You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2010.
methadoneman.com wants to stop the spread of HIV by reducing street based heroin use. Click on the image above to view a PDF comic book fact sheet.
Meet The Five Moms, featured on the website; Stop Medicine Abuse. These moms have a message for any parent who might be in denial about their kids playing to close the edge of that slippery slope of drug abuse. Chances are, if your kid is seeking out a high at age 13, 14 or 15; the writing is on the wall and you better get on it quick. Dr. Drew Pinsky talks about one early warning sign; the use of DXM found in off the counter cough medicine. Now they want to thank you. Links by Dave Levy
Sherry McGinnis is a member of the Parent Advisory Board of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The loss of her youngest son prompted her to write three books on drugs and addiction. Online: theaddictionmonster.com This past Father’s Day Sherry wrote a tribute to the dads that have lost a son or a daughter; a loss that is all too often to the disease of addiction that haunts thousands of fathers and mothers across America “…The empty chair at the dinner table is a silent but painful reminder of his loss; the phone that doesn’t ring. Gone is the playful teasing between father and son or the special glow in a dad’s eye as he watches his daughter grow from daddy’s little girl into a young woman…” Read the rest of her tribute at this link: Father’s Day good time to honor men who have lost their children These links are provided by Sherry McGinnis.
Statistically, two years goes by before a parent discovers their child is an addict. Common pain killers in the average medicine cabinet are opiate based, and young prescription drug abusers unable to escape the clutches of addiction eventually turn to street heroin for its affordability and availability. By then it’s horribly impacting on families and communities. Best for folks to educate themselves. Here are some resources: Time to Act • Not My Kid • Clear Choices • Parents: The Anti Drug • Adolescent Services Chances are if something doesn’t feel right, well, it probably isn’t. Opiate based drugs are indiscriminate killers. Not long ago one promising young Chandler, Arizona athlete played around with pain killers too long. Drifting into heroin addiction, he met a tragic fate at age 17. Links by Mary Slivinski
Sheryl Letzgu
s McGinnis is not just another parent who lost a child to drugs
She collected accounts of 39 other parents who experienced similar loss and published, I am Your Disease: The Many Faces of Addiction. Two years later Sheryl published, Slaying the Addiction Monster which illustrates her own all-inclusive look at the world of drugs and addiction and its personal impact. Knowing how insidious the disease of addiction is; often luring our children, she wrote the book, The Addiction Monster and the Square Cat, geared to tweens from age 10 and up. Drug addiction touches many people. It is a bigger problem that most care to admit. People like Sheryl are waking up America.
Dadonfire is on The Partnership for a Drug Free America. The first piece is now featured on their outreach blog: INTERVENE. We may not eliminate drug addiction in America; but we can cut it half, saving billions. Loved ones of addicts can start taking back their lives while putting their best foot forward by taking a stand. The Partnership reaches out to families impacted by the addiction of teens and young adults with prevention, education and treatment programs. The parents resource center is one of PDFA’s education sites that is rich with information like: talking to kids • alcoholism in the family • the hows and whys of kids and drugs. Links courtesy of Mary S.
An Archetypal Understanding of Criminalized Drug Addicts An interesting and socially-important psychological review of the criminal archetype, that views the phenomenon of criminalized drug addiction both from the inside, as well as from the academic perspective. Dr John Smethers takes us on a deeply personal journey, looking at the root causes and effects of a sub-culture populated by society’s social outcasts. Sample from the 2008 bookBarbara Sinor asks America to wake up to the reality of addiction. She lost a son to this disease and is talking and writing about it in her newest book; Tales of Addiction. She talks about you…about us. Dr. Sinor also has written a piece in a Southern California newspaper called California Together. Download the PDF file and check it out. She is asking America to “wake up” What can we do to make an impact. Links by Dr. Barbara Sinor, PhD
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