What are we thinking??
Here are a few things I have heard lately that make me ask the question "what are we thinking?".
" I buy my kids alcohol so they don't have to try to get it from a stranger."
"I buy my daughter's alcohol so I know how much she is drinking."
" I'd rather my son would drink than do drugs."
"Where were you drinking? I asked a 14 year old girl who had scored quite high on an alcohol abuse questionnaire. "At my friend place" she said. "Weren't her parents home?" "Oh sure, they were down doing shots with us."
One school was very proud that their seniors had raised a bunch of money for charity by collecting a cover fee from everyone that attended the kids weekend alcohol parties.
What all of this type of thinking does, even though it is well intentioned at some level, is tell kids that there is nothing the matter with drinking and nothing the matter with drinking every weekend. this is even more of a concern when kids are under 16, A Bristish Health Study last year stated that is isn't a good idea for teens 15 or under to use alcohol at all, it has negative effects on brain development and increases their chances of becoming alcohol dependent.
I believe we need to pay way more attention to teenage alcohol use. It has become normalized and that tends to make it difficult for peple to look at the truth.
Society has spent a lot of time, energy and money on "drug" issues and somehow there has been a disconnect we seem to have forgotten that alcohol is a drug too.
Also please check previous post http://drugclass.ca/index.php?pageid=Blog&id=91
