Lead by example: If substance abuse is an ongoing issue for you, reach out for help. Don't be the parent who says, "do as I say, not as I do".
Do not underestimate the power of active addiction: If you find yourself ignoring the signs that a loved one is abusing drugs take action and find help, consider (a 12-step program, counseling, etc). Establish consequences, if they choose to not pursue recovery.
Protect your family: Be aware, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana although legal in many areas, are still considered gateway drugs. What starts out as casual use may lead to substance abuse, addiction or even death.
Safeguarding family members, guests and the general public: Ohio law allows for property owners to be held finically and criminally responsible for the actions of intoxicated guests who cause property damage or engage in criminal conduct.
Alcohol, safe storage and considerations: Don't allow your alcoholic beverages to end up in the hands of alcoholics and under age drinkers.
Tobacco recommendations: If tobacco products are missing with no one to account for there disappearance you may have an "at risk" teen becoming addicted to nicotine.
Technology and communication devices: Your child wants unrestricted access for gaming and social media, you desire homework, chores, and participation in family functions etc. Restrict their use of these devices until after homework and chores are completed, along with working on good behavior.
Activities in your area: When looking for activities your child could participate in, start by inquiring at your neighborhood resource and recreation centers or at their designated school. Typically you can find a number of quality youth programs and activities for children throughout the year.
Friends and Family: Positive mentorship can encourage the reversal of our children's tendency for poor decision making.
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C.U.A.A. Guidelines for an addiction free home: If you have witnessed the devastating effects of substance abuse and feel the need to protect your family, please review the following:
Lead by example: All of us at one point in our lives have failed to exercise good judgment. If substance abuse is part of your personal experience, consider sharing with your loved ones what inspired you to overcome substance abuse and all the ways this positive change enriched your life, honesty and transparency usually have a greater impact.
If substance abuse is an ongoing issue, reach out for help. Don't be the parent who says, "do as I say, not as I do".
Create a zero tolerance home: If you find yourself ignoring the signs that a loved one is abusing drugs consider insisting they take action and start one of the following: a local 12-step group program, counseling sessions with a rehab specialist, require them to make an appointment with a psychologist or enroll in a substance abuse rehabilitation program.
Be supportive and monitor their progress. Inform them in advance of your predetermined consequences that will take effect if they fail to follow through.
Do not underestimate the power of active addiction: One's reliance on drugs is usually rooted in there emotional needs. For some people it gives them a feeling of acceptance, being one with their group. For others, drug use helps them cope with feelings of inadequacy. It's not uncommon for adolescent and young adults to be overwhelmed by feelings of extreme self consciousness or the paralyzing effect of their fears. These powerful emotions and many others are some of the underlying reasons that anyone could start and continue to abuse drugs. A better understanding the real cause behind substance abuse, the greater chance you will have of successfully guiding your family member to choose sobriety.
Reasons for drug use can be obvious or hidden, there are always multiple factors for a person's behavior. It's hard for many people to be honest about such strong emotions. It is likely an individual in active addiction may not be aware they have a problem, or refuse to admit it to themselves. Some individuals become hostile to the presumption that they have a drug problem and reject the notion all together. They may even display a dissatisfaction with you for stating the obvious. A good countermeasure to this type of response is to ask them how much money they spent on drugs, or what lengths did they have to go in order to obtain the drugs, pointing out if you add up the total money spent on drugs in the period of a year or two it could easily exceed the value of a vacation, a car, rent for a house or an education.
Be open minded to the fact that the needs that drive a person to substance abuse can run the gamut of all human experience. That being said, consider counseling or a support group for yourself to successfully understand and communicate a message or response to encourage the positive change you desire for your loved one. Keep in mind they have to want sobriety and also choose it in order to successfully break the cycle of substance abuse and move forward to live an addiction free life.
Protect your family: In your home take an inventory of all distilled spirits and lower proof alcoholic beverages. Also include active prescriptions and out dated medicine. If necessary, contact your pharmacist or drug manufacturer for information on methods of proper disposal. If you still choose to use,alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, when these items are not in use store them the same way you would any other poison. Take appropriate measures to keep these substances out of children's reach. High risk individuals in active addiction or in recovery are more vulnerable to abuse substances, especially opiates and stimulants. Although alcohol, tobacco and marijuana may be legal in your area they are still referred to as gateway drugs. Casual use could lead to substance abuse or even death.
Safeguarding family members, guests and the general public: As a host, if you provide alcoholic beverages or marijuana to your guests, be informed of your State's guidelines for safe levels of alcohol consumption. In many areas the law allows for property owners to be held financially and criminally liable for guests who attend a gathering (birthday party, wedding, graduation, special event, etc.), and become intoxicated. For example, if one of your guests shows signs of impaired judgment you can be held liable in the event of property damage, physical harm to an individual or multiple individuals, motor vehicle accidents and other unforeseen damages and situations. Be proactive, place necessary restrictions on the use of your property. When dealing with issues concerning mind altering substances, exercising common sense goes a long way regarding the health, safety and well being of your family, guests and the greater community at large. We have all heard the expression "friends don't let friends drive drunk"!
Alcohol, safe storage and considerations: Keep alcohol out of the hands of alcoholics and underage drinkers. If a family member is underage or suffers from alcoholism and is taking alcoholic beverages from your storage area, food pantry or refrigerator, make it inaccessible. Reconsider your method for long term storage, and just like any other potentially hazardous substance consider locking it in a secured storage space.
Providing alcohol to minors (under 21) is a first-degree misdemeanor in Ohio, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine (Ohio Revised Code § 4301.69). If an intoxicated minor causes serious injury or death, the host could face additional criminal charges, such as involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide.
Tobacco recommendations: Keep tobacco products away from children and teenagers. When a family member is underage and taking tobacco products belonging to an adult with a smoking habit in your home, rethink how tobacco is stored and used. Exercise good judgment and remove the opportunity for them to develop or prolong their habit. Be on the look out, if you believe a merchant or any one else in your community is providing tobacco or other prohibitive products to underage persons report them to the local authorities, their actions are illegal under our current laws. Ohio Revised Code (ORC) § 2927.02 – Selling Tobacco to Underage Persons It is illegal to sell, give, or distribute cigarettes, tobacco products, or alternative nicotine products (vapes, e-cigarettes) to anyone under 21 years old.
Technology and communication devices: These devices are necessary for work, education and communication. They also link individuals to each other and to anyone in the world with a phone or a computer. Unlike in the past, today distance or the translation of a foreign language are traversed and accomplished at the push of a button, these obstacles are no longer limiting factors, and the speed of communicating is virtually instantaneous.
Outside of these obvious benefits there is a subtle line that can be crossed. The question is, how much is too much? What does too much look like? When these devices are overused for gaming and social media more than a few hours a day, one could easily conclude this as a form of addiction. A simple indicator of overuse is when necessities like sleep, chores, employment, personal hygiene and family social obligations are being neglected. In its place, time is being spent on gaming and social media indulgence. This is the point where the benefits of these devices become outweighed by the negative impact of an individual's misuse.
Placing restrictions on your children's use of these devices at this point is probably long overdue. If a child begins to show signs of adopting personal traits like apathy, narcissism and entitlement mentalities that are disrespectful, socially isolating and do not lead to the kind of outcomes you may hope for when raising your child, parents should consider restricting gaming and social media use.
Your child (children) want unrestricted access for gaming and social media. As their parent you desire things to be completed like homework, chores, clean rooms, attention to one's own personnel hygiene and participation in family functions to be a regular part of there daily routine.
A change in their current habits are not going to happen without restricting their time allowance for gaming and social media. Create a social contract between you and your child (children), where a time allowance for gaming and social media is used as a reward for tasks accomplished. Demand that all the daily necessities and obligations be accomplished first and then allow limited and monitored use of computers, smart-phone, laptops and tablets.
Be aware of whom they are communicating with online. In addition to the negative results witnessed from the overindulgence of electronic communication devices. Be aware of online child predators taking advantage of unsuspecting youth. These adult predators create fake profiles on social media platforms pretending to be children their same age. Whatever their intentions are, your children are at risk of mental and physical harm or worse. Unfortunately this shocking and extreme negative byproduct of these amazing technological devices is every parents worst nightmare and is an ever present threat to our children's health, safety and well being. Protecting your child requires common sense, knowledge and diligence on your part to safeguard our most precious legacy, our children.
Activities in your area: When trying to locate supervised and structured activities for your child in your local community the number of quality youth programs and activities for children and young adults vary from place to place. In Cuyahoga county for example we have the Metroparks, Cleveland Zoo, many Libraries and local city run recreation centers. Each one offers information on outings, programs and activities for children, young adults and families. Most of these organizations post information on upcoming events and activities on their websites. They may also distribute information through newsletters, bulletins and posters. An online search or phone call should answer any of your questions on the availability of age appropriate activities and registration requirements. Area schools have programs as well. You may have to inquire at your local school for contact and current program information.
Friends and Family: The concept of mentorship seams like an outdated concept. You don't have to be an expert to share competency, building experiences with a child or young adult. Every attempt to engage a young person in activities is time well spent. A lack of sufficient and quality human interaction for young people in our society impedes their mental development. Make the time to interact with your children. Take the time to be present with them, and, nurture a child's interests through interactions that emotionally enrich and inspire young peoples spirit so they want to be present, to learn, grow and participate.
No one could argue that a child's negative actions and conduct are their own choice. As individuals they are responsible for their own actions. There is a very good chance, that you as a positive role-model can reverse the trend of poor decision making your child may be exhibiting. If your efforts are successful it is a "win, win" for everyone involved.
Open lines of communication: I came to the conclusion as American's inspite of our monumental effort, good will and positive intention it seems as if we are suffering the ultimate loss of our loved ones, to the scourge we call addiction. Most of us are so committed to our personal responsibilities, we never dedicated enough time to monitor how our government policy makers are managing our government. In plain English, "one of the many reasons things are in such a disarray is because we don't hold our elected official's accountable for poor, incomplete and a lack of uniform enforcement of current laws and policies ". It is my wish that Citizens United Against Addiction, can one day be a representative voice for the people of our society.
We can't control the world, but we can begin to change how we see it and how we as individuals choose to interact with it.
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The goal for Citizens United Against Addiction:
To increase awareness through education,
unify like minded people who desire to nurture, cultivate and promote a positive change in their own lives and the lives of those who are negatively impacted by this world wide addiction crises.
Citizens United Against Addiction is a grassroots movement for people to combine their efforts and multiply their strength.
It is upon this principle that we will build our movment.
From this point forward Citizens United Against Addiction will be an advocate for the protection of all children, young adults and families.
CUAA stands unwavering against any and all who wish to exploit, entrap and corrupt, any individual's
health, safety and wellbeing .
Together, let's create an institution to educate, comfort and guide each other.
The action of voluntary cooperation will enhance our ability to focus time, effort and resources where they are needed most,
maximizing the collaborative benefits of citizens working together for a desired outcome!
The men and women of our great nation built the foundation we stand on, by exercising the principle;
all people are important and everyone has something to contribute.
Our differences are not what makes us weak and vulnerable, but our diversity is the mortar that binds us and gives us strength.
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