Mair

It scares me to death, when i see and hear of the drinking habits of youngsters these days. Im no saint, and when i was a teenager i did have a drink with my friends a shared bottle of cider between 6 of us!! It was a rare occurance as buying alcohol was really difficult, supermarkets did not sell much alcohol.

These days drinking is a normality, they can walk into any supermarket by a 2litre bottle of cider for pennies and some religiously get drunk every weekend, and to top it all they have drugs to contend with. I am very scared for my chiildren.

The smoking ban is a good thing here in the UK, and there has been mention of the big supermarkets stopping selling cheap alcohol, I also beleive that tv advertisments should stop, it makes drinking look very sophisticated.

Forgive my ranting!! but i cant help wondering how many more members Sober Recovery will gain in the future.

Mair

MsGolightly

i think it's very scary.

i'm working in schools where i've had drunk and high parents show up for meetings and conferences for their first and second graders. not only do these kids see older peers drink and use drugs, but they see it on tv and they also live it every day in their own homes.

i have a feeling the number of members here and at similar sites will grow exponentially throughout decades to come.

best

When I think on such things or meet up with people who say they don't want to bring a child into this world because it is the way it is...
The words to a song give me a feeling that things will be ok.

2nd verse...

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Because He Lives
Words and music by William J. Gaither
© 1971

LaTeeDa

I did more than my share of partying when I was young. Sometimes I wonder how I survived, lol. IMHO, I think a lot of young people go through this "phase." I never became an addict. Some people do. I believe most people outgrow this childish phase. I couldn't understand why my AH didn't. It is what it is. I have faith in humankind. Each of us must walk our own path.

Education is much more productive than control.

L

Mair

When i was aged 8 i had no idea what a drug addict was, i have no recollection of ever seeing a drug addict begging in the street, my daughter is now 8 and gets the pleasure of seeing them on a daily basis. She will grow up thinking that it's normal and that's the sad bit.

Luckily for my kids they are safe in their home, a lot of kids dont have the pleasure.

The greatest gift of all is the arrival of a new life, and i suppose that as humans we have the ability to adapt to whatever comes our way.

Mair xx

good_luck

I just don't think it works that way.

I was drinking and smoking A LOT of pot at the age of 14. I don't smoke pot anymore at all, and I'm not an alcoholic.

My ex didn't touch any substances until he was in college. He's an alcoholic, and has some issues with drugs as well.

I do find that portrayal of alcohol in popular media a little troubling. Mostly I think about it in terms of addiction, and how hard it must be to give up something that is consistently represented as cool, fun, sophisticated, etc.

Barbara52

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s, I don't see things these days as much worse than back then. There will always be opportunities for substance abuse for those who want to do so.

Spiritual Seeker

I have worked professionally with teens for many yrs. in Calif. I have seen a steady increase in drug abuse and drug addiction with a great acceleration in the last 10 yrs. The age of onset has gotten younger. Many Middle school kids now use pills, heroin, meth, etc. Pill abuse is huge now at high school age.
Before more teens used drugs recreationally to party. Now a lot of teens use daily which is leading to great numbers of addicted teens.
In recent yrs. there are far greater numbers of kids with ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, oppositional defianc, etc.
Society, the family, media, genetics ... What can we do to turn this trend around?

Sweetiepie1

Mair,

Drinking to excess seems to be so much a part of British culture and drugs are getting that way too. It seems to be a right of passage, some come through it and others are casualties that don't.

It frightens me too; I only hope that my experience of alcohol and drugs makes me more aware of my childrens behaviour and that I can educate them before they get to that stage.

My youngest (7) remembers the press coverage George Bests death got and has already made comments about how sad and what a waste of life that was. I don't think we should wrap them up in cotton wool, they need to understand how these things ravage lives from an early age.

I've seen photos of what Meth Amphetemine does to people over a very short period of time. National Geographic did a documentary on it and I plan to buy it on DVD and show it to my boys as soon as they hit secondary school. I'd rather they were a bit scared and repulsed than be using

aztchr

I teach middleschoolers and try to educate as much as possible on the risks and effects. The attitude I get from them is that it's not really that bad.
We have a ton of prevention/education programs in place and speakers that come to share. They just think they are invincible at this age.

LaTeeDa

Yep. And so did I. It's all part of the process of growing up, don't you think?

L

Mair

Ive probably noticed an increase of drug/alcohol abuse because i live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. And yes there has always been alcoholics here but you hardly saw them, pubs opened at 11am and closed at 3.30 then reopened at 6.00pm and closed at 11pm, they were closed all day Sunday. Today they are open all day and night.

As for drugs, yes there was pot going around but heroin, cocaine, E's etc didnt get here until mabye 20 years ago. Now you cant get into the chemist on a Wednesday because they are all queing for their methadone. The changes in the small communities are huge, and they have no resources to deal with them, no rehabs, no clinics.

I know that the times have changed and that this is the world we live in now and probably my kids dont think anything of it. OMG i sound like my grandmother "during the war" ..... but i think it stinks, kids think that drug taking is normal they see it at home, on the tv, their favorite pop idols do it. I wonder what the statistics are for drug/alcohol abuse in somewhere like the North Pole or somewhere like that?? Ok im going to stop now and sit in my rocking chair a while and do some knitting.

Ole Mair xx

Kindeyes

I'm amazed at the attitudes our youth have toward drugs and alcohol. Everything seems to be much more extreme......behavior.....sports.......and drug and alcohol abuse.

aztchr

Yes, partly growing up, but also physically the brain is not fully developed especially the parts for reasoning and extreme behaviors. Welcome to my world of teaching the teenage brain.

sojourner

all interesting posts. glad the subject came up.

I long for the day when the culture does not tolerate drunkenness and addiction in the way we no longer tolerate driving while intoxicated and domestic violence. I believe it will be a grass roots movement in the way MADD worked....

Cyathea

I hear you! I went off the rails when I was a teenager, and my mother was terrified I would become an alcoholic like my father, but I thankfully went to a rehab place as an acoa, and saw a lot of things much more clearly.

I too think it is an increasing problem, and I too have fears.

I agree that education is the very best approach, it certainly helped me immensely.