MEETING ADDRESSES DRUG USE AMONG SRHS STUDENTS

The Brutal Truth Parents Often Enable Their Children's Substance
Use

SUSSEX About 40 people got a refresher on effective parenting during
an awareness session on substance abuse at Sussex Regional High School
March 12.

Organized by the school's Parent School Support Committee, it was in
response to a survey done last May by the NB Department of Health
which probed high school students on everything from healthy food
choices and mental wellness to smoking, alcohol and drug use.

It was the statistics showing SRHS students are smoking, drinking and
taking drugs far more early and often than both parents and
administrators might have thought that prompted the gathering.

"None of the [numbers] really surprise me," said Portage Admissions
Coordinator Tambrie Hicks, one of two speakers at the meeting. Portage
is a teen rehab centre in Cassidy Lake.

The survey showed 18 per cent of SRHS students are regular smokers,
while 46 per cent have tried tobacco. More troubling is the fact that
78 per cent of SRHS students reported having a drink of alcohol that
was more than a sip.

But drug use stats were the most startling: 50 per cent of SRHS
students reported having tried marijuana, and 76 per cent said the
drug would be easy to obtain here. Of those students who had used
marijuana, almost half said they'd first tried it at age 13 or
younger, indicating widespread experimentation at the middle school
level.

"And nearly 25 per cent [who haven't tried marijuana] aren't sure that
they won't," said principal Dan McKiel. "They don't have the
confidence in being able to say no."

RCMP Constable Norm Adams, the district's DARE (Drug Awareness
Resistance Education) coordinator told parents the job of making sure
their children are safe and healthy until they are 18 often includes
being a pest and making unpopular demands.

"Are we not duty-bound to be a pain in the butt of our children?" he
asked. "Next time they go off to a friend's house, drop in and say hi.
Parents will say 'they're going to hate me.' Yes, but you're doing
your job."

Adams listed the early warning signs of possible drug use: mood
changes, dropping grades, new friends, frequent sleepovers, missed
curfews, and a disinterest in favourite activities and hobbies that
aren't replaced with new ones.

"There's not a parent in the world who really wants to believe their
son or daughter would do anything wrong," said Adams, but denial is a
frequent reaction to those signs.

Adams is frankly appalled at parents who enable their children to
drink and smoke. "I've had parents tell me 'I let my kids drink in the
house because at least I know where they are.' Forget the legalities
young people are growing and developing, and introducing alcohol or
another drug into that young person's system affects them more.

"Parents say, 'I buy my kids' cigarettes for them [because they can't
buy them legally]," said Adams. "I think we have a problem. We say,
'why aren't the schools doing more, why aren't the police doing more,'
but a school system cannot fix something in five hours instruction
time [a day] when kids have the other 19 hours at home with that mentality.

"DARE must be followed up by the parents," he said. "I have only 10
hours [instruction time with the students]. Parents have to reinforce
it at home. DARE is only a start."

As for parents who make it easy for their children to smoke, Adams
said that parent has "just stolen $3,600 a year from their [child's
future] income," by enabling that addiction, not to mention the health
issues and costs to the healthcare system.

Hicks gave a rundown of statistics from Portage residents who live in
the immediate area of Norton to Penobsquis. The average age when they
began both drinking and taking drugs was 12, although their average
age upon arrival at Portage was 17. Marijuana was the most popular
drug, with 81 per cent of the local Portage residents having used it,
while 53 per cent went from marijuana to harder drugs like cocaine,
mescaline, LSD, crack, morphine and Dilaudid.

She said parents enable their children's drug use, perhaps without
even realizing it, by giving in to their demands and desires.

"Portage is not an easy program, and there is a period of adjustment.
It's fairly common [for parents] to get a call from kids saying 'I
want to come home.' We tell parents to say no, you can't come home
until you finish the program,'" she said.

Adams encouraged the audience to see themselves as parents rather than
their child's best friend, and being a responsible parent means saying
no to a child.

"If you don't say no, you're saying it's okay," he said. "If you don't
believe the behaviour is appropriate, you have to say something."

McKiel ended the night by telling parents to connect with the school's
guidance counsellors if they suspect their child of substance use. An
addiction counsellor visits the school once a week, he said.