7
THOSE REALLY TOUGH
QUESTIONS NO ONE WANTS
TO ANSWER
I’ve left this batch of questions till last for a very good reason—they’re pretty tough to answer!
So many parents tell me that they simply weren’t prepared for the challenges that came with parenthood. Although the joys of having children far outweigh the difficulties (at least most of the time), there are always some issues which, no matter how many parenting books you’ve read, videos you’ve watched or lectures and classes you’ve attended, you have no idea how to respond to appropriately.
When it comes to drug issues, I’m most often surprised by those parents who actually experimented themselves as youngsters. One thing they never thought about when they were having a quick puff of a bong on a Saturday night during their university years was what they were going to tell their kids about their drug use in twenty years’ time!
The first question in this section is one that you will almost inevitably be asked by your child at some time. For that reason, it’s a good idea to work out in advance what you are going to say. In my experience, giving an unplanned response can lead to lies being told and this can be very damaging to a parent-child relationship.
Most parents claim they never want to make the same mistakes their own parents made. These perceived mistakes can centre around the quality of the relationship they have with their children, issues around rules and boundaries (e.g. not being as strict as their parents) or ensuring they provide their kids with more opportunities in a wide range of areas (e.g. education, music lessons, and so on). But all a parent’s best intentions can go out the window when their child is suspected of—or, worse still, found to be—using illegal drugs.
All the ideals you had about communicating in a positive way, never shouting or punishing your children in an inappropriate manner, can count for nothing when you come across a bag of cannabis or an ecstasy pill at the bottom of your child’s sock drawer. Panic, fear and then anger are the usual responses, and when those emotions are running high, common sense and reason do not prevail.
Although reading through the issues relating to finding an illicit drug in your child’s room can never prepare you for the reality of that situation, hopefully it will give you something to think about and possibly discuss with your teenager. Knowing the facts about drug use and the risk of addiction can also help to allay some fears you may have.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—there is no rule book when it comes to being a parent. This chapter does not attempt to give you all the answers to the complex questions it raises. Rather, the information provided is designed to start you thinking about possible positive responses you may use in the future that are based on your family values and beliefs.
• What should I tell my child if they ask me if I ever used illegal drugs?
Most parents do not have a problem answering this question as, although the media would love to tell you that most people have experimented with illegal drugs, the opposite is true. The one illicit drug that is most likely to have been used by Australian parents is cannabis, but that is still only a third of the population. Most Australians (two-thirds of them) have not used the drug.
However, for those parents who have experimented with illicit drugs in their youth, this is a question they will dread—and it will almost certainly be raised at some stage during their child’s teenage years. When it is, parents have one of three choices—they can tell the truth, they can avoid the question and hope it goes away, or they can lie through their teeth! It really is a dilemma.
Unfortunately, it is also becoming an issue for a growing number of parents who still occasionally dabble with a range of substances. Over the last decade there is evidence to suggest that we are seeing drug-using ‘careers’ stretching—that is, some people continue to use for longer periods of time, not stopping in their late twenties as is usually the case, but continuing to use into their forties and even fifties. This is particularly true for cannabis. While this is not a large number of people, it does appear to be a growing group.
Every parent will need to deal with this question in their own way, in a manner appropriate to their family. Below are stories of families in three very different circumstances telling how the parents have dealt with their particular situation. The stories also tell how the children in these families have responded. These are not necessarily representative—it is important to note that another parent could use exactly the same strategy and get a completely different outcome—but these case studies do illustrate that teenagers respond in a variety of ways, something which might help you when deciding on your own approach.
Nicole, a mother of three, was a big party girl back in the late 1980s and early 90s. Together with her then boyfriend, now husband, Peter, she was among the first generation of regular ecstasy users, who attended large dance parties and inner-city nightclubs. As well as ecstasy, she also used a variety of other drugs, including cannabis, speed and LSD. She says that she would find it difficult to estimate how much ecstasy she took during that period of her life, but she always knew that when she got married and made the decision to have children she would stop using—and that is exactly what she did.
Her eldest daughter, Hannah, is now fifteen years old and is beginning to ask questions about her parents’ partying years. Nicole is now wondering how to talk to her teenage daughter about her drug use. Should she tell the truth, avoid the subject, or simply lie and say that it never happened?
She decided to lie. In fact, she has become hardline when it comes to the messages she gives to her children about drugs. As far as Nicole is concerned, drugs are dangerous and she doesn’t want her children to use them.
‘If I found out that Hannah was experimenting with any drug I would be horrified. I know it sounds hypocritical, particularly with my history, but as I’ve got older I’ve become more and more worried about my children and drugs. Maybe it’s because I know so much more about them and the risks involved with their use. I simply don’t want my children to use.’
The effect that this hardline attitude has had on Hannah is interesting. A bright girl who is doing very well at school, she told me that illegal drugs are not a part of her life, although she has just got into the party scene and drinks alcohol occasionally— something her mother frowns on.
‘I would never talk about drugs with Mum and Dad,’ she told me. ‘Mum has made it very clear how she feels and often talks about people she knew who took drugs and got into real trouble. I can’t even imagine what she would do if I did try drugs and she ever found out.’
Unfortunately, Nicole’s attitude towards drugs appears to have caused a real communication barrier between her and her daughter.
‘I have a friend who I think has a problem with drinking,’ confessed Hannah. ‘She drinks every weekend and I do worry about her. I’d love to be able to talk to Mum about it but I wouldn’t dare. I couldn’t trust her to keep it secret and not tell my friend’s mum. In so many other ways I have a great relationship with Mum but I wouldn’t even try to talk to her about this—she would just overreact and hit the roof.’
When asked whether she thought either of her parents had ever used drugs in the past Hannah was shocked at the suggestion.
‘No way! Maybe Dad tried cannabis but definitely not Mum. If she did, I think I would be very angry—she is so anti-drug—I don’t think I would trust her again. I definitely wouldn’t believe anything she said about drugs!’
What is difficult to fathom with Nicole and Peter is that when asked about their drug use and the experiences they had during that time they both talk about it in a very positive way. Both held down jobs and neither experienced any significant negative health effects. As for the friends that Nicole has warned Hannah about, when I asked about them she admitted that she made them up. Her justification for this was that she wanted to scare Hannah and if she had told her the truth it would have made the drug too attractive.
Nicole and Peter are not alone in this type of major turnaround. There are many parents who did experiment and had ‘positive’ drug experiences but, when they have children of their own, their memories of their own drug use fade and they become very ‘anti-drug’. My concern is what would happen if Hannah ever found out the truth about her parents’ past? The breakdown of trust here could be devastating for this close-knit family.
Jim is almost 50 years old. He has been married to Sylvia for almost seventeen years and has two teenage daughters, Victoria and Maddie. Jim is a successful accountant and has been a regular cannabis user since his early twenties, and he drinks at least one bottle of wine every evening. He admits that he has a cannabis problem. He has tried to stop using many times over the years, succeeding for a period of time when his first daughter was born, but relapsing a number of years later. Since then, he has never been able to go for longer than a couple of days without using. He is also concerned about his alcohol consumption, although this is very much secondary to his concerns regarding his cannabis use and the effect that this may have on his relationship with his children.
He has never smoked in front of his daughters, who are now fourteen and sixteen years old, although both of them are aware of his drug use. When it comes to talking about drugs, Jim is completely honest. He and his wife began talking about drugs, and Jim’s alcohol and drug use in particular, when the girls were in their early teens.
‘We wanted to be as honest as we could,’ said Jim. ‘I have had both positive and negative experiences associated with my drug use and I’ve always told the girls that this is the story with most people. Giving my girls the whole story, warts and all, will hopefully help them to make good healthy choices. I wish I had made better choices when I was younger—no one ever gave me that option.’
Sixteen-year-old Victoria is extremely well informed about alcohol and drugs.
‘Dad has used a pile of drugs over the years and he still uses dope,’ she told me. ‘I really wish he didn’t but he has a problem. It doesn’t really affect Maddie and me—he never smokes in front of us and only smokes very late at night. It used to be after we had gone to bed but now that we’re older it’s becoming harder for him to hide it. I hope he does finally find a way to stop.
‘I’m really glad that we’ve been told everything. I have no interest in ever trying drugs—the struggles that Dad has had in trying to stop using and how embarrassed he is about the fact that he finds it so difficult to stop really don’t make it too attractive to me. Dad has always said that smoking dope was fun when he was young but over a period of time the fun started to disappear and the problems increased. When you talk to Dad now about drugs, you can see that he gets no fun at all from it.
‘By far the best thing about being able to talk about drugs so openly in our house has been being able to help friends at school. People talk about drugs a lot at school and so much of what people say, even the teachers, is just crap. I can come home, ask Mum or Dad, and get real answers.’
What a different approach and what a different outcome. Jim’s honesty about his drug use has resulted in an extremely positive relationship with his children when it comes to drug information. We have no way of knowing the impact that having a drug-using parent will have on Victoria and Maddie in the long term, but currently they both have a very mature attitude towards drugs and the problems they can cause.
Jenny is a 40-year-old divorced mother of four. Like the vast majority of Australians she never used illicit drugs when she was younger and only drinks alcohol on special occasions. Two of her children, Jonathan and Nick, are in their mid-teens, and both have asked their mother whether she ever used drugs.
Due to the choices she made when she was younger she is able to answer them honestly and say that illegal drugs have never been a part of her life. However, according to Jenny there is a downside to her lack of experience.
‘I know nothing about drugs,’ said Jenny. ‘My kids all know that I didn’t take drugs when I was younger and I’m sure that makes what I say a little less credible. I do raise the issue of drugs with the boys, but if they ever asked me a question I really wouldn’t have a clue what to say. I was one of those people that never even saw a drug when I was growing up, let alone took one. I do feel pretty ignorant.’
She attends any drug education sessions that her children’s schools run and she tries to keep abreast of what is going on by watching documentaries and talking to people who she believes are better informed than she is. Jenny has made it very clear to her children that they can come to her no matter what—drugs are far from a taboo subject in their home—but according to Jenny none of her children have ever really taken up the opportunity to talk to her about the controversial subject. Every conversation about drugs that has taken place has been initiated by her.
‘I’m pretty sure neither of the two older boys has ever used illegal drugs. Jonathan drinks alcohol and we’ve had a couple of issues with him coming home drunk after a big night. Although I don’t want them to drink or take drugs, all of the kids know that no matter what they do, no matter what problem they find themselves in, they are still my boys and I love them. I hope they would come to me no matter what they have done.’
Jonathan has used cannabis. He experimented with the drug once or twice and didn’t enjoy it, and as a result doesn’t plan to use again. He has had a couple of nasty experiences with alcohol and both times have resulted in long discussions with his mother about the risks involved in excessive drinking.
‘I would never talk to Mum about the fact I smoked weed,’ the sixteen-year-old said. ‘It’s not that she would get angry or anything, I just know that it would disappoint her and I’ve heard her tell so many people that she “knows her boys don’t use drugs” that I think it would embarrass her. I don’t want to make her look like a liar.
‘It is so obvious that Mum never took drugs. Some of the things that she says are so old-fashioned and that makes it really difficult to take a lot of what she says seriously. I have to say, though, that if one of my friends got into difficulty after taking drugs or got into trouble after drinking too much, I would call Mum. None of my other friends would say that, I’m sure—but Mum would be there for me and my friends, and she wouldn’t judge. That’s pretty unusual for a parent.’
These three examples of how parents have dealt with this confronting question illustrates that there are no easy answers. However, it seems to me that honesty is the best policy. Now this doesn’t mean that you should be ramming the fact that you once had a puff of a joint in 1983 down your children’s throat. However, if you’re asked a direct question by your child, I believe that you should answer it truthfully.
We know that by far one of the most important elements of a positive parent-child relationship is honesty and trust. When you ask your child a question about something they have done, you would like them to answer honestly. Doesn’t your child deserve the same respect?
So if you have used drugs, what should you say? To my mind the most important thing to focus on in your answer is why you stopped using. The reasons you give to your teenager about why you stopped are so important and say so much about the ‘real’ risks associated with drug use. It’s also a candid and direct approach and young people really appreciate that. Some of the reasons that parents have given to their children for stopping include the following:
• ‘I used cannabis once or twice and it just made me feel really sick. Some of my friends really liked it but it just wasn’t me—I didn’t enjoy smoking and I made the decision not to do it again.’
• ‘Some of the people I was hanging out with used ecstasy and I decided to use it one night. I found the feeling really overpowering and very scary. It cost me $50 and I realised that I could spend that money on other things and not feel ill.’
• ‘Cannabis was a big part of my life for a couple of years. I used almost every week until I finally realised that I wasn’t doing anything else. I only hung out with cannabis users and I lost contact with other friends. Although it was fun at the beginning it certainly wasn’t at the end.’
• ‘Drugs can be fun. I certainly had a good time for a while but the bad experiences started to outweigh the good and I just got bored with the whole thing.’
• ‘I stopped smoking when a very close friend of mine got busted. He got caught smoking a bong in a park and found himself at a police station. It wasn’t until that happened that I really understood that cannabis was illegal and you could get into serious trouble if you got caught. It just wasn’t worth the risk.’
• ‘I stopped using when I met your mum. She thought drugs were for losers and forced me to make a decision—it was her or the dope. I chose your mum!’
Whatever you decide to say to your child, try to avoid using the old chestnut ‘I did try drugs but things are different now’. This is a cop-out and not based on any real evidence. It’s a response that parents are increasingly using when it comes to cannabis in particular—‘I did try cannabis but it’s a lot stronger now’—and, as discussed on pages 118-121, is based on very poor evidence. It is a really weak response that teenagers see through pretty quickly and usually reject.
All parents want an honest and open relationship with their child. If, God forbid, something should go wrong and a child needs help with a drug and alcohol problem, every parent hopes that they are the first port of call when it comes to help and advice. However, if you’re not honest with them, why on earth would they ever be honest with you?
This must be every parent’s worst fear. No matter what your attitude towards drugs, I have yet to meet a parent who would be happy to discover that their child was experimenting in some way. When it comes to actually finding drugs in your child’s room, it is likely to be the result of one of two scenarios.
The first of these involves a parent innocently putting their child’s clothes away, or cleaning out their school bag, and accidentally finding a suspicious substance or some paraphernalia. For most parents it is usually a small plastic bag of cannabis or a bong or pipe. Recently, as ecstasy and amphetamines have become more popular, more and more parents who find themselves in this situation have come across a pill or a bag full of powder or fine crystals.
The second scenario is usually preceded by a period of suspicion and unrest in the family home. For whatever reason, the parents suspect that their child could be using drugs and they feel the need to find out whether or not their suspicions are correct. They then go through their teenager’s room and possessions. If they actually find drugs, they are in the unenviable position of not only having to tell their child they found something, but also informing them that they have searched their room.
Neither of these situations is easy to deal with and both come with their own set of unique issues. Let’s deal with the easier one first.
Accidentally discovering an illegal drug in your child’s room is going to be a tremendous shock for any parent. No matter how you may have prepared yourself for such a discovery (and to be quite honest, I doubt whether any parent spends too long thinking about such a possibility), it is always going to evoke emotions like disappointment, anger and fear. Many parents will try to come up with some possible explanation for its presence, apart from the obvious.
The most important response is also the most difficult—don’t overreact! Take some time to think through what you are going to do. Talk to your partner and discuss where, when and how you are going to raise the issue. Those three elements (the where, when and how) are all equally important and will play a major part in the success of your strategy.
At this stage, some parents become obsessed with wanting to know what it is that they have found. I have had many parents contact me over the years to ask if I know of anywhere that would test the substance. What surprises me is that so many of these mums and dads have not really thought through what they are considering doing. If it is an illegal drug, and they are caught in possession of it, there is every likelihood that they could be prosecuted. If they did take the drug somewhere for testing and it was found to be a drug like cannabis or ecstasy, the testing company would be legally bound to inform the police.
So how important is it to know what the drug is? For many parents it is imperative, particularly when it comes to pills and powders. If you find a bag of what looks like lawn clippings, you can pretty well bet that you’ve discovered cannabis. Pills could be pharmaceutical products (although most of those actually have names stamped onto them, or indentations designed to make them easier to break into halves or quarters—something you rarely see on illicit drugs like ecstasy) or illicits such as speed or ecstasy. Powders are usually the most concerning for parents as these could be anything from amphetamines to cocaine or even heroin.
Even though you may be desperate to get the substance tested, it is important that you drop the idea pretty quickly. In my experience, where parents have gone to the lengths of contacting police, they are usually told in no uncertain terms to flush the substance down the toilet and forget about testing due to the legal problems it will cause.
Your best bet of finding out what the substance is comes when you sit down and talk to your child about your discovery. If you have planned the discussion well and don’t overreact, you might find that they are more willing to be honest and open with you. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to discussions like this but there are four key elements that should assist in making it more successful:
• Show your concern. Make it clear you love your child unconditionally and nothing will change that. However, if they have been using illegal drugs they have broken the law and there will be consequences.
• Choose your moment. Make sure that you are calm and that your teenager is in the right headspace. Trying to have a conversation like this as soon as they walk through the door after school may not be the best time. You’re also going to get a much better outcome if the discussion does not feel like an ambush.
• Recognise problems. The most important question you can ask your child is ‘Why are you taking the drug?’ If they say it gives them a good feeling or to have fun times with their friends, it is much more encouraging than if they start talking about using it to satisfy a need, to feel better or to solve problems.
• Don’t blame yourself. Don’t go down the road of thinking that you have failed as a parent. This is going to help no one and will only cause problems between you and your child.
When you first tell your child that you have discovered something in their room, one of the first questions you need to ask is ‘What is it?’ I hope that you get an answer, but over the years I have met many parents who have never been able to find out exactly what it was they found on that day. Often the teenager refuses to acknowledge that the drugs were theirs and pleads ignorance, and I am sure there have been times when young people have found themselves in situations where they truly have no idea where the drugs came from. In these instances you may never get an answer, but there still need to be consequences. If your child had been caught with those drugs in their possession by a police officer ignorance would be no defence. The same needs to apply in the home.
Bringing illicit drugs into the family home is an incredibly irresponsible thing to do and your child needs to realise what could have happened if the police had discovered the drugs before you did. One of the most important things that you should do after you have confronted your child with what you have found is to destroy the drugs (flushing them down the toilet is probably the best option), making it very clear to them that even your keeping them on the property since the discovery has put you at great risk of possible prosecution.
Being caught with illicit drugs by your parent is almost as confronting for the adolescent. You may well have felt disappointment and anger, but they are going to experience a great deal of shame. The fear of disappointing and letting down their parents is very real and, although it may seem that they don’t care what you think of them at this stage of development, we know that they still do very much.
If there is a silver lining to this type of incident, it’s going to be that a dialogue has started. Unfortunately, some parents never start talking to their children about drugs until something like this happens. If they get their response right and don’t overreact there is the possibility that some good may come out of it.
When the discovery of drugs is the result of a search through the child’s possessions because of a belief that something is amiss, the result is usually quite different and rarely ends positively.
Lynette had always promised herself that she wouldn’t become a mother who spied on her child, but as her daughter got older, circumstances changed and she became worried about her behaviour.
Jacinta was a year twelve student who had a great circle of friends. However, over a short period of time Jacinta seemed to lose touch with many of her old group. She became much more secretive about who she was hanging out with and when her parents asked her anything about what she was doing and where she was going it usually ended in a fight. Lynette tried to address her concerns with her daughter but it landed on deaf ears.
One day, when Jacinta was at school and Lynette was putting some of her clothes away, she went through her things. According to Lynette, she hadn’t planned to do it but she was worried and she needed to find out what was happening. She had no idea what she was looking for but searched anyway.
‘At the bottom of one of her drawers I found a small plastic bag with two small pink pills in it. Each of the pills had a crescent moon on it. I had no idea what to do and how to ask her about what I had found.’
One of the major problems Lynette was grappling with was that she had abused her daughter’s trust and, even though she had discovered ecstasy in her daughter’s room, the means didn’t seem to justify the ends. She had become the mother she had never wanted to be!
I suppose you have to ask the question—did she have any other option?
It would seem that Lynette had tried all other avenues. She had attempted to have a conversation with her daughter about her concerns many times—all had failed. It seemed that there was no other choice but to search the room.
The fallout from the discovery was immense and the reason Lynette contacted me was because she was trying to find a counsellor who could help her mend the damaged mother-daughter relationship. Jacinta had left home and would not communicate with her mother at all. It would appear as though all trust in the relationship had been broken. Not only had Lynette been through her daughter’s room, leading to her daughter feeling betrayed, Jacinta had been using drugs, totally destroying the trust her mother had in her. It had become a terrible situation which was going to be incredibly difficult to resolve.
Searching your child’s room, sending the youngster off to be drug tested or purchasing products that can detect traces of drugs on your child’s possessions are all extreme responses to the possibility that your child could be using drugs. Unfortunately, there are some parents, like Lynette, who find themselves in situations where they feel they have no other choice.
The one thing you don’t want to lose with your child is trust. Of course, if you feel that your adolescent is in danger you may have no other option, but make sure that you have tried all other avenues and that you fully understand the implications of such a strategy.
In recent times more and more celebrities have either been caught using drugs or have decided to write a ‘tell-all’ autobiography and spill the beans about their past drug use. Those who have willingly decided to share their past drug experiences, often for large amounts of money, usually tell about the ‘horrors’ of the days they used drugs and the downward spiral they found themselves in once they began. For those who get caught in compromising situations with drugs, there are usually heartfelt apologies for their behaviour and sometimes bizarre explanations for the choices they have made.
The media have also become increasingly interested in celebrity drug use, often asking people direct questions about whether they have ever experimented with substances. Even politicians have not escaped this trend, particularly in regard to cannabis.
The major problem is the message that these admissions send to young people. Although many would imagine that stories of famous people using drugs and experiencing a range of problems would discourage teenagers from going down the same path, in many cases just the opposite happens. You’d think that hearing a rock star like Keith Richards talk about his drug use and then taking a look at him would be enough to put anyone off ever touching illicit substances! Unfortunately the only message that some young people pick up is that these celebrities have ‘made it through to the other side’ and continue to lead very glamorous and successful lives.
When you look at the messages that we give young people about drugs they are usually negative, warning about the risks associated with their use. Drugs destroy lives—people who use them lose their jobs, their families and are very unhealthy. This just doesn’t match what they see when the latest rock star tells all on a TV chat show, or a famous sportsman has been caught doing the ‘wrong thing’. Even if they did have a bad time there for a while, they certainly don’t look like they’re suffering too much at the moment. These cases also cause young people to question the legal issues around drug use when they see celebrities who are caught with illicit substances getting off with a slap on the wrist.
In recent years a number of high-profile sportsmen have been caught using a range of illegal drugs, and for the most part these are the celebrities that usually get brought up in classroom discussions, particularly by young men. How can you really answer a question about the harms associated with drug use when incredibly successful men in peak physical condition admit to regular drug use?
Mixed messages are extremely dangerous when it comes to providing drug information to young people. Celebrity drug use, particularly the way it is represented in the media, often contradicts everything they are taught by everyone else. This is why it is incredibly important that we don’t present drug information in a black and white way. There are no definites when it comes to the effects any drug will have on a person. When we talk to young people we need to make sure that we discuss the range of effects of drugs, not just the possibility of death. There are physical, psychological and, importantly, social effects that can arise as a result of using alcohol and other drugs. In some cases, the use of drugs may not result in any major physical effects that anyone can see, but the mental health repercussions may be immense. In other cases, the physical impacts of long-term drug use may be obvious.
The social impacts of drug use are not discussed often enough but are very real and can have devastating effects. When it comes to sportsmen, for example, the use of illicit drugs can lead to a change in how others in the community regard them. A footballer who is found to be using a drug like ecstasy can find his reputation is damaged for the rest of his life. He could win every award possible in his future career in the sport, but I guarantee he will always be known as ‘the footballer who took ecstasy’. The impact on his family and friends can also be devastating and is rarely talked about.
Celebrity drug use does cause significant problems for educators and parents, who are struggling to work out how they handle questions about this new phenomenon. Incredibly successful people (who are usually also beautiful, thin and extremely rich!) being caught or admitting to drug use, with little or no signs of adverse effects, challenge the messages we are trying to deliver. That is why we have to get the message right.
Making sure the information we give young people is balanced, accurate and credible is crucial. Acknowledging that not everyone is going to experience the same problems will enable us to explain why some people appear to get by unscathed. At the same time, no matter who you are, there are problems—some you may not be able to observe by watching the nightly news, but they are there.
• Does all drug use lead to addiction?
When a parent discovers that their child has used any drug, one of the first thoughts that enters their mind is that this could be the beginning of the slippery slope to addiction. This is a completely understandable fear, as most of the information that we receive about drugs focuses on the ‘hard end’ of the market and people who have experienced significant problems with their drug use. Although there are those people who lump all drug use into the same barrel the reality is somewhat different. As discussed in Chapter 1, there are five types of drug use and people may move in and out of these at different stages in their lives.
Not surprisingly, the most problematic type of drug use is the one most likely to be represented in the media—dependent or compulsive use. This describes a situation where a person uses a drug regularly for so long that the drug-induced state feels normal to them and they feel compelled to use the drug in everyday life, even though it could be causing them great problems.
Not all drug users are dependent on their drug of choice. Although it is not something we usually talk about, the simple fact of the matter is that many people who experiment with drugs do so for a short period of time and come out the other end relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, some do not.
No, not all drug use leads to addiction. However, all drug use—whether it be legal, illegal or pharmaceutical—is risky and it is important that anyone considering using any drug is aware of all of the possible risks.