Above the Influence

<br />I had the very distinct opportunity to be a facilitator through the <a href="http://www.mcyaf.com/">Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation (MCYAF).</a> MCYAF was selected as one of three sites in Illinois and only eighteen nationwide to be part of the Above the Influence next advertising campaign.<br /><br /><div> </div><a href="http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/">Above the Influence</a>, is a compaign to help influence young people to remain drug free. According to it's website "It's a state of mind. It's about being yourself and not letting negative influence get to you."<br /><br /><div> </div>Just last week, I participated with another member of MCYAF to assist some very bright, energetic and influential young ladies all members of the Cheerleading squad from Maine South High School in Park Ridge. These young ladies gave up there early morning before school to participate. The goal to shape a message to help influence young people just like them to live a life Above the Influence.<br /><br /><div> </div>Now as a Police Officer of over 18 years it was an experience that I found to be both rewarding and enlightening. I have been working with youth for most of my law enforcement career. This group of very energetic and bright ladies came in with ideas that were both uplifting and eye catching.<br /><br />The Above the Influence campaign is part of the very thing that the MCYAF Organization is working to influence.<br /><br /><div> </div>MCYAF Coalition Mission, is to increase overall community capacity for advocacy, education, guidance and resources for families in order to promote alcohol free and drug free youth.<br /><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><strong>MCYAF Coalition Goals </strong><br /><ol><li>Reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among Maine Township youth</li><li>Effect change in public policy</li><li>Establish and strengthen collaboration and capacity to address teen alcohol, tobacco and drug use</li></ol><br /><div>After completing this portion of the program two of the teens ad campaign brand slogans were selected and potentially could go to regional and ultimately to the national ad campaign, for the Above the Influence brand. Regardless of the outcome these bright young ladies crafted messages that would both inspire, direct and lead toward both themselves and their friends in leading a drug free life.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>I was proud to participate and stand willing and able to represent the my agency and my organization in any effort to reduce drug, gang and violence involvement across the nation.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div>

Above the Influence

I had the very distinct opportunity to be a facilitator through the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation (MCYAF). MCYAF was selected...

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Teachable Moments about Drug Use

<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil3472MflN_b3uni1I3XSp0Rp25kq1fKrDXNhOEiRs9tfVMEeKDT7QfAhI_RLg9Bx3gezk8f2xcYlq-Gk6KB19LyYkloARFTgBj_2RETXZxWA4po8x6nChIN6C_3GMy-vQ0d7JEKhth_c/s1600/pd_mom_talking_teen_080303_ms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil3472MflN_b3uni1I3XSp0Rp25kq1fKrDXNhOEiRs9tfVMEeKDT7QfAhI_RLg9Bx3gezk8f2xcYlq-Gk6KB19LyYkloARFTgBj_2RETXZxWA4po8x6nChIN6C_3GMy-vQ0d7JEKhth_c/s200/pd_mom_talking_teen_080303_ms.jpg" width="200" /></a>Having trouble talking to your teen about the risks of drugs and alcohol? Here are five everyday examples of easy ways to bring up the topic. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><ul style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /><br /><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Fictional Character</u></strong> -You just took your teen to a PG-13 movie in which one of the main characters drinks and smokes excessively. It’s a good thing you insisted on tagging along, because now you have the opportunity to discuss the film—especially that lead character’s addiction—with your teen. Did your son think the main character’s drug use was cool or did he recognize that she had a problem? </li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhm4TL_wQe9qqFH-WEAP08IE_CWXnNoLSH_gIUS58En6qWD64ieoGHf1o6NvyO0PGM2ByXODdbyxwdRmwNHolWuhXfnG8PQS3ZFbImd0Zl0PO_lfbrTon1YEsC1aTxnWez9m86WEkwtBfv/s1600/hdr-parentingAdvice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhm4TL_wQe9qqFH-WEAP08IE_CWXnNoLSH_gIUS58En6qWD64ieoGHf1o6NvyO0PGM2ByXODdbyxwdRmwNHolWuhXfnG8PQS3ZFbImd0Zl0PO_lfbrTon1YEsC1aTxnWez9m86WEkwtBfv/s200/hdr-parentingAdvice.jpg" width="200" /></a><strong><u>Movie Star</u></strong> - Your daughter reads every magazine she’s in, owns all her movies, and has her posters taped to her wall. So what happens when her magical movie star goes to rehab for the third time? When that famous face graces the cover of Us Weekly, ask your daughter why she thinks Britney or Lindsay or Paris or whoever it may be this week is such a cool person. If your daughter only cares about her expensive clothes and good looks, remind her that her role model should also be someone who drinks responsibly and either doesn’t do drugs or has taken the initiative to get help for her drug problem. </li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Professional Athlete</u></strong> - For as long as you can remember, you’ve taught your daughter that “cheaters never win.” Unfortunately, this holds true when her favorite athlete is in the news for taking drugs. Ask your daughter how she feels about professional athletes using illegal substances of any kind and point out how much it can hurt a person’s career and reputation —especially when they get caught. </li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuv_ii45btbio_QIxbYZVahbQcTfjcHrM6dPo0KA-4V0xbF4Rc9P9rrkDEYVBl1Tc-ORfj6td5rs6oA1650jP9X8Znn5JSOMlo3M8yBtcnlZQo4WfNXnvHteO6egQnLi9WMHUhxtr5CVP3/s1600/Woman-and-girl-in-discussion_Black_249x148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuv_ii45btbio_QIxbYZVahbQcTfjcHrM6dPo0KA-4V0xbF4Rc9P9rrkDEYVBl1Tc-ORfj6td5rs6oA1650jP9X8Znn5JSOMlo3M8yBtcnlZQo4WfNXnvHteO6egQnLi9WMHUhxtr5CVP3/s200/Woman-and-girl-in-discussion_Black_249x148.jpg" width="200" /></a><strong><u>Classmate</u></strong> - You don’t need a movie star to get the conversation going with your teen. Two kids in your son’s school each received a DUI over the weekend — and they had other friends in their car when it happened. A lot can come out of this conversation — why drunk driving is so dangerous, the consequences of getting caught, and why you never want your son to get into a car with a friend who’s been using — no matter what. </li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Relative</u></strong> - Substance abuse issues can often hit close to home, and it’s important that we’re open and honest with our kids when it happens. I f you can, tell them all the details about your relative who is struggling. Explain why there’s a problem and how you, as a family, are going to do what you can to support one another through this tough time. If your teen isn’t asking a ton of questions, that’s okay—he might be feeling uncomfortable about the topic. It might help to emphasize that while addiction can wreak havoc on a person’s life, it is always possible for him or her to make a recovery with the support of friends and family.</li></ul>

Teachable Moments about Drug Use

Having trouble talking to your teen about the risks of drugs and alcohol? Here are five everyday examples of easy ways to bring up the topic...

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The truth about drugs: Teens Lie, but so do their parents!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlq4rz_0ZLqvvc33YpEo2B50EOQ2mPDZngA2kC35vC6gbaWy4uFTtm2UWZrjFJ6rA0_7GymAiDMGi1dseiBz-Ave18bUsm7xeEvAxOXJC5JcTl6h67DIFlkC1JcUihdAJ7anJr7TfYx5v/s1600/3_22-Drug-Abuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSlq4rz_0ZLqvvc33YpEo2B50EOQ2mPDZngA2kC35vC6gbaWy4uFTtm2UWZrjFJ6rA0_7GymAiDMGi1dseiBz-Ave18bUsm7xeEvAxOXJC5JcTl6h67DIFlkC1JcUihdAJ7anJr7TfYx5v/s200/3_22-Drug-Abuse.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Teenagers' confidential reports about illicit drug use are used by doctors and public health experts to measure the extent of the problem, and to help teens in trouble. But it turns out that teens fib big time in those anonymous surveys—and their parents do, too.<br /><br /><div></div>A study conducted by researchers asked 432 African-American teenagers and their parents to participate in an anonymous survey about their use of cocaine, opiates, and marijuana, and said they would also be drug-tested. Of the 211 teenagers whose hair was tested for cocaine, 2 said they used it—while 69, or 34 percent, tested positive, according to a new study in Pediatrics. Of the 244 parents tested, 15 said they had used cocaine, while 69, or 28 percent, tested positive.<br /><br /><div></div>The parents surveyed were pretty bad at guessing if their child was using alcohol or drugs. For instance, 9.6 percent of the parents said their teenager drank alcohol, while 25 percent of the teenagers said they did. With marijuana, 9.5 percent of parents said their teenager smoked dope, while 17 percent of the teens said they did.<br /><br /><div></div>This is not the first time that a study to found parents are clueless about teens' drug and alcohol use. That may be because parents tend to shrug off drug and alcohol use as standard teen behavior, according to a survey published last January in Pediatrics. But that cluelessness comes at a price. Early drug and alcohol abuse increases a child's risk of addiction and health problems in adulthood, and also of teenage suicide.<br /><br /><div></div>But the key take-home here is not so much that teens are using drugs, but that they are not likely to admit it. That's not a huge surprise, given that we're talking about illegal behaviors that can have big consequences. The self-reported drug use in the study was typical of the amount reported in national anonymous surveys of drug use for urban neighborhoods. The researchers, at Wayne State University in Detroit, say that relying on anonymous surveys could lead researchers, parents, and pediatricians seriously astray in estimating the health risks teenagers face.<br /><br /><div></div>Parents can increase the likelihood that their children will come to them with questions and concerns about drugs and alcohol if they:<br /><br /><div></div><ul><li>Start talking about the risks of drugs and alcohol when children are still young. Children who learn about drugs and alcohol from their parents are half as likely to use as are children who learn from peers, according to the <a href="http://www.drugfree.org/prevent">Partnership for a Drug-Free America.</a></li><li>Help children rehearse what they will say to peers who want them to drink or use drugs with them; studies have found that practicing responses makes it much more likely that teenagers will successfully fend off peer pressure. </li><li>Use brain science. Researchers now think that teenage brains are more vulnerable to tobacco, drugs, and alcohol because they are still forming vital connections. Drug-prevention efforts increasingly include information on how to keep a teen brain healthy and powerful.</li></ul><br /><div></div>There are a lot of reasons for teenagers (and parents) to say "I don't" when asked about drug use. But by making the perils and lure of illicit substances part of ordinary family discussion, parents may be doing their children a big favor—and may get a clearer sense of the realities of teenage life.<br /><br /><div></div>

The truth about drugs: Teens Lie, but so do their parents!

Teenagers' confidential reports about illicit drug use are used by doctors and public health experts to measure the extent of the proble...

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Teens Starting High School – Tips for Parents

<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrPTXXQMITYQT677yD0ggHNWOFYLNQHE2NVDq2ZIBX-8L3ZU_DHN52pk1HDc6o_Y87V2EfDvRnq8lwcE5CaDr2SDPiO5wjVuVa9pxlWyzLUa0RXQkMBdLBuqfY-UAmxOBJQfZJuAF-_on/s1600/high-school-musical.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrPTXXQMITYQT677yD0ggHNWOFYLNQHE2NVDq2ZIBX-8L3ZU_DHN52pk1HDc6o_Y87V2EfDvRnq8lwcE5CaDr2SDPiO5wjVuVa9pxlWyzLUa0RXQkMBdLBuqfY-UAmxOBJQfZJuAF-_on/s200/high-school-musical.jpg" width="200" /></a>Teenagers all over the world will take the leap from child to young adult this fall. They will be entering High School for the first time. This milestone brings a variety of feelings and emotions. They are beginning four of the most difficult, yet most memorable years of their life. If you think you are anxious and scared, try being your teen. Next year I will be experiencing this very thing with the entry of my daughter going into high school. Although I worry, my daughter is a well put together young lady. With that being said the stress experienced between my wife, my daughter and I should be minimized some. However, these tips are still helpful even for well prepared teens and parents. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Be Open and Understanding</strong> - Realize that your teen is going to be stressed and irritable for the first few weeks of their freshman year. There are many things that can contribute to your teen’s moodiness or withdrawn state. They are experiencing numerous changes in their life; all at the same time. Just like when you are pushed to your max with stress, your teen may experience headaches, stomachaches, or sleepiness. They need time and space to figure it all out in their own mind. Be patient and give them the time they need to sort things out for themselves.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong>Be Available and Reassuring</strong> - They may be young adults with a need to start making more decisions on their own and taking on more responsibility, but that doesn’t mean that they are full blown adults with minds that can handle all the stress and pressure of taking on those tasks. Reassure them that you are there when they need you and also how to “back off” when necessary so they can figure things out for themselves. Have you ever heard the phrase “Helicopter Parent?” It simply means hovering over your teens every decision, allow them to make some decisions, experience some failures and learn from them before you jump in to “save” </div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Your teenager is just that, a teen. You need to let them know that you trust them to make their own decisions. Let them know that you are always there should they get stuck and need a helping hand from someone they trust. Show them in ways other than saying things such as, “I’m here if you want to talk.” It’s not always easy for a teenager to start up a serious conversation, especially with Mom or Dad. There are times when you need to get creative. Depending on your teen that may mean writing a letter or taking them shopping and talking about what’s going on in their life while driving.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVU3nvIBLJ5xyzdXVv3BW-O3H1ORt8F4DDZlc7CqPrYXsnIk2wrScCglLfcQ4xM3LIJj6x9tP3KinPRWRRMwVfSG3s4DDa-_LztspS585KtfSqnUmm-12FVX0EZeM9XelemecFL6O-rRKk/s1600/Aspergers+students+and+high+school+problems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVU3nvIBLJ5xyzdXVv3BW-O3H1ORt8F4DDZlc7CqPrYXsnIk2wrScCglLfcQ4xM3LIJj6x9tP3KinPRWRRMwVfSG3s4DDa-_LztspS585KtfSqnUmm-12FVX0EZeM9XelemecFL6O-rRKk/s200/Aspergers+students+and+high+school+problems.jpg" width="200" /></a><strong>Be Supportive and Loving</strong> - Your teenager is no longer the ‘big dog’, but instead a ‘newbie’. Teenagers need to know that Mom and/or Dad support their decisions. They may have a difficult time fitting in; therefore, the need to try new things is necessary and helps them to figure out who they are. As long as the activity is not detrimental to them or anyone else, let them try a new sport, club, or other extracurricular hobby.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Support them in their decision, even if you know in the long run they will not participate next year. Give them the opportunity to find out for themselves if they enjoy certain activities. Remind them that family is something that will always be there. They are moving away from you as a parent but not disconnecting with the family completely and that’s OK.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Set Routines and Limits</strong> - Yes, they may be growing up, but they aren’t adults yet. Even teenagers need routines and limits. It will help to make the transition to high school easier on both of you if make limits together before the first week of school. Sit down and tell your child what your expectations are and really listen to their expectations of you as well. Settle on certain guidelines and routines that make both of you happy with the end result. This not only puts your mind at ease, but will also show your teen that you acknowledge that they are capable of making sound decisions and taking other’s considerations into</div><div style="text-align: justify;">account.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Being a parent of a teenager can be a trying time and high school can seem overwhelming for them. Share in the good times and be there to lean on for the bad. Before you know it, you’ll be catching that cap and tassel at your teen’s graduation.</div><br />

Teens Starting High School – Tips for Parents

Teenagers all over the world will take the leap from child to young adult this fall. They will be entering High School for the first time. T...

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Mobs of London!

<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Watching the chaos and destruction that is gripping Britain shows just how fragile the world has become in this era of economic certainty. If this can happen in London and it's suburbs, could it happen here in the United States. One can only wonder, could it?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KlvRrkcCsvnccU08mhwIfNtGFU58xWRHA5pPdfi9h6-oDYbyZM0cIpqhL0dHDMNtk5fRMcozh9HxfEXR2Gkzf5C3tkSC4PFf3wgxmaB98cOtaKVq5xP92uFgHzEcHLNBmvEYpVSk272P/s1600/london+riots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KlvRrkcCsvnccU08mhwIfNtGFU58xWRHA5pPdfi9h6-oDYbyZM0cIpqhL0dHDMNtk5fRMcozh9HxfEXR2Gkzf5C3tkSC4PFf3wgxmaB98cOtaKVq5xP92uFgHzEcHLNBmvEYpVSk272P/s200/london+riots.jpg" width="200" /></a>Since August 6, the Riots have acted like a virus, erupting from one area of the city to another, moving to other areas that have never seen such violence. One reporter on the ABC news called it the "worst rioting in a generation." The rioters using social media sites such as Twitter and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023924/London-riots-2011-BlackBerry-Messenger-shut-unbelievable.html?ito=feeds-newsxml">Blackberry Messenger</a>, have planned which areas they were going to target and what acts they were going to do. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagzVJvD-2wW8F5HD7yQHmUozJAcVoLDis47gg5qfEXgymHiJKsNXbv7uelAbg1_-_2DXvhYgUtfQkdpiJHBwnGHS_Vms2xiGmCe3_u1Vntww2X2LR8aDY4NFYIHHgSj0H6rjNMSfyONGP/s1600/london+riots6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagzVJvD-2wW8F5HD7yQHmUozJAcVoLDis47gg5qfEXgymHiJKsNXbv7uelAbg1_-_2DXvhYgUtfQkdpiJHBwnGHS_Vms2xiGmCe3_u1Vntww2X2LR8aDY4NFYIHHgSj0H6rjNMSfyONGP/s200/london+riots6.jpg" width="200" /></a>A wheelchair bound "activist" named Jody McIntyre sent out a Twitter message to his 9000 followers to spread lawlessness across London. His twitter feed "Be inspired by the scenes in Tottenham, and rise up in your neighbourhood. 100 people in every area = the way we can beat the feds."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9YpsgfZOIYIneYmOoR8Oo2GnawlCjDVXxw60WMztvgewzOaBLVU5s961f7hbP6xUmR54iUc0cSgLgrlSelJQ6roucls1yAYJRqK7y7C0n-MUswlpdtNQCcE19sAGiVF0eZnCAdJmAsxJ/s1600/London-riots-Twitter-visits.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9YpsgfZOIYIneYmOoR8Oo2GnawlCjDVXxw60WMztvgewzOaBLVU5s961f7hbP6xUmR54iUc0cSgLgrlSelJQ6roucls1yAYJRqK7y7C0n-MUswlpdtNQCcE19sAGiVF0eZnCAdJmAsxJ/s200/London-riots-Twitter-visits.png" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You can follow the London Riots own twitter feed via Facebook by clicking on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-Riots-Live-Twitter-Feed/202820893082778">link</a>. The <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/london-riots-twitter/">pace </a>on Twitter revealed that over 3.4 million people visited Twitters homepage, which equals about 1 in every 170 UK Internet site visits on August 8th. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So we now know how the riots grew and spread so rapidly, something that law enforcement here in the United States need to clearly understand, monitor and adapt to before this type of crime spree hits here. What were the causes that brought the level of crime to such epic proportions. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>The Precipice</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On August 5, Mark Duggan, 29, was shot and killed during a early evening police stop, "by Officer's from Operation Trident, a Metropolitan Police unit that deals with gun crime in London's black communities, with officers from the Special Firearms Command (CO19)" according to Sandra Laville, corespondent with the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/05/man-shot-police-london-arrest">Guardian</a> Newspaper. The reporter goes on to say that the Independent Police Complaints Commission has taken over the investigation and attempting to clarify the facts and quickly allay fears. However, according to the report, Duggan was a "local boy who was loved by the community."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><em>So what factors contributed to the riots?</em></strong> Shootings by police officers in Britain are rare, even more rare a fatal shootings. According to the <a href="http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb1011/hosb1011snr?view=Binary">Home Office</a>, there has been an increase in increase in fatal shootings at 55 (non-police involved) in 2010/11, compared to 40 in the previous year. Serious injuries were down from 337 to 298 and slight injuries up from 1,537 to 1,593.  Although these numbers are not showing increases which are statistically extreme there are some increase. So crime does not appear to be a contributing factor to violence either going up or down, so what other factors could be contributors.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Law Enforcement Response</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN8Z947NFYG8rflPymvq0fVrjIZJVrykivM-ILxTzuGRM1HFLHxveJYsD-w4rwuVWv7Vz17Oz423Fcv-qTjrCzvzg5Kwc1rSAl6-e52dlTAS3R_vDpTHJh00urbUZt8VUP7WrXb0ivxOP/s1600/imagesCABL9EZP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN8Z947NFYG8rflPymvq0fVrjIZJVrykivM-ILxTzuGRM1HFLHxveJYsD-w4rwuVWv7Vz17Oz423Fcv-qTjrCzvzg5Kwc1rSAl6-e52dlTAS3R_vDpTHJh00urbUZt8VUP7WrXb0ivxOP/s200/imagesCABL9EZP.jpg" width="200" /></a>Post 9/11, the British Police have changed their policy involving firearms and "shoot to kill". The British police have modeled their "stop the threat" training after the Israeli and Sri Lanka Law Enforcement authorities who have dealt with numerous "suicide bombers."  Post 9/11 British Officers have concerned over terrorism and the risk of suicide bombers have engaged this policy to minimize the risk of mass death incidents. Still the vast majority of British Law Enforcement Officers do not carry firearms.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Racial profiling in the urban communities in Britain is considered very prevalent. The young black people feel that they are being stopped more often, combined with "continuing deprivation, growing unemployment, a feeling of lack of opportunity" says David Winnick, a member of Parliament.  A prevalent use of stopping black people, searching and interrogating them has resulted in some abuses and the feeling of abuse by members within the community.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Steve Hynd, a blogger from a news site Newshoggers.com reports that racism amongst British police is still rampant, even after the famous <a href="http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm42/4262/4262.htm">Mcpherson inquiry</a>. Especially amongst London Metropolitan Police and there specialized units like the TSG riot response unit.  A decade on from Macpherson, black people are still seven times more like likely to be stopped and searched than white people in England and Wales, with Asians twice as likely – figures which are a major impediment to good race relations. The Commission believes that these differences cannot be justified by detections, since only around one in six people in all racial groups are then arrested.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The disputed use of stop-and-search has arguably caused more conflict than any other modern policing tactic and first achieved national notoriety during the Eighties, when it was blamed for precipitating inner-city race riots. Black people are four times more likely to be stopped than white people, according to <a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/uk-racial-profiling-encouraged">Scotland Yard’s figures</a>, which continues to give rise to charges of police racism.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Youth unemployment</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtQd4jwlb2-fxBwN8iPuHjE5XlGvnOh99qYSLqExh6ln_ihyphenhyphenR1GdoWskSJVwXjE5bFCEmVZDpXbddmHczC1DKvGZr4boF4IyBKD2fOksazj3D7ezKZW1PQyw8yXRI0gv3tqjJFeSpAWIn/s1600/londonriots3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtQd4jwlb2-fxBwN8iPuHjE5XlGvnOh99qYSLqExh6ln_ihyphenhyphenR1GdoWskSJVwXjE5bFCEmVZDpXbddmHczC1DKvGZr4boF4IyBKD2fOksazj3D7ezKZW1PQyw8yXRI0gv3tqjJFeSpAWIn/s200/londonriots3.jpg" width="200" /></a>According to the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8328869/Youth-unemployment-hits-record.html">Telegraph</a> youth employment in London is extremely high, in February 2011, there were 75,000 people aged 18 to 24 who have not had a job for two years. This was an increase of 43 percent on a year ago. Couples with the end of the Education Maintenance Allowances, which allowed students to stay in education, increased tuition fees and the abolition of the Future Jobs Funds - which Britain's Office of Labour would have created 200,ooo jobs.  That is a death knoll for teenage opportunities!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Inequality</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdf_CcwpAZmN3urPZ-OP3JZEKrh5kz3tjIGGGZsnd0JPvGLzoSTtZRe9kI-QpWacyJfHy_WHJg03GHp7ltcT5EvKjzpiA5K8WUHUo2rO8ncpG7ptE7n_Kj5trYw5xLvWIJemMGHPtDTs_/s1600/london+riots2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdf_CcwpAZmN3urPZ-OP3JZEKrh5kz3tjIGGGZsnd0JPvGLzoSTtZRe9kI-QpWacyJfHy_WHJg03GHp7ltcT5EvKjzpiA5K8WUHUo2rO8ncpG7ptE7n_Kj5trYw5xLvWIJemMGHPtDTs_/s200/london+riots2.jpg" width="200" /></a>In an article written by Mary Riddell, in Britain's Telegraph she states "Britain is less equal, in wages, wealth and life chances, than any time since," the last major financial upheaval, in 1929.  The anger continued after bailouts came for financial institutions, big business and industry, while Britain's youth got hit with the reduction of their education benefits and the bleak job prospects. The riots all unfolded while much of British leaders were vacationing abroad in yachts and resorts.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Weak Police Response</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The mass rioting that occurred was allowed to occure because police failed to crack down quickly on behavior, similar to what happened in Los Angeles during the Rodeny King Riots, when the LAPD backed out of entire neighborhoods, thus fueling the looting and mayhem that insued. When the mob sees that police can't control a situation, it "leads to a sort of adrenalin-fueled euphoria," says ciminologist John Pitts.  The relative quiet that was brought back to Britian after 16,000 police officers calmed to ritoting and looting that occurred onthe prior four nights. A strong response met with overwhelming force can push the community to comply with societies norms. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">But the underlying factors that contributed to this unrest must still be dealt with, and they did not occur overnight. A long term solution, with the involvement of all parties from the community, to government, business and law enforcement must work together to reduce the risk factors which lead to this level of mob violence or it will only get worse. </div></div>

Mobs of London!

Watching the chaos and destruction that is gripping Britain shows just how fragile the world has become in this era of economic certainty. I...

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Gateway Gazette is now out!

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8TM5_8GWhO_GVEACUXbA04tsZ5PO4biO_Mk6m1kJK1PD_uKJIwZ53KrDTtgWRnXF_zNxld2K7Hm4si2hr7E6GtiToE-r87t1Tm-r2JIxhyuzjvPi_wlMgJR2CSr7gUFe-xfIyR3TQxaW/s1600/0309_teen_drug_abuse_170x170.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8TM5_8GWhO_GVEACUXbA04tsZ5PO4biO_Mk6m1kJK1PD_uKJIwZ53KrDTtgWRnXF_zNxld2K7Hm4si2hr7E6GtiToE-r87t1Tm-r2JIxhyuzjvPi_wlMgJR2CSr7gUFe-xfIyR3TQxaW/s1600/0309_teen_drug_abuse_170x170.jpg" /></a>Our newest edition of our online newsletter is now available. Read the latest information on gang prevention, drug trends, youth violence and everything prevention related. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Follow the <a href="http://www.openthegate.org/pdf/newsletter/currentissue.pdf">link</a></div>

Gateway Gazette is now out!

Our newest edition of our online newsletter is now available. Read the latest information on gang prevention, drug trends, youth violence an...

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Communicating With Your Teenager and Fostering Self-Respect

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QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}</style> <![endif]--> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Preteens and adolescents often feel insecure about themselves and their social acceptability. Consequently, they are extremely vulnerable to pressure from their peers to fit in. Students who develop high self-esteem and healthy values are less likely to give in to peer pressure to drink, smoke or use other drugs. In order to build your children’s self-esteem, it is important to develop a relationship with them that is based on mutual respect.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Make time for your son or daughter</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Find an activity you enjoy doing together and pursue it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Listen, really listen</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Learn to draw your child out about things that are important to him or her and listen with your full attention. Don’t do all the talking or give long lectures.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Encourage critical thinking</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Eventually your child will make a decision about whether to smoke, drink, or use other drugs. Wanting to be accepted by peers is a major reason teens try these substances. Help them practice making decisions on their own. Let them know it is OK to act independently from others and to think for themselves. Part of growing up is learning to think and make decisions independently. Help your children learn to process information critically, think for themselves, make independent decisions, and accept the consequences</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">of those decisions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Be generous with praise.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Be quick to notice and praise your child’s efforts, not only his or her accomplishments. When young people are praised regularly, they are more likely to gain self-confidence, trust their judgment, and accept constructive criticism.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Tolerate differences.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Encourage your adolescents to talk freely about their lives, school, and problems. Talk about topics where all people do not have the same opinion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Give teenagers responsibility for their own problems.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Let your children experience the consequences of their own behavior, even if these consequences might be embarrassing or uncomfortable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Remove the stigma of failure from your home</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Young people need to understand that the only failure is in not trying. Mistakes are not failures. Mistakes simply provide us with new information that can help us to succeed.<span>  </span>We all need the freedom to be imperfect.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Encourage outside interests</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. Children who are involved in after school activities and sports develop friendships and interests that will help to keep them away from alcohol and other drugs. Preteens and teens who learn to have fun, as well as cope with stress in healthy ways, will be less likely to turn to artificial substances to relax.</span></div>

Communicating With Your Teenager and Fostering Self-Respect

Preteens and adolescents often feel insecure about themselves and their social acceptability. Conseque...

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Dating Violence: 15 Tips to Identify if You Are a Victim

Dating violence is not just hitting. It can be yelling, threatening, extreme jealousy, incessant name calling, constant calling or paging, and even sexual abuse and other tactics used to control you.<br /><br /><br /><div> </div><strong><u>Warning Signs: Are you a victim of teen dating violence?</u></strong><br /><br /><ol><li> Does your boyfriend get jealous when you talk with others?</li><li>Does he put you down?</li><li>Does your boyfriend want to know where you are at all times?</li><li>Does he try to control what you wear to school or when you go out?</li><li>Does your boyfriend say he can’t live without you?</li><li>Does he frighten or intimidate you?</li><li>Does your boyfriend try to make you choose between him and family, school or friends?</li><li>Does he lose his temper, and throw or break things when he’s mad?</li><li>Do you feel like you have to apologize for or explain your boyfriend’s behavior?</li><li>Do you feel like you have to justify your behavior to your boyfriend?</li><li>Are you afraid to break up with your boyfriend?</li><li>Does he threaten to kill himself if you break up with him?</li><li>Has your boyfriend ever hit a wall or a locker near you?</li><li>Has he ever destroyed your stuff?</li><li>Has your boyfriend ever held you down, shoved, hit, or kicked you? </li></ol><strong><u>Strategies for safer dating</u></strong><br /><br /><ul><li> Stay in touch with friends and stay involved in activities you enjoy.</li><li>Listen to your instincts and believe in yourself. Trust your own judgment if you have concerns about someone you’re dating.</li><li>Learn about teen dating violence and know the warning signs.</li><li>Learn about and seek out healthy relationships.</li><li>Have money and/or a phone or some way to call for help or leave by yourself if you need to.</li><li>Go out in groups or meet up with others when you go out.</li></ul><strong><u>Safety tips for teen dating violence victims</u></strong><br /><ul><li>Make and keep a list of helpful phone numbers, like supportive friends, hotlines, etc.</li><li>Keep a dated record of the abuse.</li><li>Plan and rehearse what you would do if your partner confronted you or became physically abusive.</li><li>Go out to public places, meet other people or let other people know where you’ll be.</li></ul><br /><u><strong>Protecting yourself after the break-up </strong></u><br /><ul><li>Try not to be alone. Tell friends what is going on. Eat lunch with friends and walk with them to class.</li><li>Tell teachers, counselors, coaches or security guards what is happening.</li><li>Change your routine, ask to rearrange your class schedule.</li><li>Change your cell number.</li><li>Change your route to and from school.</li></ul><br /><div> </div>

Dating Violence: 15 Tips to Identify if You Are a Victim

Dating violence is not just hitting. It can be yelling, threatening, extreme jealousy, incessant name calling, constant calling or paging, a...

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February is National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month

During the month of February, if you have teenage children spend some time discussing dating violence and it’s effects. There are numerous resources available to both parents and teens. Inside this months newsletter Teen Dating Violence will be covered. But additional resources are always good. <br /><br />A great resources is the National Domestic Violence Hotline via their website http://www.ndvh.org/. CBS News Anchor Katie Curic has hosted a story on Teen Dating Violence that is available via their website. <br /><br /><div> <strong><u>Is it a big deal?</u></strong></div>So just how prevalent is Teen Dating Violence in America? Well if you look at the statistics it is a growing issue.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OF_AoG49DasJL-WgVf774M-eiBo5OXXwU1VcwQHli_Ezpl4dP4wK-aMpmKoszN4z3uwMQrino_X6sKq3Z22h1GrIKyBuNPqRljItAeHH_HJitt8mrxeTicemK313D5nvAcy-IaeNaB5Y/s1600/teendatingviolence2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OF_AoG49DasJL-WgVf774M-eiBo5OXXwU1VcwQHli_Ezpl4dP4wK-aMpmKoszN4z3uwMQrino_X6sKq3Z22h1GrIKyBuNPqRljItAeHH_HJitt8mrxeTicemK313D5nvAcy-IaeNaB5Y/s200/teendatingviolence2.jpg" width="200" /></a><br /><ul><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 in 10 teenagers reports being a victim of physical dating violence.</li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 in 4 teenagers reports verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse each year.</li><li>72% of 8th and 9th graders report "dating."</li></ul><strong><u>Teen dating abuse most often takes place in the home of one of the partners </u></strong><br />The statistics above highlight the likelihood you or someone you know has or will experience violence in a dating relationship. Dating violence can take many forms, including psychological and emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. It can occur in the context of casual dating or serious long-term relationships.<br /><br /><div></div><strong><u>Psychological and Emotional Abuse</u></strong><br />If a boyfriend or girlfriend humiliates, insults, or swears at you, you are experiencing psychological and emotional abuse. Other examples include: attempting to control a boyfriend or girlfriend’s activities, trying to destroy his or her self-confidence and self-esteem, and isolating the person from other friends and family. Threats of violence are also abusive and should always be taken seriously.<br /><br /><div></div><strong><u>Physical Abuse</u></strong><br />Physical abuse includes such things as: hitting, slapping, punching, shoving, kicking, biting, and hair-pulling. It also includes the use of a weapon, such as a club, knife, or gun against a boyfriend or girlfriend.<br /><br /><div></div>Bother teenage boys and teenage girls report being victims of physical violence in relationships. Typically, however, teenage boys and teenage girls use physical force for different reasons and with different results. While both tend to report acting violently because they were angry, teenage boys are much more likely to use force in order to control their girlfriends, while girls more often act violently in self-defense.<br /><br /><div></div>Teenage girls suffer more from relationship violence, emotionally and physically. They are much more likely than teenage boys to have serious injuries and to report being terrified. In contrast, male victims seldom seem to fear violence by their dates or girlfriends, often saying that the attacks did not hurt and that they found the violence amusing.<br /><br /><div></div><strong><u>Sexual Abuse</u></strong><br />The term, sexual abuse, refers to forced or unwanted sexual activity or rape. It is also considered sexual abuse to coerce or pressure someone to engage in sexual activity or try to engage in sexual activity with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.<br /><br /><div></div>Teenage girls in heterosexual relationships are much more likely than teenage boys to suffer from sexual abuse.<br /><div></div><strong><u>How to help a teen victim of dating violence</u></strong><br /><br /><ul><li>Listen and believe him/her. Don’t ask blaming questions. Remind them that the violence is not his/her fault.</li><li>Talk openly and without judgment. Don’t ask, “Why don’t you just break up with this?” </li><li>Support their efforts to control their own life. Don’t expect them to follow all of your advice.</li><li>Read inside on what you can do to help</li></ul><br /><div></div>

February is National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month

During the month of February, if you have teenage children spend some time discussing dating violence and it’s effects. There are numerous r...

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January Stalking Awareness: Could you be a victim of a stalker?

Stalking is a crime that can touch anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, or personal associations. Most stalkers are young to middle-aged men with above-average intelligence. <br /><br /><br /><div> </div>Some stalkers develop an obsession for another person with whom they have no personal relationship. When the victim does not respond as the stalker hopes, the stalker may attempt to force the victim to comply by use of threats and intimidation. When threats and intimidation fail, some stalkers turn to violence.<br /><br /><div> </div>Nobody can truly tell when or why are stalker will begin the actions that lead down the path towards fear, intimidation. One thing is for sure, the victim is not at fault for anything that the stalker Stalking is not an accident, the actions that a stalker take effect millions of people across the United States each year.<br /><br /><div> </div><ul><li>3.4 million people over the age of 18 are stalked each year in the U.S.</li><li>3 in 4 victims are stalked by someone they know.</li><li>Persons aged 18-24 years experience the highest rate of stalking.</li><li>11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.</li><li>1 in 4 victims report being stalked through the use of some form of technology (email or instant messaging).</li><li>10% of victims report being monitored with global positioning systems (GPS)</li><li>8% report being monitored through video or digital cameras or listening devices.</li></ul><br /><div> </div>So how much of an impact does stalking have on their victims. Over 46% of stalking victims fear not knowing what will happen next. Many of the victims fear that the stalking will never stop. Of those victims who are employed, they lose time as a result of their victimization. Over half lose 5 days or work or more.<br /><br /><div> </div>One in seven of the victims are forced to move from their homes or apartment’s because of the victimization. <br /><br /><div> </div>The prevalence of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression is much higher among stalking victims than the general population, especially if the stalking involves being followed or having one’s property destroyed.<br /><br /><div> </div>Unfortunately, there is no single psychological or behavioral profile for stalkers. Every stalker is different. This makes it virtually impossible to devise a single effective strategy that can be applied to every situation. It is vital that stalking victims immediately seek the advice of local victim specialists who can work with them to devise a safety plan for their unique situation and circumstances. <br /><br /><div> </div>What is known is that stalking is a crime in Illinois. In Illinois to be charged with Stalking they person must on two separate occasions place a person under surveillance or any combination and transmits a threat, or places the person under reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint or places that person in reasonable apprehension that a family member will receive immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement or restraint.<br /><br /><div> </div>There are other law such as Cyberstalking, Sending of Obscene Messages, Harassment by Telephone, Harassment through Electronic Communications. Each of these laws combined with the stalking law can raise the offense from a Class 4 Felony to a Class 2 Felony. Judges typically impose long sentences on Stalking Offenders.<br /><br /><div> </div>

January Stalking Awareness: Could you be a victim of a stalker?

Stalking is a crime that can touch anyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, or per...

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Parent Tips - Part 1: Why do young people experiment with drugs?

<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOyua4NnVQWnJxp2tIgrINu9JE5hVZUrUGuRuk2jVqa9B21b8AW9GTaERXgEzA9CfzZHBQT2oWWLfSeyahwxdnCKesz-MZlfgQ7kr-aYEIYjPjac6A4ZzvniS7vHSb_uoLpbVEnHTC_2I/s1600/0_teenDrug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOyua4NnVQWnJxp2tIgrINu9JE5hVZUrUGuRuk2jVqa9B21b8AW9GTaERXgEzA9CfzZHBQT2oWWLfSeyahwxdnCKesz-MZlfgQ7kr-aYEIYjPjac6A4ZzvniS7vHSb_uoLpbVEnHTC_2I/s1600/0_teenDrug.jpg" /></a>Understanding why a youth might start using drugs is paramount into formulating a proper response to their involvement. Current research has identified over 50 factors which might contribute to someone being at risk for drug use. Many of those factors are similar in a variety of addiction related issues including violence and gambling to name a few. What is interesting to note that these factors do not fall into a particular subgroup but fall across multiple subgroups. Examples of these would include free time available, family structure, peer group, social pressures and media exposure. This is really important for parents to understand that they have to deal with the individual youth’s situation and state of mind if they are going to have an opportunity to make an impact.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEVLUtt6GGgJPNC11W9oSJG0D14zxYPH148I__sQs__1YOcYTod-dV8SJQhf_96ROgq-UmMFYNPBt8CYR8jJnAYGNxSeV5wmpyMNZQ0hYW09ksWSi30o4K3OTAbTxoGAfhOer2PLH7fGA/s1600/teendrug.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEVLUtt6GGgJPNC11W9oSJG0D14zxYPH148I__sQs__1YOcYTod-dV8SJQhf_96ROgq-UmMFYNPBt8CYR8jJnAYGNxSeV5wmpyMNZQ0hYW09ksWSi30o4K3OTAbTxoGAfhOer2PLH7fGA/s200/teendrug.bmp" width="143" /></a>OK so what drive’s a youths desire to experiment with drugs? According to the research on the pathways to drug use Dr. Alan I. Leshner, PhD Director of NIDA says, “that there is one of two types or reasons. One group of people seems to sue drugs simply to feel good. They are seeking novelty or excitement, to have a good time.” This would include those youths who just want to fit in with the group, who want to be “cool.” According to Leshner, this specific group is also the most responsive to prevention programming that educate through harm reduction, as well as those influenced by the powerful protective factor of having strong and living parents interested in them and in all aspects of their lives.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The second pathway is from an entirely different group of young people who are using drugs for quite different, actually more problematic reasons. This group is suffering in some way or another and uses the drugs as a form of self-medication to make themselves feel better or even normal.  This group often times includes people who are stuck in very difficult life situations - poetry or abuse families to name some examples.   It may also include youth who are suffering from a variety of undiagnosed or untreated mental disorders, like clinical depression, manic depressive illness, panic disorders, and schizophrenia.  According to Dr. Leshner "there are as many as 10 million children and adolescents who may suffer from emotional and psychiatric problems of such magnitude that their ability to function is compromised, the majority of those kids are at extremely high risk of becoming addicted to drugs."</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Young people who use drugs to medicate themselves are doing so not only to feel better but to feel normal, in which in many cses they may be treated with anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medications.  But because they are undiagnosed the use of illicit drugs does  not effectively treat those issues. In fact it may actually enhance those issues making the youth feel worse.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So what other factors are there that contribute to youth drug abuse? The more common ones are listed below:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Enjoyment </u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Despite all the concerns about illicit drug use and the attendant lifestyle by young people, it is probably still the case that the lives of most young people are centered on school, home and employment and that most drug use is restricted to the use of tobacco and alcohol They may adopt the demeanor, fashion and slang of a particular subculture including the occasional or experimental use of illegal drugs without necessarily adopting the lifestyle. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Even so, the evidence of drug use within youth culture suggests that the experience of substances is often pleasurable rather than negative and damaging. So probably the main reason why young take drugs is that they enjoy them. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Environment </u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Many young people live in communities which suffer from multiple deprivations, with high unemployment, low quality housing where the surrounding infra-structure of local services is fractured and poorly resourced. In such communities drug supply and use often thrive as an alternative economy often controlled by powerful criminal groups. As well as any use that might be associated with the stress and boredom of living in such communities, young people with poor job prospects recognize the financial advantages and the status achievable through the business of small scale supply of drugs. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlztyIUX-ofbYQW09nKVJMHmqRfqqsxyG5hzggUArd3cA28-oVyv5OL3blU4jmjzHCCMPItEqhqMcy1sU4YrTWCOOQe2NCBrsFcnbkrY45B-apKafr8NpE87jgM2c-KVU9yu346gAHwrl/s1600/teen-drug-use2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlztyIUX-ofbYQW09nKVJMHmqRfqqsxyG5hzggUArd3cA28-oVyv5OL3blU4jmjzHCCMPItEqhqMcy1sU4YrTWCOOQe2NCBrsFcnbkrY45B-apKafr8NpE87jgM2c-KVU9yu346gAHwrl/s200/teen-drug-use2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>However, drug use is certainly not restricted to areas of urban deprivation. As the press stories of expulsions from private schools and drug use in rural areas show, illicit drug use is an aspect of our society from top to bottom and in all regions. <br /><br /><strong><u>Curiosity </u></strong><br /><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Most young people are naturally curious and want to experiment with different experiences. For some, drugs are a good conversation point, they are interesting to talk about and fascinate everyone. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><strong><u>The defense mechanism </u></strong><br /><br />Some young people will use drugs specifically to ease the trauma and pain of unsatisfactory relationships and the physical and emotional abuse arising from unhappy home lives. Such young people will often come to the attention of the school. If these problems can be addressed, then if drugs are involved they can become less of a problem. <br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><strong><u>Natural rebellion</u></strong> <br /><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKcyd6mxmMKy7cqv0Q7WiyBEfT6JIqkz5xuo3r29WCopDbo6WsQSTmKfZimFkHLHJoEybydeQm-yGpAZ10ohCfGd3UWxpRGHvWEssYZylmLqT1aTPxGYwAlxVOtKtOz78jX-eurZTE7xZO/s1600/teendruguse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKcyd6mxmMKy7cqv0Q7WiyBEfT6JIqkz5xuo3r29WCopDbo6WsQSTmKfZimFkHLHJoEybydeQm-yGpAZ10ohCfGd3UWxpRGHvWEssYZylmLqT1aTPxGYwAlxVOtKtOz78jX-eurZTE7xZO/s200/teendruguse.jpg" width="200" /></a>Whether or not part of any particular subset of youth culture, young people like to be exclusive, own something that is personal to themselves and consciously or unconsciously drug use may act as a means of defiance to provoke adults into a reaction. </div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Promotion and availability </u></strong></div><br />There is considerable pressure to use legal substances alcohol and pain-relieving drugs are regularly advertised on television. The advertising of tobacco products is now banned on television, but recent research from Strathclyde University published by the Cancer Research Campaign concluded that cigarette advertising does encourage young people to start smoking and reinforces the habit among existing smokers. <br /><br />Despite legislation, children and teenagers have no problems obtaining alcohol and tobacco from any number of retail outlets; breweries refurbish pubs with young people in mind, bringing in music, games, more sophisticated decor and so on while the general acceptance of these drugs is maintained through sports sponsorship, promotions and other marketing strategies. Obviously, the illicit market is more discreet, but those determined to experiment appear to have little trouble obtaining drugs. <br /><br /><strong><u>Cost </u></strong><br /><br />Value for money is often a factor as to which drug to use. Cannabis sufficient for a few joints would cost about $20, while an LSD trip would be around $3-$10. In terms of how long the effects last, this compares very favourably with an average price for a glass of beer is around $1.80. By the same token, ecstasy of highly variable quality is still selling for up to $1 a tablet and many drug users have been voting with their wallet and turning to cheaper drugs such as LSD and amphetamine.<br /><br /><strong><u>What Can Parents Do?</u></strong><br /><br />What, if the answer is "yes," your child is using drugs? What do you do? In a small percentage of cases, parents can work with their own kids to get them to stop using drugs. This might be easiest when the young person is just using drugs occasionally to have a good time. And, of course, the earlier you start talking to your children about drugs, the better the chances are they won't become involved with them. If a child reaches the age of 20 without using alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, the probability is almost zero he or she will ever develop a serious drug problem.<br /><br />But if you suspect your child is really trying to self-medicate, or if you suspect your child is using regularly or even is addicted, you need to get help right away from the professionals. These are not, problems the typical parents can handle alone. And help is available. There are many professional social workers, nurses, drug counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists well trained to deal with both mental disorders and drug use problems. Your child's school, your family doctor, or community health center can help get you a referral. Do not assume Sally or Johnny's drug use is just a passing phase or something every kid must go through. It isn't. It may well be the beginning of a lifetime of problems that could be prevented with early intervention.

Parent Tips - Part 1: Why do young people experiment with drugs?

Understanding why a youth might start using drugs is paramount into formulating a proper response to their involvement. Current research has...

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Parents: Drug Awareness Series

As part of our ongoing effort to educate and raise awareness to the public and parents about the dangers of drugs we will be running a multi-part series on abused drugs over the next several months.  In light of the report released in December 2010 <a href="http://monitoringthefuture.org/">Monitoring the Future</a> public perceptions are changing in regards to risk and harm of particular drugs.<br /><br />There is also much in fact and myth surrounding many drugs that the teens, parents and the public are not aware.  It is through this series that we will be putting the spot light upon drugs that are available and out there and the risks to them. <br /><br />Look for information to come forward about<br /><ul><li>Alcohol</li><li>Marijuana</li><li>Cocaine & Crack</li><li>Heroin</li><li>Prescription Medications</li><li>Methamphetamine</li><li>Ecstasy MDMA</li><li>Ketamine</li><li>LSD</li><li>K2 (Spice)</li><li>Salvi</li><li>and much more</li></ul>Each series will provide information about patterns and trends as well as about common pathways to use of each particular of drug. In addition, resources will be provide to allow teens, educators and parents on where to turn to get help in addressing this issue.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: red;">Part 1: Why young people try Illegal Drugs?</span></strong>

Parents: Drug Awareness Series

As part of our ongoing effort to educate and raise awareness to the public and parents about the dangers of drugs we will be running a multi...

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Parent Tips: 5 Ways to Gang Proof a Child

<ol style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><li><strong>Have the Right Attitude</strong> - Don’t think: “A gang’s going to get my kids, and I can’t stop it.” Recognize that you play an important part in keeping your kids out of gangs.</li><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHvmP8CYWNKzfBzP2GmLK6F7gmKmKu-RvTnfVWCgaO34lBPEDJOrL9-uiruYY0GqmIiHrcCLed4weByBNmNZoUFAftJeOkjVab2CIVD6Bc2A_Hzyj_qClsOH4qJDGS7bpxjstHb4_Vsbi/s1600/kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHvmP8CYWNKzfBzP2GmLK6F7gmKmKu-RvTnfVWCgaO34lBPEDJOrL9-uiruYY0GqmIiHrcCLed4weByBNmNZoUFAftJeOkjVab2CIVD6Bc2A_Hzyj_qClsOH4qJDGS7bpxjstHb4_Vsbi/s320/kids.jpg" width="320" /></a><strong>Be involved in your child’s life</strong>.  - Show interest in your child’s schoolwork, hobbies and friends. Work to build open, ongoing communication with your child. Listen without being quick to judge. Set aside time for positive family activities. Monitor what your child watches and listens to, especially TV shows, music, and movies that promote gangs or violence. Encourage your child to spend time wisely – studying, doing chores, or participating in sports, hobbies, art, scouts or volunteer groups.</li><li><strong>Be a Good Role Model</strong> - Don’t abuse alcohol or other drugs. If you have a problem with drugs, violence or anything else that interferes with family life, get help. Honor your work and expect your child to do the same.</li><li><strong>Teach Good Values and Responsibility</strong> - Emphasize strong family values, including respect and responsibility. Show by your example how much your value these traits. Be consistent about discipline. Hold your child answerable for his or her behavior. Teach your child respect for authority.  Establish clear limits and rules; expect your child to follow them.</li><li><strong>Safeguard Your Child</strong> -  Know the “Three W’s” </li></ol>                      1.Where your child is?<br />                      2.What he or she is doing?<br />                      3.Who he or she is with?

Parent Tips: 5 Ways to Gang Proof a Child

Have the Right Attitude - Don’t think: “A gang’s going to get my kids, and I can’t stop it.” Recognize that you play an important part in k...

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Children and Drugs

By Dr. Richard Wilmot<br /><br />Whenever a politician wants to rouse the public to champion a policy all he or she has to do is invoke the name of children: "it's all about the children"; "it's for our children,"   "it's to protect the children." There is a lot of hypocrisy and disingenuousness attached to such an invocation, as poverty and the lack of health care - two of the most manifest endangerment to children - seem to be perennially ignored.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Likewise, if one wishes to provoke intense public scrutiny all one has to do is mention children and drugs in the same sentence. If they are so juxtaposed, then the link between them had better emphasize their contrast and conflict. There is nothing good to say about the use of drugs by children ... except by children themselves and only when adults are not present. Perhaps we should put down the Ritalin and simply listen to them. <br /><br />Of course children know better than to say anything to an adult that could in anyway be construed as favorable towards drugs. Although among themselves, they will reveal their true feelings. It is too dangerous to talk frankly with an adult about drugs. There are sanctions. There is pain and punishment ... hurt feelings. Why bother? And it is just such a conspiracy of silence and self-censorship that places us in the position we are today: awash with drugs and drug problems with only cliches to say out loud about them.<br /><br /><br /><br />We are now engaged in yet another war - a civil war (for the children) against drugs, except it appears that the "enemy" is becoming a little more devious, a little more stealthy, and is hiding in common, ordinary household products and personal grooming aids such as finger nail polish and nail polish remover, spray paint, marking pens, spray on solvents, and whip cream dispensers. These are the products used in inhalant abuse, and although one does not necessarily need to be a child to use them, it is understood that a troublesome percentage of both adolescents and preadolescences do so.<br /><br /><br /><br />Who is this enemy in these products that threaten our children? NIDA director Nora Volkow, MD, identified the enemy in her article "Youth and Inhalant Abuse" - the enemy is the "quick high" (Volkow, 2006). <br /><br />Tell us more about this "quick high" threat to our children. But alas, throughout the remainder of the article, "quick high" is never mentioned again. Perhaps that is because of the profane reputation of the word "high" itself. It is really a "quick (& dirty) high".<br /><br /><br /><br />Be that as it may, now that the "enemy" has been identified, let us bring on the war! What should be our weapons to keep children off inhalants? Aerosol sprays, propellants, and solvents are not good things to inhale; on that we can all agree. However to ban such products because of their possible abuse would be absurd. It is incredulous to consider the makers of glue, shoe polish, paint thinner or gasoline as drug pushers. So the weapon of prohibition seems out of the question. What about propaganda? Perhaps if children knew just how bad it was for both their mental and physical health, they would cease and desist. Yet, as Volkow points out, studies indicate that users report that they "abuse inhalants in spite of known negative consequences." And after a lengthy description of just how negative those negative effects can be, Dr Volkow concludes with this prevention tip: "A solution to this problem ... aims to educate children and others about the dangers and risks involved." In other words: more propaganda about the negative effects of "huffing," "snorting" and "bagging" that children, as Volkow reports, do not listen to anyway (Volkow, 2006).<br /><br /><br /><br />How can we get the children to listen?  Perhaps we should listen to them, and if not through words, at least from a different angle - through their actions (i.e., behaviorally).<br /><br /><br /><br />Dr. Volkow made the comment:  "It is difficult to understand why anyone would stuff a solvent-soaked rag in their mouth, and begin huffing the concentrated vapors." Perhaps the reason has to do with that "quick high" mentioned at the beginning of her article.<br /><br /><br /><br />When Sigmund Freud first proposed "infantile sexuality" his conjecture was considered absurd. Nowadays, childhood erotica is viewed as a normal part of psychological development and genital manipulation is observable behavior in infants. Our knowledge about psychoactive drugs and particularly drug use by children seems to be at a similar parochial stage of understanding as was sex at the turn of the last century.<br /><br /><br /><br />However, just as Freud postulated sex as a universal drive, many experts in the field of drug studies are beginning to recognize that "getting high" is also a universal drive. Ronald Siegel, Andrew Weil, Stuart Walton and others have observed that "getting high" or altering one's consciousness is an evolutionary inevitability having to do with our human biology.  To paraphrase Siegel: "getting high" is as natural as falling in love (Siegel, 1989).<br /><br /><br />Weil also calls our attention to the natural orientation of children to alter their consciousness:<br /><br />The desire to alter consciousness is an innate psychological drive arising out of the neurological structure of the human brain.  Strong evidence for this idea comes from observations of very young children, who regularly use techniques of consciousness alteration on themselves and each other when they think no adults are watching them.<br /><br /><br />These methods include whirling until vertigo and collapse ensue, hyperventilating and fainting.  Such practices appear to be universal, irrespective of culture, and present at ages when social conditioning is unlikely to be an important influence (two and three years old).  Psychiatrists have paid little attention to these activities of all children.<br /><br /><br /><br />Freud noted them and called them 'sexual equivalents' which they may be, although that formulation is not very useful. (Weil, 1972).<br /><br />In his book Out of It (2002), Walton describes the death of a 15-year-old boy at Eton College resulting from a game of recreational asphyxiation, which had been all the rage in Britain's famous public school. In this asphyxiation game, intelligent adolescents from functional homes choked each other into unconsciousness by tying cloth cords around each other's necks and tightening them until one's playmate collapsed. When asked to explain the reason for such behavior one of the participants said: "The attraction was that it was something different. It makes you feel abnormal."<br /><br /><br /><br />Spinning until dizzy or asphyxiating until close to passing out and experiencing the disorientation and hilarity that such an altered state can produce are the same motivational triggers for doing drugs, whether it be inhaling nitrous oxide from an empty whip cream dispenser or smoking marijuana. The need to alter one's consciousness is a perfectly natural drive. When children attempt to "get high" they are doing something natural. They are playing. Adults who use spinning to promote spiritual mysticism (Sufi Dervishes) or enhance their sexual foreplay through erotic asphyxiation are using a child's game to do the same thing: alter their consciousness.<br /><br /><br /><br />If we can view a child's motivation for getting "high" as part of a universal desire to alter consciousness, we will have a better understanding of how to deal with abuse. What the child is doing is natural, but the tools he or she may be employing may be dangerously inappropriate. Approached in this way, we will have a better rapport with the child, and on that basis, be better informed as to what our children are doing.  No longer do we have to threaten the child by saying: "What in the hell are you doing that for or why in the hell are you taking that stuff." Such a prohibitive reaction simply 'shouts' down further communication. We can bypass the inquisition because we will already know. We can then say: " I know how you feel when you do this or take that ... this is natural ... I'm just concerned you might hurt yourself. Here is why."<br /><br /><br /><br />In conclusion, it should be noted that one of main propellants used in aerosols is nitrous oxide, considered the most abused of all other gases. William James, the father of modern American recovery psychology, used nitrous oxide himself in his experiments on human consciousness. He titrated his dose and created for himself a uniquely religious experience that he wrote about in his now classic work The Varieties of the Religious Experience.<br /><br /><br />Do children have such experiences themselves when they ingest such drugs as nitrous oxide? Perhaps it is time that we ask them. Maybe the answer to childhood drug abuse is to begin a dialogue with children on drugs that recognizes the fact that what they are doing is natural (not necessarily pathological or immoral) but also can be dangerous, and that our concern is over the danger and not about the alteration of consciousness itself.

Children and Drugs

By Dr. Richard Wilmot Whenever a politician wants to rouse the public to champion a policy all he or she has to do is invoke the name of chi...

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