We cannot do enough to steer young people away from substance abuse. Of course, parents should be alert against drugs. And school personnel should be vigilant in recognizing and reporting drug-related behavior. But for teen-agers in the United States, drug use is learned behavior. The level of pill popping and alcohol abuse in this country is frightening at every age.
Young people watch and copy.
This is not to disparage the miracles of pain relief or life-enhancing pharmaceutical drugs. But we have not managed to help young people differentiate between necessary, beneficial drugs and those that erode or ruin lives. What's the difference, teens say. More shocking, a significant number of teens actually get introduced to drugs by their parents and they use them together in a sick kind of family bond. This is a major challenge in Delaware and the United States.