When parents in your community think about safeguarding their teens from drugs, they usually think of illicit street drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.  But today teens are abusing prescription drugs more than any illicit drug except marijuana.

The statistics on prescription drug abuse are startling: every day, more than 2,000 kids age 12 to 17 try a painkiller non-medically for the first time and 71 percent of persons age 12 and older who abuse these drugs say they get them from a relative or friend.  Perhaps most troubling is that many teens don't realize these drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs, so kids who would never try street drugs might feel safe abusing prescription drugs.

 Teens need only look as far as the medicine cabinet at home to get high. The teen problem of prescription drug abuse is predominantly one of access and awareness.  Check out the danger zones of your house.  

Spring Critical Time for Urging Parents to Connect with Teens

Each weekend during prom and graduation season, nearly 50 teens are killed in car crashes. That’s far too many youth taking unnecessary risks during this time of celebration.  From spring break to prom, senior trips to graduation day, there are plenty of opportunities where teens may consider taking risks, especially drinking and illicit drug use.  Alcohol Awareness Month in April provides a great opportunity to encourage parents in your community to stay vigilant by connecting with teens and talking to them about the risks of using alcohol or illicit drugs. 

Now is the time to reach out to parents and teens in your community and encourage teens to celebrate safely – without alcohol or illicit drugs.  While most teens say no to alcohol and illicit drugs, the pressure is on during this season when teens are ready to party:

Six deaths each day – that’s the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimate of the number of 15- to 20-year-olds that die in alcohol-related crashes. 

Nearly 11 million 12- to 20-year-olds admitted they drank alcohol in the past month.  And underage drinking hasn’t changed much in the past four years.
 
In fact, more than seven million 12- to 20-year-olds engaged in binge drinking in the past month – that’s downing five or more drinks in a row.
 

(Blogger's Note:  I did not write this article and I don't know who did, so I cant verify the source, but the facts sound valid to me.  This article floated around the Internet for some time, sent to me by a friend. I reprint it here for your information.  I strongly suggest all parents and children take this as a serious warning.)

"This is a problem around here.  A senior at Valle View High School was caught in the restroom at the end of last year doing this.  She had a can she took from the computer lab.  Watch your kids around this stuff."  John Miller

DUSTING

First, I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family.  My name is Jeff.  I am a Police Officer for a city, which is known nation-wide for its crime rate.  We have a lot of gangs and drugs.  At one point, we were #2 in the nation in homicides per capita.  I also have a police K-9, named Thor.  He was certified in drugs and general duty.  He retired at 3 years old, because he was shot in the line of duty.  He lives with us now and I still train with because he likes it.  I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house.  Thor wouln't allow it.  He would tell on you.  The reason I say this, is so you understand that I know about drugs.

I have taught in schools about drugs.  My wife asks all our kids at least once a week, if they used any drugs.  Makes them promise they won't.  I like building computers occasionally and started building a new one in February 2005.  I also was working on some of my older computers.  They were full of dust, so on one of my trips to the computer store, I bought a 3-pack of DUST OFF.

DUST OFF is a can of compressed air to blow dust off a computer.  A few weeks later, when I went to use one of them they were all used.  I talked to my kids and my two sons both said, they had used them on their computer an messing round with thm.  I yelled a them for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them.

On February 28, I went back to the computer store.  They didn't have the 3-pack, which I had bought on sale, so I bought a single jumbo can of DUST OFF.  I went home and set it down beside my computer. On March 1st, I left for work at 10 PM.  Just before midnight, my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight.  At 5:30 AM the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school before she left for work.  He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed and his head leaning over.  She called to him a few times to get up.  He didn't move.  He would sometimes tease her like this and pretend he fell back asleep.  He was never easy to get up.  She went in and shook his arm.  He fell over.  He was pale white and had the straw from the DUST OFF can coming out of his mouth.  He had the new can of DUST OFF in his hands.  Kyle was dead.

I am a Police Officer and I had never heard of this.   My wife is a nurse and she had never heard of this.  We later found out from the Coroner after the autopsy, that only the propellant from the can of DUST OFF was in his system.  No other drugs.  Kyle had died between midnight and 1 AM.   I found out that using DUST OFF is being done mostly by kids ages 9 - 15.  They even have a name for it.  It's callled, dusting.  A takeoff from the DUST OFF name.  It gives them a slight high for about 10 seconds.  It makes them dizzy. 

I saw this incredible headline in a newspaper.  This was only part of the graffiti painted on a boarded window in a down-trodden neighborhood, painted by a frustrated renter, who had lived a long time with his mother in that neighborhood. 

The rest of his message went on to say, the police aren't doing anything about it, so you, 'deer' crack dealers, have free reign to carry on business as usual.  This man claimed in an interview, he feared for his and his mother's lives walking to their apartment every day because of rampant drug trafficking he could see from his window. 

Two small news articles followed in quick succession.  The police defended themselves, it's not true, we do patrol here and we do make constant arrests.

In the last small article, the painter-renter, I-can't-take-it-any-more person was cited and fined for defacing the property with his words.  Now, I wonder, when I'll see an article proclaiming his demise.  Shot, by an errant bullet.  Nobody knows who or why.

He was a small voice.......but, one, I feel, deserved to be heard. 

Our Back-to-School Backpack Program for Underpriveleged Children Please Help Us with the Hugs Not Drugs® Annual Back-to-School Backpack Program.

It is that time of year again, when we ask all of you to help out with this most important fund raiser. Each year, HUGS NOT DRUGS®. strives to reach our goal of providing backpacks and school supplies to underprivileged children. Last year, with public generosity, we made our 500 backpack goal. To begin the school year, we made sure each child at our adopted elementary school had a new backpack filled with supplies. This year our chosen school is North Grade Elementary in Lake Worth. Of the almost 800 students enrolled, 76% live in near poverty.

It's shocking how quickly we forgive them! We jump to pay for their next movie, their next concert, their next DVD. We double, triple their fortunes, in spite of their chosen lifestyles and negative influence on our youth.