Why not let (older) kids watch drug documentaries?

[Cecropia]

I like to watch drug/addiction documentaries and tv series like Intervention, and have been tempted to share some episodes with my 11 yo, but the "viewer discretion advised"/"mature audiences only" disclaimers make me wonder whether my instincts are off.  For the most part, there isn't any language, violence, or explicit sexual content, but there is often real-time drug use shown (including the processes of cooking, injecting needles, huffing, heavy drinking etc).  Is this harmful for children to view, because they might be tempted to emulate the drug use?  The whole point of these programs is to show the circumstances in which people find themselves driven to use drugs, and the consequences of addiction for themselves and their families.  I feel like there are only a few instances where drugs are truly glorified by the users... for the most part, they openly admit it's a problem and not a life that they want to be living.  Of course when they are high, they will often describe the way they feel, which I suppose might intrigue a young watcher?  Sometimes the addict tragically overdoses/dies, but again nothing is explicitly shown.  I'm not sure why this is something to shield my older son from?  My 8 yo, sure, it is too intense for him (he is a more sensitive child anyway).

 

Am I missing something?

[kewb]

It would really depend on your 11 year old. Mine would not have benefited at 11 but yours may be further along the maturity ladder then mine were at that age.

[jeninok]

We absolutely watch these with our teen.

But also approach drug and alcohol discussions from a harm reduction point of view vs. Strict abstinence from all substances.

 

One of my soapbox rants is people who claim ADHD meds are the same as meth.

Ugh, no!

[whitestavern]

Could you recommend some of the titles you've seen?

[Cecropia]

We absolutely watch these with our teen.

But also approach drug and alcohol discussions from a harm reduction point of view vs. Strict abstinence from all substances.

 

Can you expand on what you mean by this?

 

At my son's age, I would have trouble with anything other than abstinence.  I don't think that will change in the next few years...

[jeninok]

Part of the reason DARE and other similar campaigns failed is that they treated all drugs equally, it also failed to address the underlying causes of addiction.

 

So at our house conversations about Pot center strongly on the need to protect a developing brain, to avoid a known anxiety trigger and not get in trouble and lose access to college funding.

But also that pot is less dangerous than alcohol, especially considering family history and once you are grown it will probably be legal and moderate responsible use is not a big deal. No worse than a glass of wine at dinner.

 

 

 

For something like mushrooms or LSD we talk about there being legitimate therapeutic uses, but not only do they carry HUGE legal penalties you never really know what you are getting and its hugely dangerous to take unknown chemicals.

 

We talk about and model safe use of pain medicines, and the dangers of dependency many face after an injury or surgery.

 

Some drugs are flat out bad! Don't do them, and if you do, please come to us for immediate non judgemental help.

Meth, Heroin, Coke/Crack.

[poppy]

They have the exact same exclaimers on Hoarders-type shows, don't they? Also Scared Straight.  Same thing. I think those types shows are emotionally very difficult. It's not the subject matter, it is seeing raw desperation and pain and fury and wretchedness.

 

Common Sense media gives it a 16+. I'd say teens and up with parent discretion, but, not 11 for most kids.

[Cecropia]

Could you recommend some of the titles you've seen?

 

There is a recent PBS Frontline on the current heroin epidemic that is free to stream, and pretty tame (IMO) for older kids. Still shows drug use with needles:

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365674182/

There's another older Frontline that you can watch for free, on meth.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/

 

I have seen most of the older Intervention episodes.  Some can be a little graphic with accounts of abuse, prostitution, some of the addicts glorify drugs, some who don't want help lash out with violence/language.  But there are more appropriate episodes in there too.  I haven't seen any of the new episodes.

http://www.aetv.com/shows/intervention

 

There are some other excellent ones, but I saw them a long time ago and I'm not certain that kids (my son, at least) could watch them. The documentary Children Underground comes to mind.  Cocaine: History Between the Lines was a History Channel special that showed quite a few drug cartel casualties and people using cocaine, but I don't remember much else that was objectionable.  I'd definitely screen everything before showing it to him.

[Janeway]

Depends on how they present things. I would not show one to my child that presented it at cool, "what most teens do" or normalizes it or anything else or sensationalizes it. I can talk to my kids about drugs and would prefer what I say over how some show shows it.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I wouldn't have a problem with it with my own kids, but sure it probably depends on the kids.  Those shows can get pretty intense.

 

 

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey

[Garga]

They have the exact same exclaimers on Hoarders-type shows, don't they? Also Scared Straight. Same thing. I think those types shows are emotionally very difficult. It's not the subject matter, it is seeing raw desperation and pain and fury and wretchedness.

 

Common Sense media gives it a 16+. I'd say teens and up with parent discretion, but, not 11 for most kids.

This.

 

I was watching Hoarders and my 11 year old sat down with me. I didn't think much of it, but after a few minutes I could see that he was disturbed by it. It was the emotional issues that were getting to him.

 

We also watched an episode of a show (don't know the name) where Gordon Ramsey helps hotels become better. In the one we watched, the bed and breakfast owner was oblivious to all the problems and her staff started crying in frustration and Gordon was totally exasperated, and my ds11 was very uneasy during that one, too.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Garga

[Stacia]

As a side note to this discussion, I read an interesting non-fiction book that came out earlier this year.

 

Don't let the title deceive you: Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel by Tom Wainwright.

 

It is an economist's analysis of the illegal drug-trade & compares many of their operating methods to those of other large, international, multi-billion dollar businesses. It's another look at the illegal drug business & shows how & why they succeed in spite of so many countries fighting 'drug wars'. I found it fascinating & easy to read. My 15yo ds read it after I did & also thought it was a very well-done book. I'd definitely recommend it.

 

Might be an interesting piece to add to the discussion if you're already covering these topics with your teens.

 

Ymmv.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think something like that would be more powerful in terms of educating against drugs than reading about it generically in a book.  In school that's what we did.  This drug does blah blah...the street names can be blah blah...it can kill you.  That drug does blah blah...the street names can be blah blah....it can kill you.   Whatever.  When you are a kid you think you are invincible.  You watch some young person face down in a gutter after drugs and prostituting themselves to get more...and them looking like crap...that's going to leave a stronger impression.

 

 

[heartlikealion]

I wouldn't want to watch that part of the show and I am an adult. I would err on the side of caution here. And I realize this is kind of funny to say since some drug use type stuff doesn't bother me as much as others. For example, I watched the entire series of Breaking Bad, but I stopped short on Mr. Robot. I may or may not eventually finish Mr. Robot, but that show got weird fast. Injecting needles is what really stood out to me on your post. Ick.