Drug Addiction

[squidge]

Anyone who saw Crimewatch Last night could not fail to be moved by the grief of the parents of Emma Caldwell. It was evident in what they said that they loved thier daughter deeply and appear to have been a stable loving family

There has been much written over the last few weeks here on this message board about how parents are to blame for the way their children turn out. In many of the posts there was a lack of empathy and a lack of recognition that situations like that of Emma could happen in any family, even one with two loving parents. My heart went out to the mother ad father of that poor girl. Drug Addiction, prostitution and murder and now thats two daughters they have lost. Emma was introduced to heroin at a point when she was at the lowest she had ever been - hurting and unable to deal with the death of her sister. People like Emma deserve our help, understanding and supoport to deal with their addiction and those of us who are sanctimonious enough to believe that we have "brought our chldren up to know better" would do well to make ourselves aware of this story and be a little less smug about things.

[Alexander Rowe]

Good post squidge.



Wasnt very impressed with Nick Ross trying to crack a joke to the old woman whos husband had been knocked down and killed, he said something like maybe it was prince phillip as he drives the same vehicle. Wondered how he would have felt if someone had said one about Jill Dando.

[ruth]

yep, right there with you. 1/3 of 15 year olds are now using one drug or another recreationally, so that means there are shed loads of parents out there who think they brought their kids up to know better. Thankfully, most of their parents will never know as the kids will grow out of it and get on with their lives without getting addicted to something nasty......

[Drutt]

Thankfully, most of their parents will never know as the kids will grow out of it

Sadly, that could be wishful thinking with regards to many of those kids. There will be a Panorama programme on at 10.15pm tomorrow, looking at the growing evidence of links between cannabis and psychotic illness in young people.

[ruth]

Ahh, but are they becoming psychotic because they are using drugs or using drugs as a means of subconciously self medicating psychosis - heroin is a powerful antipsychotic and lots of dual diagnosis patients remember the psychotic symptoms coming first.....

Then again, i remember sharing student digs with a load of people who could think of nothing better to do with their lives than smoking pot, drinking tea and talking drivel. They are probably still there now....

[Drutt]

Ahh, but are they becoming psychotic because they are using drugs or using drugs as a means of subconciously self medicating psychosis

My understanding of how cannabis acts on the brain makes me suspect the former for most cases. I guess the Panorama programme will be interesting to watch.

[Whitewater]

After watching the Panerama programme there is no doubt about the link between cannabis/skunk and certain types of young people becoming psychotic, and I'm aware of a few cases locally where this has happened to brilliant young minds. Perhaps the programme may make those who are the most susceptable more aware of the dangers and enable them to apply caution when thinking about trying recreational drugs, but alas peer pressure in many cases is too powerful.