Make a point to eat dinner together, or set aside other family time, and use it as a communication tool. Enforce in your children the need for them to make their own decisions, not have peers negatively influence them. Last year, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Cincinnati surveyed 47,000 teens in Hamilton, Warren, Butler, Clermont, Brown, Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties. Fifty percent said it's easy to get pot, said Rhonda Ramsey Molina, the coalition's executive director. It also showed that 44 percent have experience with alcohol, drugs or tobacco by the end of the seventh grade and 25 percent have consumed alcohol by the age of 12.
Parents are extremely important in prevention.
Children do listen to their parents, and they do play a role in their choices. Fort Thomas parents recently received a crash course on teen marijuana use. The school has become known for posting some of the highest test scores in Kentucky and is a football powerhouse. Kids unfortunately test the system. He worries that marijuana use places teens on a precarious path.