A LOT OF HURT!

I hardly know of anybody anymore that has not been touched by an addiction
of some sort. Some of us have had addictive parents or perhaps a brother or
sister and many are dealing with children that have addictions.

Addictions come in all kinds of different forms there are of course the
more common addictions such as cigarettes, alcohol, crystal meth, heroin
and what have you. It does a tremendous amount of damage in our society
both physically and emotionally.

Although alcohol remains the drug of choice in the Wetaskiwin area, crystal
meth is quickly gaining popularity.

This is a horrible drug that destroys lives and breaks families apart. It
is made up of ingredients that are lethal even by themselves, it has been
compared to ingesting Drano.

As a parent with young growing children you have a duty to arm your them
with the best information that you are able to get your hands on. Make them
aware of the consequences of poor choices. Knowledge is a powerful tool
even in the hands of children.

Arm yourself as well, go to drug awareness seminars, get information from
the internet, find out what the signs of addiction and drug use are, so
that should your children get themselves involved, you can intervene at an
early age when you still have some control and influence over them. Don't
be afraid to go through their rooms if you suspect something. Watch and see
who their friends are, how are their grades in school? talk to their teachers.

Once you have done the best that you can, you can only hope for a good
result. Sometimes in spite of everything that we do to help the person or
persons we love, the addiction is so strong that you have to back away
before it destroys you and your family as well.

A lot of times what parents or loved ones do are behaviors that enable. I
know it is easy to sit here and give advice or make judgments about others,
however if you continually support and help out the addicted loved one, you
enable them to continue behaving in that manner. If they know that you will
always be there to pick them up, or bail them out or give them money or a
place to stay when they crash, you allow them to continue doing what they
are doing, you are in fact supporting them in their lifestyle. When you
pull away that support system, continuing on with that kind of behavior
becomes much more difficult.

You have to realize that nothing you can say or do will change the
direction they have chosen. They will only change if and when they decide
that they want or have to.

As a parent it is a hard pill to swallow to see your child hurting
themselves in this manner, but all you can hope for is that the education
and information you gave them when they were young, kicks in and makes them
realize that they are taking the wrong path.

Support systems for those dealing with addiction is available. I would
strongly suggest your pastor or preacher, sometimes prayer is the strongest
weapon we can use.