Parents can be responsible for their children’s addiction problem in many ways. A survey conducted by the National Center of Addiction and Substance abuse found teenagers have access to prescription drugs more often than marijuana or alcohol. CASAColumbia, after 17 years of surveys and research conducted on addiction and teenagers, found that the most influential factor in teens’ addiction or drug and alcohol abuse are their parents.
Parents who are responsible for school kids can be part of the problem when they ignore their role in following their kids’ activities and school nights. Sometimes parents will not just ignore their educational and monitoring role but also will push the kids to look for drugs and alcohol.
More recently, the survey included questions about the effect of social media on teens prospective and likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse. Teens who spend more time on social media are more likely to try drugs or marijuana in the future. It depends largely on the content from pictures and videos of people consumed alcohol or illicit drugs.
Teens can get drugs from their friends during school nights. According to the survey, half of the teens participated mentioned that during school nights with their friends, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and using drugs usually occur after 10 p.m.
Half of the teens surveyed agreed that it is easier to get prescription drugs, mostly painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin, than it is to get beer or marijuana. A large percentage of teens admit the prescription drugs they can get are from home medication cabinets. The second highest source of drugs is friends and classmates.
Surprisingly, more than half of the high school students surveyed admitted that drugs are available for commercial abuse inside their schools. Almost 40 percent of parents believe their teens’ schools are not drug-free.
More teens believe marijuana is easier to get than beer. 61 percent of teens believe smoking nicotine is 11 times more risk for smoking marijuana in the future than teens who don’t smoke. The survey also recognized some ways known to help with teens addiction, including attending religious services, frequent family dinners and parental monitoring.