When Molinari, the keynote speaker at the recent Republican National Convention, was asked that question in 1992, she lied to the TV reporter. It was an initial panic to a question that I believe every person in America dreads. With some reports claiming drug use among today's teens is increasing, parents have reason to feel trapped.
Kids know when their parents are ducking a question.
Denver therapist Neil Rosenthal says parents may turn their prior drug use into an asset if they accept that adolescence is a time of rebellion and experimentation. Then they can guide their children to wiser choices. Kids need to know, for example, that it's never OK to drive under the influence of a drug, or to ride with a driver who is under the influence. And they need to know their choices have penalties. Most baby boomers had their parents moralize with them about drugs and it didn't do any good at all.