There are a lot of problems connected with using drugs – the dangers of the drugs themselves are just the beginning. Here’s one young man’s story. It may have had a far different ending had he done a good drug rehab program earlier.

He’s 21 years old. Doesn’t have a great history – his probation ended just a week ago for a felony drug possession case. He then finds a drug on the Internet called 2C-E, a synthetic hallucinogen.

He takes the drug to a party and offers it to whoever wants some. I don’t know how many people took the offer, but one person died, and ten others were hospitalized. They were between 16 and 21 years old.

The guy who died was 19 years old, a college student and a new father. After he snorted the drug, he got violent – punching walls, breaking things, and yelling – was staring with dilated pupils, and then stopped breathing. He went to the hospital, where he was on life support, and died of cardiac arrest, attributed to the drug.

Of the ten who went to the hospital, two remained there for several days in critical condition.

The young man who provided the 2C-E has now been charged with murder, and, no doubt, there will be other charges as well, and facing many years in prison.

A lot of lives were ruined here. The guy who provided the drugs, the guy who died, and I’m sure the experience will have a long term effect on the others who were hospitalized as well. Although, we hope, they would have learned a lesson from this and maybe will stop doing drugs.

Would your kid have tried that drug in that situation? Perhaps. And they may not have been one of the lucky ones – those who lived.

This is the kind of thing that can happen. And it’s one more reason why you need to get your kid, if they’re using drugs, into a good drug rehab program immediately. These things happen without warning.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A recent study found that whether or not a person turns to alcohol to relieve stress depends on how early they started drinking. Parents who instill good habits in their kids may avoid the horror of their kids becoming drug addicts or alcoholics who need drug rehab to be able to live a normal, productive life.

The results of this study are completely logical. If kids are raised to put things away when they’re finished using them, eat a good diet, save money, and so on, they tend to carry the things they’ve learned into adulthood.

Also, if kids are taught to work out solutions to problems rather than taking drugs or alcohol to ‘forget’ them, they will grow up with that life skill. It will not only help them confront life instead of escaping from it, it will also help them create the life they want.

Kids who turn to drugs or alcohol when under stress will never really learn those skills and their lives could be miserable. They may not do street drugs but, eventually, they could wind up with a prescription drug addiction – which may be even worse.

It’s also important that parents set a good example. In fact, the ‘do as I say not as I do’ approach doesn’t work very well at all. If parents are solving their problems with drugs – sleeping pills, antidepressants, painkillers, tranquilizers and so on – that teaches the kids that that’s how adults cope.

If you want your kids to face up to life and use their head to make it better, teach them the basic skills they need to do that, and set a good example.

It will really pay off for you in the end.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A recent study showed that 40% of high school kids have tried marijuana. Many are probably not using it enough to need drug rehab yet, but, still, nearly one out of two kids is a lot.

Who’s most likely to NOT use marijuana?

• Those getting A’s in school
• Those participating in sports or other extra-curricular activities
• Those who live in a two-parent household

When raising your kids, you might want to take the above into consideration.

Many people think of marijuana as completely harmless. But studies have linked marijuana use to several physical, mental and emotional problems;

• high levels of anxiety
• depression
• wanting to kill yourself
• aggression
• psychotic symptoms
• tobacco use
• nicotine dependence
• other substance abuse
• poor sleep
• respiratory problems
• cancer
• learning, memory, and intellectual functioning problems
• poor school performance
• school dropout

And things get worse if the usage continues beyond adolescence into young adulthood and beyond.

“There is considerable evidence that it’s not just an innocent sort of thing,” said the lead author of the study, Ty S. Schepis, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos. “This is a period of strong change in the brain. We’re very concerned that marijuana alters the ways in which adolescent brains normally mature, particularly among heavy users.”

Parents who think of marijuana as a harmless right of passage and know or suspect that their kids are using it might want to familiarize themselves with more of the research and get addiction help for their kids before further damage is done.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Charlie Sheen has gotten himself into quite a mess. He’s been living hard – lots of drugs, lots of alcohol, and partying for days on end. It’s hurting his career but, more importantly, it really seems to be taking its toll on his mental and emotional state. He’s on a home-based drug rehab program or, at least, he was. But is that really going to work for him? I doubt it.

A successful drug rehab program takes months, and you need a team of professionals to help you through it. Getting off the drugs or alcohol is the first step, which in itself can be painful, sometimes dangerous and definitely needs supervision, then there’s getting all the residual drugs out of the body and getting healthy, thoroughly identifying and addressing the reason the person needs drugs and alcohol in the first place, and then setting things up so when the person leaves the rehab facility they can go back into the environment knowing they’ll be able to stay on the path.

With Sheen’s condition right now, I’d say that’s the least he needs.

But there is another possibility that might work – joining Sean Penn in Haiti. Sean went there a year ago planning on staying for a few days or weeks and is basically still there. On a recent TV show, he was referred to as the mayor of a 55,000 strong tent city. According to recent news reports, Sean and Charlie are friends. And Sean would welcome Charlie’s help.

Joining his friend in Haiti might be just what Charlie needs. It can really change a person to leave their cushy environment and spend some time helping others – not just with money, but actually getting involved in the physicality of it all. And, in Haiti, there’s no end to the physicality needed.

An experience like that can really change a person’s values and priorities. They come out of it seeing life differently. Whatever is bothering them and causing their drug addiction often pales in the light of what others have to live with every day. And it might bring Charlie back to earth.

Let’s hope, for Charlie’s sake, and his family’s, that he takes Sean up on his offer.

Popularity: 1% [?]