STUPID COLLEGE KIDS

While many first-time college students are excited about being away
from home, and excited about new friends and new experiences, and new
learning opportunities, a number of them are already
overwhelmed.

Some students -- not knowing what to expect -- didn't expect what they
found.

We received a call from our College Kid: "I never wanted to drink. I
don't think it is cool. But now I see how stupid people act when they
are drinking. I hate it."

That was good to hear. And I hope the memory of how stupid some kids
acted and how much some of them threw up that weekend will gross him
his entire life.

As we spoke, I reminded him of some of the things we'd talked about in
the past. Teens and young adults drink and do drugs for the effect.
It's not the same as a responsible, non-addicted adult having a beer
after a trying day at the office. These kids were not getting the edge
off -- they were getting their drink (or smoke) on.

There's no way to discern which of the kids who start abusing alcohol
and other substances in high school and college will become addicted.
In a sense, addiction lies dormant in some people, waiting to be
triggered by some drinking or drugging experimentation.

I am a licensed therapist, but much of what I know about alcoholism I
learned from an uncle, whose charge in life seems to have been to
drink every drop of liquor distilled on the planet. After nearly 40
years of documented drinking, two heart attacks and strict doctor's
orders, he stopped drinking. But, according to him, he never had a
problem with alcohol, and could have stopped drinking anytime he wanted to.

"Deterring young people from using drugs is integral to their
development into healthy adults," the National Institute on Drug Abuse
reports. "Research studies show that kids who make it past 21 without
trying alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs are less likely to progress to
substance abuse in the future."

Unfortunately, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports, some
students may become overwhelmed by school and respond to peer pressure
to try drugs. Others, according to a friend whose son is an Auburn
freshman, may already be talking about coming back home.

"It's boring if you don't drink or do drugs," he told his
mother.

Parents -- especially those of us who have addicts hanging from our
family trees -- do a lot of anti-substance abuse talking to our
children. But just saying no means nothing coming from parents who are
not themselves clean and sober.

Yes, marijuana counts. It makes you stupid. It impairs memory -- users
can't recall events or shift attention from one task to another. That
makes schoolwork or learning difficult -- if not impossible.

Some college kids left home believing marijuana is harmless. Not
true.

Marijuana has damaging effects on the heart and lungs. It is addictive
and it damages the brain. A person who begins smoking marijuana at 16
has the brain of a 72-year-old by the time he or she is 42.