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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.

You have made some great posts to this thread. I think part of the problem is that people watch Cops and think that people that use meth only look like those shown on Cops. What they fail to realize, is that those users were normal before they became addicted. Assuming that you have a good kid, therefore won't do/try drugs, can be disastrous.

I have seen 4.0 GPA students start using meth to cram for finals in high school.

People trying to work more and not be tired.

Insecure people trying to fit in

It is one of those split second decisions that will affect the rest of your life. One can only hope that through educating your kids about the risks, they will make the right decision. As a parent, you can't protect them 24/7. You can only do the best job possible raising them and hope they will make the right choices in their life.

Twice on this thread you have said that people get hooked on meth the first time you use it. Meth is an awful drug. It is extremely addictive, but there really isn't such a thing as a drug that causes people to become addicted after the first use. Some people get addicted faster than others, but many have used the drug once or even several times over the course of years and never became addicted. Most who try it don't become addicted. When you or anyone else say that this drug causes people to become addicted the first time they use it, you are really doing a disservice to young people. Once they see people using the drug once or a few times without becoming addicted, they'll think you or those who say what you are saying were either just plain wrong or just plain lying. Either way they aren't going to put much stock in anything else you say about drugs.

Probably a better thing to do especially when talking to kids would be to talk about how terrible the addiction to meth is and point out that while maybe not everyone who tries the stuff gets addicted a large percentage do and none of those people thought they were going to get addicted when they got involved with it. It could happen to anyone who tries the stuff and some of the people who will end up ruining their lives with the stuff will surprise you. They won't seem like the kind of people who would go overboard with the drugs, but for whatever reason either early on or later on the drugs will get the best of them and they'll be lifelong addicts who if lucky might someday be able to get off the stuff but probably not without really messing up their lives. Many won't ever be able to leave the stuff alone and their lives will be miserable until the day they day.