocaine. If you treat it as such, you are likely to be seen as hopelessly out of it and naive by the very person you'd like to help--your child. On the other hand, regular marijuana use does have serious health effects, and may lead children and adolescents to begin using more dangerous substances. For more useful information check out our Tobacco, Family Relationships, and School Problems programs. Talk about:
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