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Light Rain Community Parent Center to host talk on prescription-drug epidemic
Parents are the anti-drug, center director says
To the Editor:
Concerned parents are reserving their seats for “Dangers in Your Medicine Cabinet: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children,” a parent-targeted substance-abuse awareness program that will be hosted by the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center, in partnership with the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, the Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick elementary school districts, Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg and the Bellmore-Merrick Coalition Against Substance Abuse. The talk will be held at the Brookside School, 1260 Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11.
The program addressing drug abuse – kids using prescription and over-the-counter drugs on purpose to get high –– will be presented by Detective Pam Stark of the Nassau County Police Department and Steve Chassman, clinical director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Prescription and over-the-counter medications have become the new party drugs for many tweens and teens. Every day, 2,500 kids, ages 12 to 17, abuse prescription medications for the first time across the country, according to the New York State Department of Health. At the seminar, you will hear how to keep your kids safe in our changing world by learning:
• The facts.
• The risks.
• Prevention strategies.
• How and where to get help.
By all accounts, parents are the most important influence in a teen’s decisions about drug use. Therefore, it is critical that parents educate themselves about the real dangers of prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse by our youth. Mothers and fathers should discuss the risks associated with this dangerous trend with their kids. The dangers facing our teenagers today are far worse than they were just a few years ago. Alcohol and other drug use have destroyed too many futures and taken too many lives. Now is the time for us to stand together to educate ourselves and our children about the real dangers they face. The more we are educated, the better we can protect our youth.
To register for the “Dangers in Your Medicine Cabinet” seminar, call me at the Community Parent Center at (516) 771-9346. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
