Would You Tell Your Kids About Your Drug Usage?

Photo by Raquel Baranow

So you did some weed, snorted some pills and popped some cocaine in your youth. And what of it? It was the 70s/80s/90s, it was just like the summer of love during the 60s, only with a tenuous and ever-diminishing relation to the actual summer of love depending which decade you grew up in. But now you're an adult and you have children and the responsibilities that come wrapped up in that bundle of nappies and new human life, one of which is educating them in the way of the world.

But how honest do you get? Do you take the role of a time-hardened, jaded ex-recreational user, or feign complete innocence, telling them you've never so much as visited continental Europe and its coffee shops and open-air speed markets, let alone tried a puff of the devil's herb? London, would you tell your kids about your drug usage?

Adam: Absolutely, yeah. I'll make sure I do so they know about the safety of it and stuff.

Do you think it'll even be an issue by the time you have kids?
Well, it seems like a lot of things are getting legalised and decriminalised now, yeah. But I think the first point of contact would still be to tell my kids about it first so they know all there is to know before they dabble themselves.

Do you think not talking about them makes drugs more dangerous?
Yeah, for sure. There's a safe way of doing drugs, but I think the media hype it out of proportion. Like, there's a lot of political trauma surrounding it all, but it's a growing trend and I think it'll become more socially accepted and much less of a taboo.

Daniel and Natasha.

Daniel: From what age? I mean, my kids are way too young at the moment. But when they're older? Yeah, I will.

Do you think it's more important to tell them before they see them sensationalised in the media?
Daniel: Yeah, I think that's definitely the case. 
Natasha: Yeah, and that's what they do with everything. I mean, they always say that car crashes are really bad. Everything has its risks and the media just elevates them all.

Car crashes are usually pretty bad, to be fair.

Joe and Sharon.

Joe: Well, I did. So yeah, I think you should. They're going to find out at some point in their life, so it might as well come from their parents.

Did you dispel any media drug mysteries to your kids? 
I don't think there are really any mysteries to dispel, to be honest. 
Sharon: Yeah, we're watching Breaking Bad at the moment with our 18-year-old daughter, and she's like, "That looks fun." But then you see all the junkies and it puts you right off. 
Joe: I think my kids are probably more knowledgeable than me about the rave scene and the drug scene anyway. In my day, you'd just smoke a bit of weed – that was it. Now there's a lot more available.

Pierce: How old is the kid?

I think that’s up to you, really.
Well, I mean, you shouldn’t really promote drugs to a five-year-old.

No, you probably shouldn't.
When they're 18, they're not really kids any more, are they? So I think around the 15 or 16 mark. But I don't really know, man. Maybe they should be making their own minds up.

That's very paternal of you.

Lianne: Yeah, because you always look up to your parents, don’t you? My dad’s tried and tested drugs in the past and I didn’t find out until a couple of years ago. It's interesting to hear a bit about their experiences and what they did and what they tried.

Did it change your perception of drugs?
Yeah, definitely. People look upon all users as crackheads and what not. But everyone uses drugs, everywhere – it’s not an uncommon thing at all. But not me, though.

Previously - How Would You React If Someone Stole Your Hair