Replies

I remember back in the eighties, cocaine typically took a little under a year to wreck someone's life. Crack took less. With meth it seems almost instantaneously...it's like a high bandwidth connection to hell.

This is a fact. Your kids will run into this stuff. School dances, parties, off site bars and just in parked cars. Kids have it in their pocket at the age of 12-14. Different forms including crystal (ICE) but mostly minute quantity of white powder in almost any type of container. (usually little bitty plastic ziplok envelopes. Smaller quantities than coke). It is given away to non users for free. "Have you ever tried this?" Free hits for a few times....They are hooked. Then 3$ to 5$ a bag...lunch money..The feeling it imparts the first time is "like you are on top of the world!..the greatest I ever felt in my life..."...and they want to feel that way again, especially if they have a bad day, fight with a friend, insecure teenage moment, etc.

These are kids who may just have had a bad day, not bad parents or bad home life, and all of the sudden they are trapped. Hooked. First time. By the time you find out if you do, it is too late. This stuff is literally lightening fast in its addiction.

Not that a bad home life cannot contribute but anyone who blames this on bad parenting is just not dealing with reality and that attitude will put more kids at risk.

Be ALERT with your kids! Educate yourself and talk to them about the facts of how they will be introduced to meth and what it will do to their brain. The kid's life (and their brain) is damaged before they even have a chance to exercise rational judgment. Do it now. Don't wait. Don't mark even the smallest behavior change down to adolescence or assume they will "grow out of it". If you don't think this stuff is in your middle school and high school you are wrong. It is there no matter where you live. Don't be complacent or comfortable because you are a "good parent" and have a "good home life". Be vigilant.

Last, IMHO school drug awareness programs are way behind the power curve on this stuff and need to catch up fast to help the kids understand what they are faced with.

What was most disturbing for me to watch, is the way the body rapidly changes with meth. The person looked like they aged 20 years in six months.