It is difficult to imagine something more terrible for any parent than a child's drug addiction. For several decades, the coordinated work of doctors, psychologists, social workers and teachers has been aimed at finding an answer to the question of how to protect children from drugs, how to prevent the worst, how to save those who stumbled and turned astray. This problem is so multifaceted that scientists still have no clear answer. Meanwhile, the consequences of child addiction are much more serious than adult.
The rule that the best medicine is prevention is that it works 100% here. But how to convey to the stubborn teenager the main point? Where to find the right words? And what if the worst happened, where to run, where to seek help? Our article will help you find the answers to these questions.
Statistics data
In Russia, according to the Ministry of Health, at least 15% of adolescents first get acquainted with illicit drugs under the age of 14 years. Drug use by children of this age leads to the formation of a physiological dependence and a stable habit. According to experts, the earlier the unfortunate acquaintance occurred, the stronger the connection will be.
Cannabis-based cannabis-based drugs are most common among adolescents.
The main risk group
The primary contenders for the role of chronic drug addicts are from dysfunctional families. Addiction among minors born and raised among drug addicts and alcoholics is unusually high throughout the world. A child who has seen a certain social environment since childhood grows in the belief that it is normal, and he himself seeks to become a part of it.
Such children often start getting to know drugs early. Among them, the practice of inhaling glue vapor, smoking hemp, as well as parts of plants soaked in acetone and other chemical solvents is common.
The flip side of wealth
Incredibly, risk group No. 2 are immigrants from a completely different world, which can safely be called the opposite. Children of wealthy parents run the risk of becoming addicted in much the same way as street children.
Here the list of drugs is wider. The price tag for some drugs is simply cosmic, but this does not stop a child who does not know the value of money and longs for new experiences, in whose hands there are substantial sums.
Acquaintance can begin with the same hemp (of course, better), LSD, amphetamine, ecstasy. Mixtures based on various narcotic substances, called “mixes” and “salts,” are common.
Heredity
Like alcoholism, drug addiction is a hereditary disease. Scientists have long established this, but so far they cannot determine the specific mechanism of the effect of the drug on genes.
At risk are not only children of drug addicts, but also people from drinking families. Children of alcoholics also have an increased chance of "getting on a needle."
Recent studies have shown that in minors drug abuse is more severe. Addiction comes many times faster, the consequences bring great torment, rehabilitation is more complicated and longer. And in most cases we are not talking about a full recovery.
Other factors
Understanding how to protect children from drugs will help analyze risk factors. Specialists include the following:
- complicated maternal pregnancy, difficult birth;
- concussion, head injury, especially multiple;
- single parenting;
- excessive employment of parents, lack of attention on their part;
- mental illness in the family;
- early independence (12-13 years);
- depressing parental hyper-custody;
- uncontrolled access to money.
The data are based on analysis of statistics from drug treatment centers. The list speaks only of increased risks, and not that a person who fell from a swing in early childhood will certainly become a drug addict. Even aggravated heredity is not a sentence. There are frequent cases when children of alcoholics and drug addicts grew up as convinced teetotalers.
We will understand the reasons
Specialists studying the issue of how to protect children from drugs, first of all try to analyze the reasons. Why are those very fifteen teenagers out of a hundred first interested in an unusual cigarette or pill? What moved them, why didn’t they pass by the seducer?
It affects the romanticization of the image of a drug addict who opposes himself to society, who is in search of new sensations, the boundaries of expansion of consciousness.
Modern fashion trends are changing for the better. The trend is beautiful skin, healthy hair, a toned body. But if in the company surrounding the teenager, it is believed that drugs do no harm, but only help to have fun and relax, the risk of getting into those very 15% is great.
The distortion of information leads to the formation of incorrect foundations. Therefore, the task of the parent and teacher is to convey the truth to the child as early as possible, and as convincingly as possible.
What should a child know about drugs?
Experts do not recommend going to extremes. Both a lack of knowledge and a surplus of knowledge will not lead to anything good. No need to give the child a complete list of drugs with a detailed description of the effect of each of them. A teenager should not be told that there are hallucinations from LSD and you can see what is actually not there, and from the weed you want to have fun and laugh. But you yourself need to get acquainted with the list of drugs and psychotropic drugs that are subject to control on the territory of the state (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 30, 1998, No. 681).
Other methods are needed. Let's look at an example. Talking about the dangers of drugs, try to speak in a clear language. Due to the lack of life experience and knowledge in the field of physiology, a teenager is simply not able to imagine dying brain cells. But the age spots and terrible ulcers at the injection sites can impress him.
The main objective of lectures on drugs is to convince the child of the danger, irreversibility, and seriousness of the problem. This is difficult, but real.
Responsibility to the law
Many teenagers are wary of this factor. Fear of arrest and criminal liability is a powerful deterrent. Explain to your child what stigma can be brought under the article for possession and distribution of drugs. In the future, this will prevent you from entering a good educational institution and getting a desired job.
Money issue
Dealers often add new customers to drugs, treating them for free. But this will not last long. The distributor's goal is to acquire a new source of income. And the farther, the more money will be needed for addiction.
It is worth noting here that a child who does not earn money has a very vague idea of how he will finance the addiction. It will not be superfluous to recall that if he has to engage in extortion or theft, it will open very quickly. And for such acts responsibility is also provided for before the law.
Immunological hazard
When talking about the dangers of drugs, mention related factors. According to the Ministry of Health, the vast majority of injecting drug users are sick with hepatitis C or B. The greatest number of HIV infections occurs with a needle. And if some forms of hepatitis are treatable, then modern medicine is powerless against HIV. Provide information in an accessible form, tell about these diseases, emphasizing that they invariably accompany drug addiction.
Impact on intelligence
The fact that a chronic drug addict is not capable of intellectual work is known to children. The problem is that many teens are opting for “soft drugs” as heroin and cocaine. Experts have found that weed rarely causes physiological addiction, but its regular use “for relaxation” destroys memory, weakens the reaction rate, and reduces the ability to think analytically.
Inspire from childhood that the effect of drugs on a child’s development has irreversible effects. Any kind of drugs blocks the normal functioning of the brain, which subsequently simply closes the way to normal life.
Indirect signs
Observe the son or daughter, note the slightest changes in behavior. In this case, do not go too far, remember about normal hormonal bursts, self-doubt, stress, accompanying puberty. However, you should be especially vigilant if you systematically notice the following:
- a sharp change in mood;
- causeless mockery or tearfulness;
- increased interest in money in the absence of meaningful purchases;
- suspicious items among children's things (empty blisters, medicine bottles, small zippered bags, syringes);
- atypical pace of speech;
- disorientation in space, loss of coordination in the absence of a smell of alcohol;
- strange words in conversations with friends on the phone, similar to ciphers;
- unreasonable regular delays on the street.
Try to keep in touch with whom the teenager is friends and communicates. Suspicious surroundings - a reason to beware. Narcotic substances of plant origin, as a rule, have a pronounced smell. From many drugs, the pupil’s response to light changes.
How to determine if a child is using drugs? Make it easy. If you suspect that the child is intoxicated, ask him to do something simple, but requiring attention: read a short text, write a shopping list, retell the plot of a film series, describe the image of a book hero. It’s not easy to get high.
However, such tests are not enough. Surely confirm or deny the presence of a drug in the blood can only a special analysis of urine or blood.
What if the worst is confirmed?
Do not blame. Do not let the child pull away. You will scold and punish later. And the paramount task is to provide assistance. The child should feel that you are close, that you can rely on you, and your support is unconditional.
It is important to pull the teenager out of a disastrous company. If in your case contact with the parents of other children subject to the same influence is possible, try to establish it. Acting together is easier.
Do not try to cope with the trouble yourself. A doctor’s consultation, and in some cases even hospitalization, is necessary.
Can advertising be trusted?
You can often find colorful booklets of one or another rehabilitation center for drug addicts, promising to help get rid of the problem in a week or two. Professional narcologists insist that this is not possible. According to WHO, only 10-15% of drug addicts have a chance to be completely cured.
Russian narcologists have modern means that can double this percentage, but the process will take much more time than 2 weeks, in addition, it will require considerable financial investments. Only medical assistance is clearly not enough, a long psychological rehabilitation is necessary .
If the worst fears have been confirmed, do not hush up the problem in order to save the family’s reputation. You need to immediately look for a good rehabilitation center for drug addicts and prepare to go the hard way to healing with your child.
Alternatives
As you can see, drug addiction is not a death sentence, but the statistics are simply shocking. The chance of salvation is small, but he is.
Therefore, timely prevention, sufficient attention, sincere relations in the family and frank communication with a growing up person are important.
Encourage your hobby. Do not deny your child the right to organized leisure. Let the boy attend the section he likes. Even if the cost of a coach’s services seems rather big to you, believe me, this is nothing compared to the price of rehabilitation, which will be expressed not only in money, but also in spent nerves, ruined health, lost youth. Do not let the girl learn to take care of herself, master the basics of makeup; instill interest in sewing and needlework. For many young ladies, it is the fear of loss of beauty that turns out to be the main motivator in favor of refusing to get acquainted with drugs.
No wonder experts say that prevention is a determining factor in finding the answer to the question of how to protect children from drugs. Try to be a friend of your daughter or son, encourage development, carry away and motivate yourself with your own example. This will greatly increase the chances that a terrible disaster will bypass your family.