WHY KIDS USE DRUGS.

                                                    

What are the factors that influence

children to try or avoid drugs?

                 The high induced by drugs. If drug use wasn’t

pleasurable, it would be relatively easy to keep kids

and harmful substances separated. But the reality is

that many kids enjoy the way they feel on drugs —

at least for a while. 

Attitudes of parents toward tobacco, alcohol and

other substances. Children learn what they live.

Smoking, drinking and other drug-related behaviors

among parents will usually be duplicated in their

children.

Availability of drugs. Finding drugs is not difficult

for children and adolescents in most communities,

but tougher local standards can help keep drugs out

of less-determined hands.

Peer pressure. Peers play a huge role at each stage of

a child’s or adolescent’s drug experience — whether

resisting them, experimenting, becoming a user or

confronting withdrawal and recovery.

                                                      

There are three obvious implications: First, it is

important that kids find their niche in the right peer

  group(s), among friends who are not only committed

to positive values (including a drug-free lifestyle)

but also involved in worthwhile and enjoyable

pursuits. Second, you may have to intervene if your

adolescent (especially in the early teen years) is

hanging out with the wrong crowd. Finally, children

and adolescents with a healthy, stable identity and an

appropriate sense of independence will be more

resistant to peer pressure.

Curiosity. Unless your family lives in total isolation,

your child will be aware of smoking, alcohol and

drug use well before adolescence from discussions at

school, watching TV and movies, or direct

observation. Some curiosity is inevitable: What do

these things feel like?

Whether this leads to sampling will depend on the

individual’s mind-set; whether an experiment

progresses to addiction will in turn depend on the

physical and emotional responses to the particular

substance.

Unfortunately, many children and adolescents seek

drug experiences to produce thrills that normal life

and consciousness can’t duplicate. Some observers

have argued that this desire to alter consciousness is

universal, wired into humans much like the desire

for food, and that trying to prevent it is as futile as

sweeping back the ocean with a broom. Assuming

this is the case (which is certainly debatable) does

not mean, however, that any and all forms of thrill-

seeking should be given free rein. A number of other

human instincts are no less universal, but hardly

virtuous: pride, greed, hunger for power, the desire

to dominate other people, lust, selfishness and so on.

Rebellion. Wayward children may engage in

smoking, alcohol and drug use as a show of

independence from family norms and values.

Escape from life/relief from pain. For many people

— indeed, for most people in the world — life is just

plain tough, and normal waking consciousness

brings a constant stream of unpleasant sights, smells,

sounds and sensations. The prospect of a chemical

“timeout” may look very attractive. Furthermore,

even when a person has plenty of creature comforts,

the prevailing emotional weather can still be

turbulent: kids and teens often feel anxious, angry,

depressed, oppressed, stressed, bored, unfulfilled.

Whether one is down and out or rich and famous,

drugs that bring about relaxation, stimulation or pure

escape can be appealing. The strongest resistance to

drug abuse therefore arises from an ongoing sense of

joy and contentment that transcends circumstances.

These attitudes are usually acquired, not inborn.

Early positive experiences in the family and an

active, wide-awake relationship with God play the

most important roles in molding such attitudes.