Are We Teaching Kids to Judge People with Addiction?

Key points

Substance use prevention programs that focus on shaming users are generally ineffective.

Individuals with adverse childhood experiences are more likely to use substances as adults.

Teaching youth how to access help is just as if not more important than dissuading use.

It's a memory that's permanently etched in my mind, dating back a few decades now.

I perched next to someone I knew. "You know, the only people who act like that are on drugs." I ignorantly spoke, parroting the messaging I'd been getting for a few years now.

They stopped. "You know, I used to use drugs."

Here was someone I respected sitting next to me, and what they said challenged everything I thought I understood.

I had learned that 'drugs are bad and bad people use drugs.' Simple wording, easy to rep