Dangerous Narcotics A Click Away

(CBS) Francine Haight's 17-year-old son Ryan was on top of the world, earning straight A's and applying to colleges.

"Always at the top of his class," she says.

Then, as CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta reports, Ryan's bright future went dark.

"It's really sad because he had such a future ahead of him," says Haight. "He had so much potential."

Ryan overdosed on prescription painkillers.

"I thought, 'How did this happen,'" says his mother.

It was easy. Ryan ordered the drugs right from home at an online pharmacy.

"When you find your child with no life any longer, there's nothing worse," says Haight. "It's just really hard."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in611469.shtml

I think what happened to this woman's son is tragic. It's horrible. It shouldn't have happened. I cannot imagine the loss of a child.

But when I read this line regarding Google not taking down the ads...

"If they continue, then they have to be held responsible," says Haight.

... Ms. Haight lost me.

I know I'm in a very reactive mood today, so please bear with me.

But where are the parent's responsibilities? Why are we a nation of people who point the finger at others as the cause?

Now, I'm not trying to be cold hearted or point directly at Ms. Haight. But the more we hear of instances like this, the more I see the finger of blame pointing somewhere else.

I can only think back on my own experiences. I was typically a good child. All three of us were. But there was a time I did some crazy things including drugs. It, quickly, got out of hand. While I thought I was doing a great job of covering it up, it didn't take long for my parents to see what was going on. They immediately got involved. They intervened. They worked, they have lives, they have there own issues in life. But it didn't take away from watching out for us. Making sure they had even the tiniest of clues about what was going on - even if it meant bending the ‘rules of privacy' or bending one of my brothers (usually John) to know if something bad was going on. And for the period of time that I was doing this, I knew better. I had the constant thought that I shouldn’t be doing this but had no idea how to stop.

I'm not saying my folks were Ozzie and Harriett but they were there more than enough to see what was going on. And good or bad, they acted they found something out.

Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, but when things like this happen... I want to know where are the parents? Where did this child get the credit card? And, so many other questions I have. I know parents cannot be present in their child’s life 24/7 but there is a point where you meet somewhere in the middle.

Sorry… just had to vent.

i agree. parent: A guardian; a protector.

parents mostly seem to give birth, go back to what they were doing, and hold everyone responsible for anything their child sees or does. it's music's fault, the tv's fault, the OTHER kid's fault, school's fault, the internet's fault.

what, then, ARE a parent's responsibilities? food and shelter? is that all? not in my world! i knew an older man and his best friend's son killed himself on his 16th birthday. the man i knew said "how could he do that to his father?" it ain't about you, adults. it's about teaching your kids REALISTIC coping skills, being sure they have realistic information about dangerous things. saying "don't do drugs, drugs are bad, mkay" isn't realistic - it's ritualistic.

I know its a stupid thing to say but, just recently ive seen more and more stories where the parents of children getting into trouble, dying, hurt, being kidnapped etc etc have happened and well, every time the 'parents' are the ones pointing the finger.

It really is time that parents should have to pass a test to see if they are allowed children.

We need a license to own a pet... why not one to have a child, in some states in fact, their animal protection laws are BETTER than their child protection laws.

Personally i say stop letting the parents have an 'escape' and the hold the assholes responsible for their childrens actions just like this..

http://www.reading-guide.co.uk/cgi-bin/bnews.cgi?2565

Quote:

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READING mother Sandra Hayward was today sent to jail for 20 days for failing to ensure that her 15-year-old son attended school regularly - only the second person in the south of England to be sentenced in such a way.

Wokingham District Council's Education Authority claimed that Mrs Hayward's son had a truancy rate of 85 percent from Ryeish Green School at Spencer's Wood.

Reading Magistrates' Court was told that Mrs Hayward had been repeatedly warned after her son attended only 19 of 109 half-days from the latter stages of the 2002-03 year and September 30 of the current school year.

She was, it was claimed, given a written order warning her of the consequences if the boy's attendance record did not improve - and when it did not she was taken to court.

After sentence she left no doubt that her son was beyond her control, turning to him and saying angrily: "I hope you're happy - you've got what you wanted."

The boy has now gone to stay with relatives in Swindon while his mother serves her sentence.

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Gotta love how Reading treats the parents and actually does hold them responsible :)

Regards,

Lee

Quote:

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Originally posted by Gary-Alan
But where are the parent's responsibilities? Why are we a nation of people who point the finger at others as the cause? [/B]

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Amen. And don't apologize. Why is it always everyone else's responsibility to protect "their" children. Why aren't they monitoring their childrens Internet activities? Why aren't they installing filters, blockers, spyware, and the like to monitor and control what their children are viewing online.

And finally, why isn't she monitoring her kids credit card statement to see what he's buying online?

America's going to hell in a handbasket and it's always someone else's fault.

Dzinerbear

Agree completely, without being a Yank Basher, America seems to have gone completely nuts when it come's to blaming other people. Self-responsibility is the way of the future. Our judges in AUS (yay for them) have started throwing cases out of court for being frivolous and told people to take more responsibility for themselves.

There's still a way to go but at least we're on the right track.

Allan