As a father of two teens, I know it’s impossible to shield our kids from messages that promote underage drinking. That said, it’s always nice to be given a heads-up so we know just who and what in pop culture may be negatively influencing our kids – and right now in particular, I think you’ll be surprised to find out some of the sources sending pro-drinking messages to our teenagers. Here’s a quick round-up of where our kids have been seeing and hearing “cool” alcohol-related messages lately:

Tweens and younger teens: The latest Harry Potter movie. If you think I’m kidding, check out this article from the New York Times, which cites a number of scenes in which our favorite young wizards, only about 16, drink “butterbeer” and appear to get drunk.

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• 	Posted by: Joe Keenan | 6 Comment(s)
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Did anyone else notice there were quite a few more drug and alcohol references at Sunday night’s Golden Globes than in years past? Here are a few I picked up on:

* Former party boy Colin Farrell while presenting an award, sniffed a few times and said, “I have a cold. It’s not the other thing. It used to be.”

* Ricky Gervais from “The Office” drank a beer on stage while presenting “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

* Presenter Sandra Bullock, when listing James Franco for his performance in “Pineapple Express” as a nominee for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy, mentioned how fun it must have been to rehearse for this stoner film.

* While presenting, “Pineapple Express” star Seth Rogen continued with the drug references by commenting, “I wish I got to do this a long time ago, in a different era in Hollywood. Maybe in the ’80s. That way instead of being drunk with Mickey Rourke tonight I’d be doing cocaine with Mickey Rourke tonight.”

* In the acceptance speech for best picture for “Slumdog Millionaire,” Producer Christian Colson mentioned he’d drunk three martinis.

* And it doesn’t stop there. From stumbling over lines, slurred speech and wobbly walking, many of the night’s presenters looked like they had knocked back a few too many.

* Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor in a Film for his role as The Joker in “The Dark Knight” — the year’s biggest success at the box office. And while it wasn’t said outright, it is important to remember that Heath Ledger died just about a year ago from overdosing on a mix of prescription drugs.

As parents, how do you feel about the way these celebrities handled themselves at this year’s award ceremony?

• 	Posted by: Joe Keenan | 26 Comment(s)
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With the wild success of the new box-office smash film Dark Knight, people have been asking me again about the untimely death of Heath Ledger.  While I’d rather talk about his greatness as an Oscar-nominated (and potential Oscar-winning) actor, I know as the “drug prevention guy” these are the questions I’ll receive.  This amazingly talented and accomplished man was taken from us in a tragedy that has unfortunately occurred too many times and in too many families. 

Here’s what we know.  In February of this year, the New York City Chief Medical Examiner issued a report that says, “Mr. Heath Ledger died as a result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.  We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications.” 

That day, I wanted to know more about these individual medications and especially their effects when abused. What I learned about those effects and the combination of effects, will speak volumes to you too:

• Oxycodone…  Intended Use:  long-acting narcotic pain reliever use to treat moderate to severe chronic pain.  Effects if Abused:  Slowed breathing and heartbeat, dizziness and fainting, tremors, muscle weakness, drowsiness or loss of consciousness.
• Hydrocodone…  Intended Use:  narcotic pain reliever used to treat moderate pain, also acts as a cough suppressant.  Effects if Abused:  vomiting, slow breathing, slow heartbeat, unusual sweating, chills, loss of consciousness.
• Diazepam… Intended Use:  treat anxiety and seizures, relieve muscle spasms and as a sedative during certain medical procedures.  Effects if Abused:  severe drowsiness, slow reflexes, slow and shallow breathing, fainting.
• Temazepam… Intended Use:short-term treatment of insomnia.  Effects if Abused:  slow breathing, slurred speech, a deep sleep from which one cannot readily be awakened.
• Alprazolam… Intended Use:  treat anxiety and panic attacks.  Effects if Abused:  severe drowsiness, loss of consciousness.
• Doxylamine… Intended use:  over-the-counter antihistamine used to treat insomnia and relieve cough and cold symptoms.  Effects if Abused:  extreme drowsiness, loss of coordination, seizures, hallucinations. 

Health Ledger’s death was indeed an enormous tragedy.  This unfortunate combination of medications in anyone’s system could result in the same outcome.  We all have medications in our lives and in our homes.  That’s one of the reasons we at the Partnership have been advocating Education, Communication and Safeguarding.

Society needs to understand that these products, when abused, can lead to extraordinary damage.  We must communicate to our teens that this is not a safe way to get high or manage life’s pressures.  And, there are some medicines in our homes that simply don’t belong in the family medicine cabinet, rather under lock and key.

Have you taken inventory of the medicines in your home?  What are your thoughts on all of this?

• 	Posted by: Steve Pasierb | 7 Comment(s)
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I never cry while watching movies. But leave it to me to somehow become a choking, snotting, weeping mess in the middle of the theater during the last twenty minutes of Juno, which is, of all things, a comedy.

For those of you who don’t know, Juno depicts the nine months immediately following the 16-year-old title character’s first sexual experience, from the plus sign developing on a home pregnancy test to the moment Juno’s new baby meets his adoptive mother. While the entire film is fantastic, the particular scene that set me off was one in which Juno’s father enters his daughter’s hospital room a few hours after she has given birth. Sitting on a sobbing Juno’s bed, he tenderly tells her, “Someday you’ll be back here, honey. On your terms.” Rarely in movies—or in life—are complex emotions expressed so beautifully in so few words.

What I love about this line and Juno in its entirety is that it wholeheartedly sympathizes with the misguided, love- and attention-seeking teenager, while also fully acknowledging that when it comes to sex, teens often bite off much more than they can chew. Juno is so refreshing because it’s one of the first movies in ages to portray unplanned teen pregnancy not as an apocalyptic occurrence, but simply as another bullet point on the astronomically long list of mistakes that young people make as they reach adulthood. At the same time, the tears shed and problems suffered by all characters throughout the film make it clear that teenage pregnancy does not come without emotional turmoil, from the hurt an expecting mother feels after being called a degrading name to the inexplicable sadness and loneliness a woman experiences after giving up her child. That is why I’m baffled (not to mention disgusted) as to how Juno and other recent releases such as Waitress and Knocked Up can now be criticized for “glamorizing” unplanned pregnancy and for spurring the Gloucester, MA pregnancy phenomenon.      

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• 	Posted by: Jessica Hoffman | 3 Comment(s)
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We hear it all of the time: “All teens will try drugs” or “all teens will have sex.”  Well I suppose if that’s the illusion we want to create or the story we want to project out to the world at large to sum up what our kids are doing with their time; perhaps it could be true.  I however disagree. 

I remember being told as a young parent to expect your kids to behave and they will; expect your kids to respect you and they will.  So far this technique has worked.  Now if I choose to allow every sassy remark my 11 year old makes to be considered disrespect, I can certainly claim I have been disrespected, but I choose to pick my battles.  Most of all, I choose not to take his mood personally.

As parents, we all too often allow everything our children do to become a personal attack.  I hate to be the bearer of good news, but when our buttons are being pushed by our children, it is often something we have been told or raised to believe is true.  Children, especially tweens and teens, are expected to live by a code of ethics that most parents don’t abide by themselves.  Ninety percent of how a child acts or behaves is based on modeling an adult in his or her life.  How many times have you taken your frustration out on your child?  How many times have you made a face about something your child says simply because it wasn’t something you wanted to hear or agreed with? 

Teens have been watching how their parents act from the beginning of time.  If they witness inappropriate behavior or observe their parents drinking or smoking or hear them say mean things to each other; what do you expect they will do?  A model teen can only model what they know and they don’t know what they don’t know. 

As a society we need to be vigilant about what our kids are exposed to through the media, the internet, their peers as well as music, video games, movies, etc.  It’s time for parents and caregivers to assume responsibility for the important role we play in our children’s lives.

Walk your talk or don’t preach your speech.  Children take their cues from you!

• 	Posted by: Tara Paterson | 2 Comment(s)
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So, I found this story on the newswires: 

Sex Ed Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Comprehensive sex education may help reduce teen pregnancies without increasing levels of sexual intercourse or sexually transmitted diseases.

So find U.S. researchers who reviewed data from a 2002 national survey of more than 1,700 heterosexual teens, ages 15 to 19. 

The findings, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, support comprehensive sex education, concluded Pamela Kohler, the study’s lead author.  “There was no evidence to suggest that abstinence-only education decreased the likelihood of ever having sex or getting pregnant,” she said in a prepared statement.

This study offers “further compelling evidence” about the value of comprehensive sex education and the “ineffectiveness” of the abstinence-only approach, said Don Operario, a sex education expert and professor at Oxford University in England.

And here’s my take:

My daughter, Freckles, is in fifth grade, although she’s only 10, and she recently brought home a notice from school that they’re going to be learning about the changes the body undergoes during puberty - in other words, sex ed.  They’ll be separating the boys and the girls and showing them each different movies, which we as parents are invited to preview.  We are also allowed to opt our kids out of this program entirely.

I plan to preview the movie but mostly to prepare my daughter in case I need to.  I absolutely do not intend to opt her out of sex ed. 

In fact, I’ve been talking to my kids about sex fairly openly and pretty honestly for a long time - in terms and using concepts that are age appropriate.  Mostly this results in a lot of giggling on their part and a lot of blushing on my part.  But, I think it’s important.  Especially since Freckles has been bringing home ideas and terms that she’s picked up from friends who clearly have not been talking to their parents - or to anybody who knows anything.

So, like it or not, they’re hearing about sex whether from friends, videos, commercials, TV shows, the internet or pop music.  Best to get correct information in my opinion.  I honestly don’t know if it will help my kids avoid becoming a teen pregnancy stat, but for sure it can’t hurt.

What do you think?

• 	Posted by: Sarit Catz | 4 Comment(s)
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Two young actors died recently, and as of the writing of this post, the circumstances of their deaths are less than definitive.  That, however, has not stopped rampant media and public speculation - speculation that centers around drug abuse.  The assumptions came quickly.  Brad Renfro had numerous run ins with the law and a history of drug problems.  Heath Ledger’s body was found near an opened pill bottle.  There were reports of accidental overdose or possible suicide.  In our 24-hour news cycle, the reports were fast and furious.  It’s hard to blame the media, because the public appetite seems to be ravenous.  Apparently, we want to know all of the dirt and the details.  Add to this cycle the never ending coverage of the Britney saga with its overwhelming narrative of substance abuse and terrifying video of Amy Winehouse openly abusing drugs and we have a moment of monumental public drug overdose.

What’s a parent to do?

I’m not sure, but I think the most important first step might be with our emotional reaction.  I don’t feel like turning it into an instant lesson on the dangers of abuse.  I don’t feel like accusing the media of sensationalism.  And, I don’t feel like vicariously digging through the difficulties of lives that seem like they should be fantastic. 

I just feel sad.

I feel sad for Heath Ledger’s family, especially the daughter who will never get to know him.  I feel sad for the disappointment that seemed to mark the last years of Brad Renfro’s short life.  I feel sad for the family members caught in the wake of Britney and Amy’s struggles and for the fact that those deeply personal struggles are so public.  I feel sad that the Associated Press has already begun working on a boilerplate version of Britney’s obituary, just in case she dies soon.

Maybe that’s where we should begin.  After all, the lure of drugs is the supposed high they create.  But there is one result that seems to be a constant of all drug abuse, no matter what type of initial chemical effect it causes.  The overwhelming result always seems to be sadness. 

• 	Posted by: James Ponti | 1 Comment(s)
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