Just say no

by teresa

Have you ever seen the show Intervention on A&E?
We watched it last night and it was heart wrenching.
Each hour long show focuses on two addicts.
Their drugs (heroin, meth, cocaine, alchohol, etc), their daily routines, what they have lost by using....and the hardest to watch is the families that love them.
Interviews with moms and dads...children who miss their using parent...ex-wives longing for what "was".
The families get together with a professional interventionist and they ambush the user. They pour their hearts out to them....and then offer them a chance to get clean. This involves a trip out of town (that night) to a clinic for a couple of months.
At the end of the program they give you an update on how the persons life has changed...and if they are using again.
It is very touching...and you must sit and watch the next time you see it on.
We watched it with our kids. They had lots of questions (what is that? Are they sick? Did the Dr. give them the drug?).
Did you know that that the average age when a child first tries alcohol is 11; for marijuana, it's 12. And many kids start becoming curious about these substances even sooner. The two people on the show started drugs at Nick's age.
Just as we inoculate our kids against illnesses like measles, you can help "immunize" them against drug use by giving them the facts before they're in a risky situation.
When kids don't feel comfortable talking to parents, they're likely to seek answers elsewhere, even if their sources are unreliable. Kids who aren't properly informed are at greater risk of engaging in unsafe behaviors and experimenting with drugs.