Member Questions

I hadnt seen this question yet, I hope things are going ok for you. Its a traumatic issue for the whole family. We had to take the tough love aproach. We didnt accept any excuses from our son. You cant reason with a person who is using drugs or abusing alchohol. Pot is addicting, and it usualy leads to more hard core drugs. But you probably not going to able to make him believe it. What worked for us w/our son was drawing a firm line in the sand, establishing clear consequenses and not backing down.

My son ended up in a tragic car accident at the age of 21 after a night of partying with his friends. We got the phone call at 2:30 in the morning that every parent dreads. Life flight had been ordered and he was sent to the main tauma unit down town. I knew it was bad just hearing those words. He Had to be operated on w/o anesthesia because he was so wasted drunk. I could hear his screaming in the private waiting room that they put you in when your loved one might not make it. He spent 3 days in a coma, and another week in the hospital. His car was totaled. His face destroyed. A severed liver, collapsed lung, and head injury. Even though his buddies were ok, even though he knew he and his friends were lucky to be alive...
They all went back to partying within 3 months.
We kicked him out of the house.
He spent 3 long years walking everywhere and trying to make ends meet.
He finally got it.
Today, he is back on his feet. Has a great job, is clean, has a beautiful girlfriend, a car and is motivated to keep moving forward. I wish every kid tempted to take that first toke could have sat in that hospital waiting room with us.
Stay strong, I wish you the best.

No unfortunately I haven't dealt with a teen who abuses drugs but if I do I will him/her that not only will it harm him/herself, it can harm other people as well. Most of the vicious and violent crimes are done by people under the influence and when caught, they blame the drugs for their actions. Drugs don't force their way in, I would tell them to think hard about the consequences of their actions because they might regret them and by then it will be too late.