Friend's autistic 14YO DD vaping and drinking

[PeaceLoveAndCandy]

Friends at wits end, doesn't know how to stop this, it seems only solution is to never allow her out which is obvs not a solution. Friend's DD has no disposable income anymore but manages to still get vapes and drinks from other people. I have spoken with friend's DD and she's told me she doesn't even like the flavour of alcohol of being too drunk, but she likes feeling tipsy, having the confidence and the social aspect attached. Anyone been in this situation and what's helped?

Been in the situation of the girl there.

No advice but I hope someone comes along with advice for you.

Thanks @StrangerTides13. Just don't know how to help. Friend's DD has been advised by mentors in school, counsellor, camhs, even police... but she seems determined to self destruct.

I was that girl too
I don't think my parents could have done much to stop me except possibly keep me busy and let me have my friends round more often.
As an undiagnosed autistic I used alcohol as a crutch for a very long time.

Thank you @ofwarren, that sounds really tough. Do you remember when/how you stopped using alcohol as a crutch?

Have you got a St Giles Trust group near you? Please have a look at the link below.

This screams county lines / child exploitation - and if it's more innocent than that right now, it's heading that way.

www.stgilestrust.org.uk/what-we-do/child-criminal-exploitation/

@RedCarsGoFaster thank you for that, she's not there yet but yes, she puts herself in very vulnerable and unsafe situations.

Then you really want to flag it up as CL potential - even the experts may not be paying full attention. Too many kids are written off because they don't see the long term potential for harm.

Teenagers live in the here and now. They don't necessarily think about or care much about the next few years. Their behaviours are frequently more risky than someone older would think were reasonable.

St Giles explain it so much better than I can. These short videos are really worth a watch: www.stgilestrust.org.uk/support-us/keep-children-safe/vulnerabilities-to-child-criminal-exploitation/

Once I had my first child at 22 unfortunately

Hi , I'm sorry your friend is having a hard time with child vaping etc. I can't offer help and advise unfortunately, just empathy and a potential chance to stop others starting vaping this young. My son was 13 when he started and more and more young are experimenting with it. It is visually attractive to them, cartoon and sweetie images, and lots of great flavours etc. While children will always push boundaries and experiment we will see that more will try vaping than really should be if it is made to look this appealing and readily available.
I have just uploaded a post about a petition I have running to do with vaping and it's appeal to our young children. If you would like to sign it please do as the more it gets exposure the more likely the government will act on this problem.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/618911 this is the petition.
Please also share this petition with any friends/family on your own social media platforms. Action is needed now!
Image shows the delicious looking products I found my son had gathered up. He is now not vaping, I weaned him off and he met with our MP last week to help with this campaign.