Helping a child or adolescent

After a decade of consistent declines in teen drug abuse, a new national study released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® and MetLife Foundation points to marked upswings in use of drugs that teens are likely to encounter at parties and in other social situations. According to the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, sponsored by MetLife Foundation, the number of teens in grades 9-12 that used alcohol in the past month has grown by 11 percent, (from 35 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2009), past year Ecstasy use shows a 67 percent increase (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2009) and past year marijuana use shows a 19 percent increase (from 32 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009).

It happens to the wealthiest of families -- Casey Johnson, an heir to the Johnson and Johnson fortune, battled drug addiction. It happens to the most political of families -- former presidential candidate George McGovern cut off his alcoholic daughter, Terry, who later died at the age of 44 after falling into a snow bank and freezing to death. And it happens in Hollywood -- Martin Sheen's son Charlie Sheen arrested for cocaine use.

For years, Virginia Tech had a complicated system for deciding when to let parents know about their underage children's alcohol-related transgressions. Visits to the hospital or police station warranted immediate notification, but Mom and Dad didn't have to know about less-serious offenses, such as sneaking a six-pack into the dorm, unless it happened more than once. But this semester, Virginia Tech joined a growing list of colleges that notify parents every time a student younger than 21 is caught drinking, drunk or in possession of alcohol. George Washington University also tightened its notification policy last year after a student died of alcohol poisoning.

One in four children in the United States are exposed to alcoholism or drug addiction in the family. This means that in your apartment building, your neighbor hood or among your children's friends, one in four might be hiding their embarrassment, confusion, hurt or shame about what's going on at home. These kids who are affected by alcohol and drug abuse are at an increased risk for behavior problems, physical illness, emotional problems and lower education performance according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Teenagers will want to try such substances in their life to see what they're missing out on because they will want to be like their friends or get a break from internal problems. When they use drugs for the first time, they will probably think they're sitting in paradise and then may use it again because it gives them that breeze of fresh air for moments of self-forgetfulness.

A new national survey finds that almost 27 percent of girls aged 12 to 17 were involved in serious fights or attacks on other girls within the previous year. The girls least likely to get involved in the violent behavior are those from families with higher incomes, those who achieved higher grades, and those who don't use drugs or alcohol.

Only 40.0 percent of adolescents perceived great risk from having five or more drinks of alcohol once or twice a week, and just over one third (34.2 percent) perceived great risk from smoking marijuana once a month. Females were more likely than males to perceive great risk from smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, from having five or more drinks of alcohol once or twice a week, and from smoking marijuana once a month; males were more likely than females to perceive great risk from trying heroin once or twice.

My town, the sleepy Bay Area suburb of Orinda, isn't in the news often. But it made headlines around the state last year after Joe Loudon, a well-loved high school sophomore, died at a party on Memorial Day weekend. The coroner found that he had been drinking -- though not enough to be legally drunk -- but didn't determine a cause of death. A lot of people in town believe that Joe died, at least in part, because other underage drinkers at the party were reluctant to call 911 for fear of being punished.

Most teens are not regular drinkers, but those who do drink on a monthly basis are frequently imbibing in order to get drunk, according to a major finding of the 2009 Teen Survey released today from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University. About one in three U.S. 12- to 17-year-olds taking part in the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIV said they had previously consumed alcohol, and of these about one in four said they had a drink within the previous 30 days.

Of all the answers offered at a recent conference on "How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope," perhaps the one from Joseph A. Califano, Chairman and Founder of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University, best summed up the advice to parents by quoting his former law partner, Edward Bennett Williams. Asked the most important lesson he had learned in a lifetime spending rubbing shoulders with luminaries like Ben Bradlee, Frank Sinatra and Hugh Hefner, Williams simply responded, "Always leave a light on in the window for your kids." In other words: "Be a parent."