Although we all, or at least most of us, want to believe our kids the reality is that more often than not we are not getting told the truth; particularly when it has to do with drug or alcohol use. Once a teen starts to use drugs or alcohol with any regularity they will start to develop behaviors to protect that activity. If they really like it they will begin to avoid being honest about it in order to be able to continue doing what they want to do.
Just like child-proofing our houses when our kids were little we need to continue to supervise what out teens are doing as they are growing up.
Here is an interesting and very current study from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse that talks about the disconnect between what parents think and what is really going on. http://www.ccsa.ca/2010%20CCSA%20Documents/2010_ccsa_news_release_november_15_en.pdf
Drug and Alcohol Problems generally start in the teen age years. 95% of people who have drug or alcohol problems in adulthood started drinking or using before the age of 17.
