Illegal drugs. How much would you admit to to your children?

[OrmRenewed]

Police spokesman yesterdays suggested that the best way to defend your DC from drug use was to talk to them about it. Now I agree that that is a good idea - we do that with our DC about almost everything. But...in the past Dh and I have both used dope and still do very very occasionally although most of the stuff now is just too strong IMO. DH has tried other things too. It was just what you did when we were younger.

So how much honesty is healthy? I don't like to lie but how can I say 'don't touch' when I did. And as far as I know I'm not suffering the ill effects now so I can't use my health as an object lesson.

How are you going to treat the subject.

I don't think anyone was saying 'Well it never did me any harm, go on take drugs' - more the view that if you have done it you can speak from an honest perspective. I have certainly had some bad experience's or seen others not have a good time but over the last 15 years I have also had some of the best times of my life.

However, I wouldn't advocate doing drugs to anyone especially not my own children, but I hope me speaking honestly about some of what I know first hand would help my children build a more honest and full picture rather than the example given before of 99% of heroin users have smoked dope!

As I've said on another thread I am an ex-heroin addict and so I don't think 'just say no' will wash from me!

I will tell dd that I can't tell her not to, I can't threaten to throw her out / disown should she smoke / drink / snort. However for every high there is a low, these substances carry not only immediate after-effects (hangovers) but have lots of other undesirable physical and mental effects. Then I will bore her rigid by discussing all of them.

It has struck me time and time again that often people know very little about drugs they take (I even include alcohol caffeine and cigarettes in that).

no-one has suggested saying itnever did meany harm. people have suggested providing accurate informtion, some of which will be detived from personal experience. I think a lot of casual dabblers who survived their experiences know heavier uses who had a much worse time, and i;m sure we'll all use tese as warnings. not in a "do it like i did and you'll be ok" type way. much more a "there but for the grace of god go I" type way.

My dad was a teenager in the 60s. He and my stepmother told us some real hair raising tales of what went on. He took uppers, downers, LSD, magic mushrooms, weed etc etc.

He was VERY honest about the effects of these and consequences of drug taking. These ranged from the hilarious - mates with eyebrows shaved off when wasted - to the tragic - someone at a party who died of an overdose. This was never in the form of a lecture, just stories over time.

As a teenager, I had nothing to rebel against, and was actually very well informed - from the horse's mouth so to speak. So I turned down the offers of pot and magic mushrooms etc.

I HAVE tried a few things over the years, but generally I have never been that bothered. DH still smokes pot occasionally. I will probably do the same thing with dd when she is older.

oh yes, v important to be honest about the consequences

eg: this one was great fun but made me even more arrogant and opinionated than I am normally, that one helped me find humour in the unlikeliest places and so on

or even this one was fun but turned me into a mouthy tosser...and this one rendered me a giggling imbecile

in time the dcs will only have to have a quick flip through our 12" vinyl collection to fill in the blanks for themselves

And of course the fact that at a certain point in the evening there is never any chocolate in the house when you really really need it!

breastmilk - I agree. I suffer from depression and it may well be that my cannabis use contributed to it. It is more likely to be down to alcohol but that isn't illegal . But my point is if either Dh or I had serious or obvious health problems clearly attributable to cannabis I could make the case to my DC with absolute certainty and they couldn't ignore it. When I'm standing their hale and hearty and telling them 'ooh no don't take drugs, they really screw up your health' it isn't going to wash.

To clarify: I did actually say "Never did me any harm" but it was meant tongue in cheek - this is not the message I will be delivering to DD.

I will be 100% honest with my sons when the time comes.

I have experimented with pills, speed, coke, and weed. I also know lots of people who have used drugs to differing degrees. They affect everyone differently. I know people who still haven't outgrown it from uni days and that is pretty sad IMO.

I know people who have serious mental health issues exacerbated by drugs.

I also wouldn't put alcohol in a different category to other drugs in terms of mental health.

There are pros and cons, as others have said. I wnat my children to have a realistic approach to drugs. There's no benefit in naivety.