How Important Are Parents in Helping Their Children Avoid Drug Addiction?

Drug-Free World Foundation volunteers urge parents to speak to their kids about drugs. And this is why. 

“It’s important to communicate to your children,” said the president of a chapter of Foundation for a Drug-Free World at a seminar for a parents union in Athens, Greece. 

 

Foundation volunteers make this point with parents in similar presentations in cities across the globe. 

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has found that:

• When parents talk with their children early and often about alcohol and other drugs, they can protect them from high-risk behaviors associated with using drugs.
• The earlier parents start talking, the better.
• The earlier these talks about alcohol and other drugs, the greater the chance of parents influencing their decisions.
• If parents don’t talk about the risks of drinking and substance use, kids may not see any harm in experimenting with these substances

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime: “for every dollar spent on prevention, at least ten can be saved in future health, social and crime costs.”

So why are parents often reluctant to have these conversations? Because they don’t feel they know enough about commonly abused substances to talk about them. And even if they do, they don’t feel confident about getting their point across. Which is why the Foundation’s Truth About Drugs initiative is such an effective system for parents.

The materials present:

• A factual and concise overview of exactly what drugs are, how they work and what they do
• Their street names 
• The long- and short-term side effects of the most common substances.

As to getting through to children and teens on this crucial subject, Truth About Drugs booklets and videos are presented in youth-friendly terms. And they hear it from those who lived through addiction and survived to tell their stories.

To make it even easier for parents to gain confidence in presenting this information to their children, Foundation for a Drug-Free World also offers interactive Truth About Drugs courses designed to help parents and their children learn this information at their own pace. 

Learn more about the Truth About Drugs initiative and Foundation for a Drug-Free World on the Scientology Network, where drug prevention advocates creating change with the program are featured in episodes of the original series Voices for Humanity.

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a volunteer-based organization with a network of 200 chapters around the world. Thanks to the support of the Church of Scientology and Scientologists, the Foundation provides the Truth About Drugs secular program and materials free of charge to drug educators worldwide.

Watch them on DIRECTV Channel 320 or stream them at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.