This is Amanda. This is Amanda’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education diploma. She completed the course, passed whatever tests need to be passed, and made her parents proud.
I’d like to take this time to share my views on speaking to your kids about drugs. Do it. Often.
Yes, yes, that’s a pretty common mantra, “Talk to your kids about drugs.” What I want to stress though, is that you really need to talk with them about drugs. Openly. Freely. With it being OK to joke about it, and ask questions, and be comfortable about the topic. We should discourage drug use, but encourage drug awareness.
If your child associates “drug talks” as some dark, threatening, awkward thing that must be endured from parents — your talks will do very little once your child grows “wings” of their own. Don’t let that happen. Make it so that your kids know more about drugs than the peers trying to force them into it. Let your kid be the one that confidently and correctly calls them idiots for doing drugs.
Ok, that’s my public service message. I’m proud of Amanda. She’s awesome. 
We make jokes about drug use all the time. Mostly rank speculation about what I do here every day by myself.
But it keeps the door open.
Yay Amanda!
Drug Awareness Test Transcript:
Tester: Ok, did you smoke any pot today?
Testee: Nope.
Tester: Smoke and crack?
Testee: Nope.
Tester: Snort any coke?
Testee: In the lunchroom, but only ’cause Johnny was doing that thing where one end of the spaghetti’s in his mouth and the other’s comin’ out his nose. Its totally gross, but funny.
Tester: I’ll take that as a no. What about heroine. Do any of that today?
Testee: Nope, not me.
Tester: Anything from your parents medicine chest?
Testee: Flintstones every morning.
Tester: I guess you pass. Congratulations. See you again next month.
Yay Amanda!
First, yay Amanda!
Second.
What about heroine. Do any of that today?
Isn’t Amanda a little young to be worrying about her (ahem) preferences, to be questioned about (ahem) activities in such a blunt way?
I think it goes without saying that Nathan did not procure the test…
Oh, LOL! I missed it too.
Yeah, I don’t what kinda freaky DARE program Nathan is used to, but we seldom ask those types of questions of the 5th graders. Or, any graders.
And the police officer was soooo concerned when all the boys answered, “Yeah!”
I knew I was gonna spell that wrong and I still did it.
Good for Amanda! Yeah, we talk about drugs pretty casually here, it’s fairly constructive. The boys do joke about it, like Janiece mentioned, fairly idiotically. Today the eldest and I were shopping, and at the mushroom bins, I learned he thinks that some folks smoke mushrooms to get high. We discussed mushrooms, & peyote, and all that good stuff. Must have been interesting to our fellow shoppers as we drifted through produce.
Doing drugs is bad mmmmKAY good job Amanda
Good show, Amanda!
I used to do drugs. I’m glad I stopped. Some of my friends couldn’t stop. Some of them are in jail. Some of them are dead.
Please, don’t do drugs.
KTHXBYE
Yay Amanda!!
I got to observe my parents using lots of drugs. Hence my rather boring lifestyle…
Fox News Reports…
Shawn Powers was recently quoted on his blog on his advice to his children about taking drugs. “Do it. Often.”
He is also frequently reminded by viewers to take drugs every day. Further investigation reveals video taped evidence of Shawn overdosing on common cinnamon and using peer pressure to get his wife to do the same. Other videos do not show drug use but his observed behavior would lead you to believe some mind altering substance is at work.
How this man achieved a job in the public school system is something of a mystery. Local teachers are unanimously apposed to Shawn and his wild web site. “I think he called me a racoon!” said one outraged teacher.
We’ll be sure to follow this story to it’s tragic conclusion.
Reporting live from his blog,
- Russ Ryba
Fox News Blog Edition
Yeah, but them racoons was hopped up on brussels sprouts, as I recall. Nothin’ sadder than a coon fighting its demons. Nothin’.
You guys make me laugh.
This part though, made me choke on my coffee:
He is also frequently reminded by viewers to take drugs every day.
Not to rain on your (or Amanda’s) parade, but:
A friend of mine, a substance-abuse counselor, told me that the DARE programs cause more troubles than they solve, as they teach kids about the drugs they had no idea about before the program. For example, I would have had NO IDEA that I could get high from a whipped cream container or from inhaling paint fumes, until the police told me I could.
Be that as it may, Amanda looks so proud. Good on you both!
Sadly, Camron, at least in our area, the students could likely teach the police officers about drugs. Not because the police are undertrained, but rather because drugs are so widely abused in this area.
I don’t think DARE helps a whole lot for the kids that have drug abusing parents (a HUGE percentage), but for kids like Amanda, the eye opening experience is vital. I’ve always been under the opinion that there’s no such thing as too much knowledge anyway, so I’d rather have Amanda know in advance about huffing instead of getting “introduced” to it at a sleepover.
(Northern Michigan is a dark, dark place when it comes to drug abuse. It’s really sad)
But yeah, Amanda is teh hawsome.