Talk to Kids About Drugs? Parents Just Don't Do It
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Troubles in school or changes in sleeping habits might indicate drug use. So can these signs:
Clothes or jewelry depicting a marijuana leaf or mushrooms
"Bowls," or smoking devices made by denting and poking holes in soda cans
Baggies in the bedroom. That's how drugs typically are stored.
Eye drops get the pot-induced red out.
Polling parents and teens
Guess what: Parents and their teenage children do agree about something. In a U.S. News-Family Circle-YM poll, 3 out of 4 say illegal drugs are easy to obtain. But when it comes to communication, there can be quite a gap.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
68 pct. of parents would just talk to a teen if a bag of pot was found in a jacket pocket.
12 pct. would ground or punish the teen.
28 pct. of teens think they'd be grounded or punished.
TALKING ABOUT DRUGS
39 pct. of teens say their parents rarely or never talk to them about drugs.
13 pct. of parents say they rarely or never talk to their teens about drugs.
14 pct. of teens say their parents talk to them "a lot" about drugs.
35 pct. of parents say they talk to their teens "a lot" about drugs.
DECEIVING PARENTS
24 pct. of teens say they've lied to their parents about drug or alcohol use.
16 pct. of parents think their teens have lied to them about drug or alcohol use.
U.S. News-Family Circle-YM poll of 700 parents of teens and 700 teens ages 14 to 17 conducted by Celinda Lake of Lake Snell Perry & Associates and Ed Goeas of the Tarrance Group Sept. 8-15, 1999. Margin of error: plus or minus 3.8 percent
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