Hear and Now

Parents, I want you to hear this message now.

 The loving to get high syndrome needs our attention. There is something going on in the lives of our kids that we need to look at. If we ignore the signs and symptoms, it will morph into something more difficult to deal with, chemical dependency.

 The hear and now that I’m using is actually a play on the words for here and now, which is a popular way to talk about where and how we should live our lives. The benefit of living in the here and now is that we are not going to be gripped by our past or overwhelmed with the future.

“inbetweeners”

I ran into a friend today who asked me how the “inbetweeners” are doing? I said, “what are you talking about?” She said, “you know, the kids who love to get high but are not yet chemically dependent.”

Inbetweeners! What a great visual.

My Random House Dictionary calls between “an intervening space and time.” This space and time can be between the ages of 10 and 20, or between the end of elementary school and college. But more importantly it is the space and time between getting high for the first time and the discovery of loving to get high. Inbetweeners fall some place between experimentation and dependency.

Why a Loving to Get High Syndrome?

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I can’t imagine a more comprehensive reason for why kids get high or end up addicted. They love the way it makes them feel. It affects their brain, emotions, social life, ability to cope, school, relationship with their parents, everything!

Loving to get high has nothing to do with their moral character or how well you parented them. It is simply a discovery of monumental proportions. It changes their life. It gives them something to believe in, live for, excel at, enjoy, and call their own.