The vicious cycle of addiction
No matter what particular drug may be concerned, teenage use of a drug can turn into teenage abuse of it if you do not make your child aware of how easy it really is to slip into the vicious cycle of addiction. One night at a party your teenager may be thinking It’s just one puff, I just want to try it out, or Everybody’s doing it and they’re okay. And as much as he/she may want to believe in what his/her peers are feeding him/her as reliable information, if any, about the drugs they are set to use, the grave reality of drug abuse lies behind the flashy colors of excitement a hit may bring on. What is this dim reality? Your teen’s health may be in grave danger. And it is precisely his awareness of how simple use can actually become abuse that may save him from it.
Try an analogy with your teen
As a parent, you may try talking to your teen with a simple analogy that can reach him/her. Even injecting some humor into the manner that you approach the delicate/sensitive topic can help you touch base with your child. You may refer to taking that single puff of smoke into your teenager’s lungs as his/her first taste of pie. Once the taste is on your lips, you don’t just leave it at that (unless you’re allergic or whoever made the dessert is a horrible cook!) Your tendency is to take another bite, and another and another maybe, until you glance down at your plate and the slice is gone. After this, you may even want to ask for a second helping. Yes, as they say dessert may be sinful! But drugs are all the more. The difference here is that with a second or third helping of drugs your teen may not just be dealing with a tummy ache, but his life may be put in danger. And he/she must realize this. The cold reality is that the way drug use can become drug abuse can really be this simple. So simple that your teenager may not even realize that he/she has stepped into the web of addiction and he/she is left to face the consequences.
You take the substance, the substance takes you
With drug use, there is hardly any time to step back and assess where your use of the substance may be taking you. Ironically, you take the substance in your body but ultimately you are the one taken by the substance. Unlike a simple dessert, your mind can be affected by the drug and this will alter your manner of thinking. Get this point across to your teenager and save him/her from abuse. |
