I’m a firm believe that you should start talking about drugs the minute you start giving them to your child. We live in a world where pharmaceutical companies have been able to convince us that for every problem we have, there is a drug that can fix it. If you are depressed, you take a pill. If you have a headache, you take a pill. We start medicating our children from a very early age, training them to be very effective drug users.

Whether the drugs are medicinal, legal or illegal, our children should be informed about the risks associated with drug use. When it comes to pharmaceutical drugs or over-the-counter medications, children need to be made aware of the importance of appropriate use. In the first few years of primary school, drug education lessons focus on this area and do it extremely well. They don’t talk about drugs being ‘bad’, instead they discuss the idea that drugs can help people when used appropriately, and it is the misuse of drugs that can cause problems.

Excerpt from “Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs” by Paul Dillon.
Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.