There has always been a debate about whether we should expose children who are clueless about drugs and substance abuse to information about these sensitive topics. There are powerful arguments for both sides of this issue but in a school setting, where children are not segregated according to their levels of innocence, it may be necessary to expose the more innocent students to this information in order to inform and protect those who are engaging in risky behaviors. Dena Gorkin, CPP, believes it is better to inform innocent children than to leave the exposed kids unprotected. If adults have an honest relationship with students, most of them will be able to have a frank conversation about this. Some schools have students sign a piece of paper that says the student agreed there will not be any substances on the trip, and if there are, the student will be sent home in the middle of the trip.
There is not a single perfect solution to this issue. Each school and each parent must determine how conversations and other situations related to drugs and other substances are handled. When making these decisions, it is important to remember that children will inevitably be exposed to harmful substances. The more knowledge and information they have, the more likely they are to make healthy, wise decisions.
(Interview with Dena Gorkin for Prevention101 series. Prevention101 series addresses issues of addiction, prevention, bullying and education. Send your questions and comments to ask@operationsurvival.org and we will try and respond on a future episode )
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