Children – Drugs and Alcohol
There are concerns that the high volume of alcohol promotion in the UK may serve to normalise drinking, particularly amongst younger viewers. Research has shown that the alcohol industry spends around £800 million annually marketing its products, if young people see and hear repeated positive messages about drinking alcohol, then their expectations of alcohol may well begin to reflect the content of such messages.
Worried about your own drinking?
There are a variety of helpful sites that cater for all levels of inquiry; from monitoring your current levels to advice and programs to attend:
Drugs
Sadly, most children will come into contact with drugs at some point in their life. This could be through friends, family or strangers. The majority of teens will decide not to take them however the minority will, through a variety of reasons and justifications.
Knowledge is power and in this instance, as a parent or carer, your knowledge and awareness of drugs could be the difference between a child trying or turning down drugs. Knowing the effects and risks drugs pose, you can help your child make the right informed decision in confidence.
Legal Highs
New psychoactive substances – often incorrectly called legal highs – contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs (like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy).
Research has shown that since 2004, there have been 76 deaths from ‘legal highs’ in the UK and Wales.
Fortunately, on the 26th May 2016 The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 came into force across the country, which makes it an offence to produce and supply legal highs.