DrugFreeAzKids News

Workshop Wednesday - The Teen Brain

“What were you thinking?”

Has your teen ever done anything to make you ask that question? Chances are – yes, and you probably asked other questions like “Who are you and what have you done with my nice, normal kid?”

Recent scientific research shows us that the brain is not fully developed until around age 25. The last part of the brain to develop is the area responsible for discernment, risk evaluation, and decision making. In simpler terms: common sense and good judgment.

One Sister's Love - A Christmas Story from Hannah to Zach

Imagine this: the week before Christmas, and the whole house was anticipating another hectic couple of days with all five of us together again. My brother, Josh came down from NAU earlier in that month to spend the holidays with us. Zach, would come down on the 23^rd of December,   but ended up deciding to come down the next day. We all decided to go to Avatar the night of the 23^rd my mom, dad, and Josh. Sometime towards the end of the movie my dad got a call and left the theater. This is what changed everything.

Workshop Wednesday - 5 "To-Do's" for this Holiday Season!

It's That time of the year again!  We are right in the middle of the Holiday Season! We hope you are enjoying time with your loved ones and are staying SAFE this season. 

It’s easy to get distracted and a bit overwhelmed with all of the extra activities, parties, shopping, traveling, and visiting with friends and family. Here are a few reminders to help keep you and your kids safe through the holidays: 

Workshop Wednesday - Skittles and Spice and things not so nice ...

Think you are tuned-in to your child’s world? Take our little quiz and see! 

1. OC, Ice, Fire, Rush, Robo, Skittles and Spice – What do these names all have in common? They are all street names for drugs.

2. If you overhead a conversation between two kids, or saw a text message about “scoring some skittles” would you think they were talking about candy? Or would you know they were talking about a popular drug?

Nice Way to Start a Monday

Monday mornings are usually pretty routine. You have the regular staff meetings, catch up on e-mails and begin to plan out the week. To my surprise, there was a very thoughtful comment sent to me by one of our 3moms volunteers. Our volunteers regularly speak at schools and to parents in the hopes of preventing drug and alcohol use. The comment was from a young lady who had recently heard one of our volunteer moms talk about the death of her 17 year old from a prescription drug overdose. The young girl said, "I was deeply touched by the sadness of the story you told about your daughter.

Time to Get Help! New Resources for Parents of Addicted Children

Finally, there is a great new resource to help parents navigate what can be the difficult process of finding professional help for a child struggling with an addiction. When parents find out their children are using drugs, confusion, anger and embarrassment are just a few of the many emotions running through their bodies. Now there is a partner for parents. Our national organization ThePartnershipatDrugFree.org just launched a new place on their web site today called Time to Get Help.

Workshop Wednesdays - "It's just a little pot, right?"

This is a question we hear all too often.  Some parents like to believe that marijuana is harmless.

Unfortunately research and scientific studies indicate that marijuana has many negative side effect – including being a “gateway” for other drugs and alcohol abuse.

What do other parents think about this controversial substance?  What do the experts say? From learning issues to loss of motivation and interest, join other parents at the Parent Workshop for a discussion on how “a little pot” can affect your child.

Billboard Contest Winner Announced

Congratulations to 8th grader Chloe Sipes from Buckeye, AZ. Chloe created the winning billboard in the Way out West Coalition's Prevent, Don't Provide contest. The billboard will be displayed in historic downtown Buckeye beginning December the 6th. Great job Chloe! Click here to see her artwork.

Workshop Wednesday - Relapse

"Oh no! Not again!"

This Saturday’s session will mark the end of our first series of 12 workshops. This week, the group will discuss Relapse, how to spot it and what to do about it.

According to Merriam -Webster, Relapse is the act or an instance of backsliding, worsening, or subsiding; a recurrence of symptoms of a disease after a period of improvement.

Love in a Lunchbox

Packing a lunch - While that doesn’t always seem like a rewarding job, I take great pride in it. My first grader loves to take his lunch to school. One reason is that they don’t serve pizza everyday and the other reason is that he gets something that he really likes from home. I’ve always considered his packed lunch box to be my own little way of saying hello to him in the middle of the day. He knows that his lunch is packed with good food for him and that from time to time, mom sneaks in an Oreo.