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Suffer The Little Children

WHAT  ABOUT  DRUGS

Just what about drugs?  Are they good or bad for you?  What are drugs?  A drug is any chemical substance that you put in or on your body that changes how your body or brain works. Drugs are often taken for medical or recreational reasons. Drugs taken for medical reasons can be prescribed by a doctor or accessed over the counter at supermarkets or pharmacies. People aged 18 and over can legally purchase some recreational drugs, e.g. alcohol and tobacco, but other drugs, such as marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD and amphetamines are illegal. 

People take different types of recreational drugs for many different reasons - to relax, to help them focus, as part of socializing, because they're addicted, to fit in, because they're bored or curious, or to escape their problems.

Ask yourself a question - Do you take drugs or does drugs take you?

How Kids Get Hooked on Drugs at Such

a Young Age

In their teenage years, parents are seen as less important than friends. Part of the reason is that friends are more likely to understand exactly what your kid is going through and that their friends don’t restrict them. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t place restrictions on your kids-that’s an integral part of parenting. Just don’t expect your kids to always respect and enjoy those restrictions.

Your kid’s friends are the most likely reason that your kid will enter in to addiction. If your kid understands the risks of taking drugs (especially glue-the average age of a solvent addict is 12), he or she is likely to have the power to say no. However, friends can be powerful influences, and sometimes you need to restrict who your kids hang out with. You need some indication that they’re actually doing something-kids who are restricted too much are much more likely to rebel (authoritarian parenting doesn’t work that well). It’s a fine line, but graduated sanctions are generally the way to go.

 

In general, one or two kids are generally the leaders, and the others are followers. It sounds a little Lord of the Flies, but that’s how most cultures around the world, including our own, are set up. You get one or two who are willing to stand out and express dissent, but that’s relatively rare.

 

Your child is dependent on you up until the age of eighteen and is reliant on you for support and guidance. While friends change and people move on, their parents remain the same and should only be but a short phone call away at most. It’s your guidance that should help them steer clear of addiction. If your teen is falling prey to an alcohol, drug or behavioral addiction, get them help.

 

why  do  children  take drugs

Just because children are children doesn't mean they don't know what is going on around them and things doesn't effect them like adults.

 

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents occurs as a result of a child’s exposure to 1 or more major traumatic events. Such events can take many forms, including physical or sexual assaults, natural disasters, accidents, traumatic death or injury of a loved one, and emotional abuse or neglect.  How can kids understand and cope? 

 

I have never been in an institution where young people are taken who have a problem with drugs, but I understand it isn't a very plesant place to be.  Young people are strapped down, placed in padded cells and put in straight jackets to protect themselves and those who are working with them.  Young people can get help with their drug problem if they want it, but there are those who go too far and it is too late for them.  Their brain has been fried, they have brain damage and in some cases, they die.

 

Some drugs are so powerful that they can have an effect on a person for days and after they think the drug has passed through their system, they can have a flash back days later.  They can be in school, at home, playing football or any kind of sports at school and the drug they took can flare up.

 

It is a sad thing to see a young person, or anyone, who is strung out on drugs.  I was at home one evening kicked back watching TV when I heard a knock at the door.  When I opened the door a nice looking young man in his teens stood there.  With slurred words and rubber like legs he asked if this was the place that sold drugs.  He was a nervous wreck and needing drugs for his habit.

 

There were these people I knew of who were pushing drugs all hours of the day and night.  Young or old, they didn't care as long as they had the money.  There were children on the street who knew all about them, in fact they would smoke marijuana that was given to them by these people.  The neighbors complained so much that one night there was a raid on their home and the police her and her boyfriend.  As they were taken to the police car their children stood on the sidewalk screaming and crying for mom but it didn't seem to affect her in anyway.  The law says that children are to be keep with their parents at all cost.  There are people who want children to adobt because they can't have any, and people like this are permitted to keep their children and drag them down with them.

Alcoh0l Is A Drug Too

Parents or anyone who thinks it is cute to let a child drink will have a rude awakening some day.  Parents play a vital role in not only delaying a child’s first drink but also in shaping their attitude and behavior towards alcohol. 

 

Alcohol is as bad as drugs.  Once in takes hold on a child or anyone, they are addicted and it is a night- mare for them to stop.

 

Some people think giving a child a drink of alcohol will dislike it and never try it again.

In a bassinet near Robinson's bed was the emaciated figure of an infant boy, later identified as 6-week-old Raiden.  In court documents, the Kent detective explained how officers discovered Raiden's other brother, Justice.

 

 

When things happen to children or things bother them to the point they feel like they can take no more, no matter the age, they look for a way out.  Most kids will talk to their friends about their situations before they go to their parents or other adults.  If their friend uses drugs or alcohol because of their situations, they may tell them how it helps them for- get.  A lot of adults with PTSD due to the war and other situations start using and become addicted, some take their own lives.

 

Despite all of your efforts to keep your child off drugs, there may come a time that you begin to suspect that your child has a problem with substance abuse. Maybe you heard your child talking to someone about drugs. Or, maybe you read some disturbing texts/emails or saw some concerning material on Facebook. Maybe you found some odd looking pipes or money seems to be disappearing. 

 

 

     *  Missing money from your purse or wallet

     *  The use of incense, room deodorizer, or excessive perfumes/cologne to mask the smell of smoke

     *  Excessive mints, mouthwash to cover the smell of alcohol

     *  Eye drops to make eyes that are bloodshot or dilated appear unimpaired

     *  Missing medications (over the counter and prescription)

     *  Negative impact at school (grades have declined or homework has decreased and school attendance has                          decreased due to drug use)

things to look for in children - ptsd

there are ways / signs that you can look for

 

     *  Reexperiencing the trauma (nightmares, intrusive recollections, flashbacks, traumatic play)

     *  Avoidance of memories or situations that remind the child of the traumatic event

     *  Sleep problems

     *  Emotional numbing

     *  Symptoms of increased arousal and hypervigilance

     *  Altered cognitive function

     *  Behavioral inhibition

     *  Regression

     *  Difficulties with physical contact (for abuse)

     *  Flashbacks and memories

     *  Behavioral reenactment

     *  Reenactment through play

     *  Wetting the bed

A surprising number of parents believe that early exposure to alcohol will discourage children from drinking in adolescence and help prevent alcohol abuse later on.  Wrong !  Children exposed to alcohol at an early age will continue drinking.  Have you heard the saying, "Monkey See Monkey Do?"  Children, like adults, like to fit in, especially with their family and friends.

 

Some parents feel the accepted wisdom is to give children a few sips of watered-down wine at family gatherings, or a taste of beers is better to introduce them to alcohol gently so they don't overdo it later on? One parent gave out one small glass of Woodpecker cider at her daughter's 14th birthday party each, and there was much giggling – though from nervous excitement rather than intoxication.

 

I personally know people who have given their children beer and whiskey as a child and they ended up going to AA meetings.  There are thousands of children/young people in our country who are alcoholics before they reach their 16th birthday.

 

There was a person very near and dear to me, infact he was my uncle, who went into a alcohol coma and died.  My mother said there was a person who thought it was cute to give him alcohol as a child, which got him started.  I remember coming home on leave at Christmas time one year.  I got presents for everyone at home.  Without thinking, I bought him some after shave and he drank it.  He also went in the bathroom and found some rubbing alcohol and drank it.  It is a wonder he didn't die from it.  He drank anything that had alcohol in it.  He would see things coming out of the walls after him that wasn't there.   He spent the biggest part of my life, as I can remember, in and out of institutions and hospitals.  He attended AA Meetings and it helped for a while, but he would always go back to the bottle.

 

Recent medical research stacks up against the idea of introducing children to alcohol in their early age, which is why in 2009 the Chief Medical Officer recommended an alcohol-free childhood until age 15. 

 

There are Ten reasons why drinking alcohol is dangerous for young people

     1.   Alcohol can cause car crashes and other deadly accidents.

     2.   Alcohol makes some people become violent.

     3.   Alcohol can make good kids make really bad decisions.

     4.   Alcohol can damage the developing brain by killing off brain cells.

     5.   Alcohol can hurt your liver, which you need to clean your blood.

     6.   Alcohol can make you feel really depressed and sad, and even become suicidal.

     7.   Alcohol is illegal.

     8.   Young people who drink are more likely to experiment with other drugs.

     9.   Alcohol can lead to sexual assaults and unplanned pregnancy.

     10. Kids who start drinking before age 15 are 4 times more likely to develop alcoholism than someone who waits                  until they are 21 before they start.

 

The story below explains why kids shouldn't start drinking in the first place.  There are lots of people like Marie in our country who can't handel alcohol or drugs.  People using drugs have been known to put their babies in the Micrawave. The only high anyone needs is falling in love with Jesus Christ.  He will take you higher than anything or anyone on earth.

 

Matthew 7:7

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shallfind; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

 

John 14:6 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

 

Luke 13:25

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Mother of dead babies

Woman drank beer while children starved, police say;

The 36-year-old woman jailed as a suspect in the deaths of her two young children apparently drank beer as her babies starved to death.

 

When police got into Marie Robinson's apartment Sunday afternoon, they found a home in shambles, littered with empty beer cans and smelling of urine and feces, according to court documents filed yesterday. They found 16-month-old Justice and 6-week-old Raiden dead and their mother in bed, seemingly passed out from drinking.  State welfare officials who had known about Robinson for at least two years couldn't explain what action social workers took on their last visit with her.

Sunday, Robinson awoke to find police detectives in her bedroom, staggered toward a bathroom and "stopped briefly at the closet to retrieve an unopened 12-ounce can of Budweiser," a Kent detective wrote in court documents. Police then arrested her.  Robinson made her first appearance in court, where a judge set bail at $2 million. She likely will be charged in the children's deaths.

 

In papers presented to the police say there is probable cause to believe Robinson committed two counts of second-degree murder and a single count of criminal mistreatment.  The boys' father, Christopher Bone, 32, sat with detectives in the courtroom but left without comment.  Bone and his mother were the ones who alerted police Sunday. They had gone to Robinson's apartment together, could hear the 2 1/2-year-old talking but could get no one to open the door.

The deaths, which an autopsy blamed on dehydration and malnutrition, have sent child welfare authorities scrambling. A social worker investigating a complaint of neglect visited visited Robinson in February, but officials with the state Department of Social and Helth Services were unable to describe the outcome of that visit.

 

In the end, it wasn't the agency responsible for protecting children that alerted police and rescued Robinson's surviving 2 1/2-year-old son from the squalor of the apartment. It was Robinson's boyfriend, a man with a criminal record who got police help only after he was released from jail.

Bone had been serving time in the Kitsap County Jail for failing to appear in court on an earlier drunken-driving arrest, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.  Officers helped the 2 1/2-year-old open the door to the apartment. The little boy was dirty and naked but alive.  It was the only good news the officers would

have in the apartment.

 

Police found Robinson wearing only a flannel shirt, and her upper legs were smeared with feces. The room was dark, a television was on, and the dresser was lined with empty beer cans.

On September 10, 1996, I awoke to every mother's nightmare. I found my 20-year-old son Ian dead in his bed of an accidental heroin and valium overdose.  Ian James Eaccarino was a promising college student with everything to live for. He was bright, athletic, popular, and handsome. He was dearly loved by his family and by his many friends. Drugs destroyed his life.  Click here to read more of Ian's story and struggle with drug abuse by Ginger Katz, mother of Ian and Founder of The Courage to Speak® Foundation, Inc.

"My drug use started with Ecstasy at the age of 18. I had it all, a good job, nice car, I was in college, had a close relationship with my family, an incredible girlfriend and an incredible daughter. I could not ask for anything more. At the age of 22, everything started slipping. I lost everything and mostly everyone. I let drugs be my priority for a long time. I lost focus of what was important. I turned into a person I never wanted to associate or to be with. I lost everything" J.M.B

 

Click here to read the story of Jovon's life and how drug abuse cost him everything and a poem written by his mother.

Life was certainly hectic raising four children who enjoyed being active in athletics. My husband, Bruce and I would spend our weekends going to various games and spending time with our children. During the week they would go off to school and I would make sure homework was done along with all the multitude of chores raising a family. It wasn't until Dan was in middle school that things started to go astray. He would get into trouble in school and had trouble doing his work and handing in his homework. We had him tested and sure enough if had attention deficit disorder. The medicine helped him immensely as he seemed to stay more on task. However, as it turned out he started smoking cigarettes and had his first beer in 8th grade...

I'm Jon. I'm an addict. I'm stubborn and have become a slave to my disease. During my stay at MASAC, I've learned I'm sick and can't do it my way. I need to ask for help and seek long term treatment...

 

Read more on Jon's Story of life and the challenge of recovering from drug addiction written by his sister Vanessa C. McGunnigle

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