Talking With Your Child About Marijuana and Other Drugs

According to the 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS), 26.8% of DPS school students had used marijuana in the past 30 days , and 53.6% of school students believed that is would be easy to access marijuana. These numbers can be eye opening for some parents and they certainly display the importance of talking with your child about your expectations for them when it comes to drug use.

As a parent, you are the most important person in your child’s life. The more that you talk to your kids about not using marijuana or other drugs, the more you can influence and encourage them to make healthy choices that will help them to succeed in life. Based on data from HKCS, your opinion is extremely important; in fact, youth reported that they are three times less likely to binge drink if they know that a parent feels it is wrong.

Although it is important to talk to you child about tough subjects, sometime the task can seem a little daunting, and finding the right opportunity to approach the topic can be tough.  One way to make the conversation a little less awkward is to start the conversation at an early age, and keep it an ongoing topic as your child grows. You can also use everyday situations to get the conversation started, for example if you watch a movie with your child that includes marijuana, you can ask you child what they think of the marijuana use.

Hard conversations with your child are easiest if the lines of communication are already open. Use time that you already spend with your child, such as the car, the dinner table or while you are shopping to talk to you kid. For more information on how to talk with your child, check out this parent resource from Children’s Hospital Colorado.