Facing addiction over dinner

Last Thursday, the country held a Night of Conversation: Facing Addiction Over Dinner — staging events in homes where parents could sit down to talk kids about alcohol and drug abuse. Many people discovered the remarkable power of the family to help kids confront and deal with these tough subjects.

But it doesn’t need to stop there. Support is essential for your kids to find the inner strength to resist life-damaging experimentation with addictive substances.

According to a Safeway Foundation report sponsored in part by the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, frequent family dining is associated with lower rates of teen smoking, drinking, illegal drug use and prescription drug abuse. Compared to teens who eat dinner frequently with their families (five or more family dinners per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are:

>> Three and a half times likelier to have abused prescription drugs.

>> Three and a half times likelier to have used an illegal drug other than marijuana or prescription drugs.

>> Three times likelier to have used marijuana.

>> More than two and a half times likelier to have used tobacco.

>> One and a half times likelier to have used alcohol.

Alcohol is the most widely used and abused substance among youngsters. Among young adults, binge drinking in particular is linked to risky behaviors such as unprotected sex and smoking, injuries, motor vehicle accidents, impaired cognitive functioning, poor academic performance, physical violence and suicide attempts.

Opioid misuse among kids ages 15-19 is a problem: The rate of opioid-related overdose death tripled between 1999 and 2015, from 0.8 to 2.4 per 100,000.

And the Monitoring the Future Study asked more than 46,000 teens about their experience: 13 percent of eighth-graders, 30 percent of 10th-graders and 40 percent of 12th-graders said they used a drug at least once in the past year.

Want to start a conversation about drugs and alcohol with your kids? Let them know what you are planning; no “gotcha!” moments. Tell them their voice is an important part of the conversation. You want to hear what they have to say about what goes on around them — they don’t have to name names and can make up hypothetical situations — and what they are concerned about.

Then just listen; don’t judge or scold or interrupt. This conversation is a first step, and you want to keep the door open for future discussions.

Explore your options: The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids offers detailed descriptions of conversations you can have with kids from 2 to 25. (Google the phrase “Prevention tips for every age.”) And, yes, even at age 2 a conversation may be necessary if you have an addict in the family. Children need to sort out bewildering, scary and emotionally hurtful interactions with adults. And at 25, your son or daughter may find it hard to break out of harmful peer groups without help from you.

Download Dr. Oz’s Discussion Guide at s.doctoroz.com/FAOD_NOC.pdf. It’s based on the former Surgeon Gen. Dr. Vivek Murthy’s report, Facing Addiction in America.

Also, explore Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s tools for talking about alcohol and download their app that lets you practice the conversation (samhsa.gov/underage-drinking/mobile-application).

If your child is experiencing problems with drugs or alcohol:

>> Call the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids Toll-Free Helpline at 855-DRUG-FREE.

>> To find a substance-abuse treatment center call SAMHSA’s Treatment Referral Line at 800-662-HELP (4357).

Mehmet Oz, M.D., is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D., is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Email questions to youdocsdaily@sharecare.com.