Parents affect teen drug use

I hope i am posting in the right forum seeing as i dont really post on BTS but here goes.

Anyways this is a subject that i tend to argure fairly often on message boards of my community newspapers and with friends. I live in a city with a population of roughly 200k but we are far North and it is very remote. Because of this we have experience drug problems and drug related crimes that you only see in major cities.

Anyways I will get to the point. WHile browsing the net for news stories I happened upon this video.

Parents affect teen drug use

Basically, studies are showing that parents who are involved with their teens often dont have to deal with their teens having a problem with drugs or alcohol while parents who arent involved with their teens have the worst problems with it.

I can relate very well to this. Growing up my parents were separated and i lived with my father. From the time i was 16 or so, my father knew i was experimenting with pot and alcohol. Instead of getting mad or forbidding me to engage in those activities, he educated me on their use and kindly asked me not to make it an obvious habit in and around his house and yard, not to be "heatscore" as well. While i cant say that i didnt try harder drugs, i never developed any habits.

My father and I always shared many activities together and we are still close to this day. I was never officially allowed to engage in doing drugs and alcohol but i never had to worry about having to call him for a ride home when i was wrecked from a party, we could always share a laugh or two from my stories of me and my friends on drug induced shenannigans, i didnt have to hold back or tell half truths it was nice. I could be myself at home.

All my friends who had to hide it from their parents could never seem to connect with them. The parents would always get mad and punish them for their actions, as a result they would usually run away from home, sneak out, lash out at their parents, and at the end of the day ended up at a party drunk or high with noone to call for a ride home. They would take risks and take rides from drunk friends, they would perform illegal actions to obtain drug money because their parents wouldnt give them money in fear they would spend it on drugs, they would go overboard with their habits because they werent educated on the long term effects of doing so. In short their parents failure to connect with them resulted in fueling their problem.

When I seen this video I thought it made alot of sense. I have always thought this was the case and like i said i argue this point quite frequently to people i know or in my local paper. Most people dont agree. I think its sad when parents dont attempt to be involved in their kids lives. On another note i think alot of parents are wrong also when they drop the role of parent and become their kids buddies. There has to be a happy medium, be the parent but be a friend too. Your kids have to trust you and who do kids trust more than their friends.

I would like to know what you all think about this. I have been raising my children as both a parent and a friend and i find that i connect to them better than most people i know do with their kids. What are your thoughts?

Although there are countless other factors involved in an individual's susceptability to drug addiction, the attitudes of parents definitely have a profound effect on their children's approach to drugs.

Some rebellious or angry teenagers will try to hurt their parents by hurting themselves, a tactic which can lead to self destructive drug and alcohol abuse, rather than mere experimentation. It is my opinion that the chilren of parents who are open, honest and relatively tolerant regarding drugs tend to experiment out of curiosity - if they choose to use drugs - rather than bingeing recklessly and frequently.