The oldest of three children launched the family into turmoil with his first joint at a Boy Scout Jamboree. Another family with a champion wrestler son also thrown into turmoil when the son was arrested for driving drunk through neighborhood yards. Another family who seemed to being doing everything right lost their middle school daughter, who died from inhaling freon. The minister's younger child who is still in early recovery from alcoholism. The rabbi's middle son, who was not the son they thought would ever be the problem, caught at school with drugs.
Some families suffer through a death of a child.
Parents think drug users fit a 70's Woodstock stereotype, which their children, of course, do not fit. For instance, kids are drinking at younger ages, more often, and they are binge drinking. Parents who have post high school education, particularly college graduates, believe they know all about drugs. Or that persons who have not reached physical maturity are more vulnerable to addiction to alcohol, which is readily available and in many cases cheaper than soft drinks. Most parents do not have the knowledge to carry on a credible, intelligent conversation about harmful effects, addiction, etc.