Does your child feel peer pressure to use alcohol or drugs?
This is a guest post by Jill Vanderwood on alcohol and drug use by adolescents.
A school survey
A few years back, I had the opportunity to create a questionnaire that was passed out to students in both sixth and ninth grade. I asked questions regarding the pressure to use alcohol and drugs. The surprising findings were that many had never been approached by their peers pressuring them to try drugs or alcohol.
Most who did experience pressure to try alcohol or drugs had been approached by close family members. These included an older sibling or a cousin. Some of those surveyed had been offered drugs or alcohol by their own parents. One boy said he could watch from his bedroom window while older kids sold drugs on the school playground after school.
Sibling pressure
For a younger student, the pressure they feel from being offered alcohol or marijuana by an older sibling they idolize is immense. The younger brother wants to be just like the older sibling. They want to walk, talk like them, and be accepted by their older brother.
If a brother offers alcohol or marijuana, it is likely that the younger brother will take it. They will want to hang out with the older brother’s friends and do just about anything they do. However, the younger brother, being educated on the dangers of drugs from school, probably will draw the line at taking hard drugs.
Kids can recognize drugs
My oldest granddaughter had her friends over while babysitting her younger siblings when their mother worked nights. The next morning, my seven-year-old granddaughter saw what looked like leftover candy on the counter. She said to her next oldest sister, who was eleven, “Can I have this?”
It was an Ecstasy tablet that looked to her like candy. Her sister lunged forward, saying, “No!!!” She grabbed the tablet and quickly flushed it down the toilet.
A police officer had been at their school the week before and shown the students what different forms of drugs looked like. The eleven-year-old knew that what her little sister was about to take was not candy. It was drugs. She even knew that it was Ecstasy.
Drugs disguised as candy
Another incident occurred when a grandpa took clean clothes to a teenager’s bedroom. He saw a candy dish with Reese’s Pieces on her dresser and had no idea the candy had been treated with liquid acid—LSD. He grabbed a handful and was on an acid trip for several days.
Some illegal drug makers have figured out that messages about the dangers of taking drugs have gotten to kids through schools and online. Now it is much more common for kids to refuse to take drugs even if they are pressured by others.
So, in an effort to boost sales and gain access to the kids another way, the manufacturers of Fentanyl, which is being shipped from Mexico, have begun making pills to look like candy. They come in brightly colored tablets which can kill.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, is among the leading drivers of a nationwide overdose epidemic that has claimed more than 100,000 lives in the US in the past year. Just two milligrams is considered a fatal dose.
Educating kids to know what drugs look like can prevent them from accidentally and fatally trying them.
Alcohol is a drug
Alcohol is a drug that is much more accessible to kids than hard drugs and may be as close as their family’s refrigerator or liquor cabinet. There are also adults over the age of 21 who are willing to purchase alcohol for teens.
Alcohol is easily attainable, and many teens have the misconception that alcohol is not a drug. Kids are likely to experience the pressure to drink at a younger age.
Often kids are offered alcohol by parents for a toast on New Year’s Eve. Or they may find an unguarded, spiked punch bowl at a family wedding. When a parent is having a party, a guest may leave an unattended glass of alcohol. A kid could come along and finish it.
A kid is more likely to become an alcoholic if they begin drinking at a young age. Alcohol is detrimental to a young developing brain.
If you look through your family history of alcoholism, you are likely to find a family member with this disease.
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Instead of peer pressure, alcohol or drugs is now influenced by family members. No wonder alcoholism is sometimes referred to as a family disease. I hope they will take their first step toward healing and finding treatment.
Very true, Lauren. Pressure can come from friends and family members. A person’s environment certainly plays a role in substance use. Thanks for stopping by.