Drugs & Your Family

Operation Prevention, DEA and Discovery Education's joint educational initiative, recently launched a set of culture-based prevention materials for elementary and middle school students.

April 20, also known as “420,” is a day popular with many marijuana smokers. They see this date as an unofficial holiday and celebrate by getting high.

Temperatures are finally creeping up and after months of being cooped up in the house, you probably can’t wait to go outside and hang out with your friends.

(Partnership to End Addiction) While the hope is that your child will readily and quickly agree to treatment, don’t despair if they first say no or need more time to think about it. There will be opportunities to raise the subject again. Managing your expectations around them engaging with, and staying in, treatment are a part of good self-care.

Just like with substance misuse, eating disorders can be linked to unhealthy compulsory behavior, which can have devastating effects on a person’s physical and mental well-being.

Addiction can happen at any age, but it usually starts when a person is young. It’s the result of changes in the brain that can come from drug use. Addiction affects how people think and what they do. But what exactly are the signs? 

(Partnership to End Addiction) Discovering that your child could be using substances stirs up a lot of emotion. The best way to find out what’s going on, and to begin helping, is to start talking.

(Partnership to End Addiction) According to the most recent data, numbers are in the single digits among 12-17-year-olds who smoke (2%), drink alcohol (9%) or use marijuana (7%).

 A few years ago, Fran Harding, the former Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), gave us a few tips on how you can start the discussion.

Prescription drugs are the most commonly misused substances by teens after marijuana and alcohol.