DOING DRUGS WITH
PAUL DILLON

Adolescents can be masters at getting what they want when it comes to their parents. This can be achieved in many ways, with some of the best including  'siloing' or isolating one or more of their parents (from each other and from other adults) and then setting them up against each other, throwing as many guilt trips on them as possible and hoping at least one of them sticks and, of course, one of their favourites, comparing you to other parents who apparently let their teens do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it ... As I've written many times before, when it comes to making rules for your child around alcohol and parties only you can make those decisions. No so-called 'expert' can (or should) be making those choices for you and more fool you if you start listening to your best friend or a relative about what you should or shouldn't be doing in this area. My best advice is to get the best quality and up-to-date information on the topic and then ...

I haven't posted a blog entry for quite a while. With all the different COVID-19 restrictions in place across the country it became extremely difficult to put together an article that applied to all. Now that things have settled down a little, hopefully I'll be able to get a few pieces out over the next couple of weeks that may assist parents across the upcoming holiday period. In the meantime I thought I would share an email I received from a young man and my response to him regarding a disagreement he was having with his parents ... "Hi Paul, I am 16 year old male and have been having a disagreement with my parents. They have read your book and they have also heard you speak a number of times. I have done copious amounts of research that suggest drugs such as cannabis and psilocybin are relatively safe drugs to use in moderation. I completely agree that regular use is unsafe for a developing brain, but my usage of cannabis had only been occurring about once every 10 week...