Joseph A. Califano - How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents

This should be required reading for every parent of a child. Addiction has claimed the children of too many. Having the information and maintaining parental vigilance are a great start. The tools are found between the covers of this well-crafted book.

Judge Judy Sheindlin

This wonderful book will help you answer some tough questions and give you a road map for tackling one of the hardest tasks as a parent.

Jamie Lee Curtis, mother, actress, and author of childrens books

The revised edition of How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid makes an already terrific book for parents even better. The books focus on engaged and informed parenting is a very powerful approach. The book provides many ideas and very practical tips for parents on navigating the tumultuous waters of raising a child, and raising a child drug-free.

Joseph Woolston, MD, Albert J. Solnit Professor of Pediatrics and Child Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center

This revised edition of Joe Califanos book, How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid , adds plenty of practical advice gleaned from both scientific literature and tips from parents. I recommend it with enthusiasm to parents and teachers.

Herb Kleber, MD, professor of psychiatry and director, Division on Substance Abuse, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute

As a physician specializing in adolescent medicine, I am in everyday contact with parents struggling to get their kids through the teen years without getting sucked into the abyss of drug and alcohol use teens confront today. Fortunately, Joe Califanos revised edition of How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid is now available. In a no-nonsense way, this book shows parents ways to do just that. It should be a must have in every parents library.

Ralph I. Lopez, MD, professor of clinical pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical Center, author, and physician specializing in adolescent medicine

ALSO BY JOSEPH A. CALIFANO JR.

The Student Revolution: A Global Confrontation (1970)

A Presidential Nation (1975)

The Media and the Law (1976) (with Howard Simons)

The Media and Business (1979) (with Howard Simons)

Governing America: An Insiders Report from the White House and the Cabinet (1981)

The 1982 Report on Drug Abuse and Alcoholism (1982)

Americas Health Care Revolution: Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Pays? (1986)

The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years (1991)

Radical Surgery: Whats Next for Americas Health Care (1994)

Inside: A Public and Private Life (2004)

High Society: How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What to Do About It (2007)

How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents (2009)

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2009, 2014 by Joseph A. Califano Jr.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

This Atria Paperback edition October 2020

Previously published in 2014 by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or .

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Interior design by Elliott Beard

Cover design by David Ter-Avanesyan

Author photograph Eric Weiss Photography

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Touchstone edition as follows:

Califano, Joseph A., Jr., 1931

How to raise a drug-free kid : the straight dope for parents / by Joseph A.

Califano Jr., Founder, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

pages cm

A Touchstone Book.

Revised edition of the authors How to raise a drug-free kid : the straight dope for parents, published in 2009.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Substance abuseUnited StatesPrevention. 2. TeenagersDrug useUnited States. 3. ParentingUnited States. 4. Parent and teenagerUnited States. I. Title.

HV4999.C45C34 2014

649'.48dc23 2014007744

ISBN 978-1-4767-2843-8

ISBN 978-1-4767-2849-0 (ebook)

For the families (mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents) that have endured the agony of a child addicted to drugs or alcohol, with the hope and prayer that this book will help other families avoid such tragedies.

And for the newest Califano grandchild, Patrick Joseph Becker.

The author is donating all royalties from sales of this book to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).

O ver the past five years, Ive travelled across the country talking and listening to thousands of parents about how to raise healthy and drug-free kids. I have learned so much from those parents: their ideas and anxieties, their needs and the pressures theyre under. Over those same years, there has been a revolution in our scientific knowledge of developing teen brains, and dramatic changes have occurred in the environment that teens experience: new drugs such as synthetic marijuana, Molly, and e-cigarettes; new ways to get high and chill out; an explosion of social media that often glorifies teen drinking and drugging.

What Ive learned from and about parents, the scientific breakthroughs, and the rapidly evolving teen world has convinced me (and many parents and colleagues who have contacted me) of the need for a revised edition of my 2009 book How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents. Ive written this new edition to address concerns that parents have expressed to me in public meetings and private conversations, to share the good ideas Ive learned from parents raising children, and to pass along new knowledge that can help you as you seek to raise healthy and drug-free kids.

I have spent many years of my lifeas a White House aide; secretary of health, education, and welfare; and founder, chair, and president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA)wrestling with the threat that drugs and alcohol present to you, your family, your community, and our nation. For a quarter century at CASA, weve been surveying teens and parents, talking with families; interviewing the best researchers, pediatricians, adolescent and child psychiatrists and psychologists, scientific experts, clergy of every faith, school nurses, teachers, and principals; and studying the successes and failures of schools, parents, and teens, with one objective: to find the most effective ways to raise drug-free children.

Im often asked, Whats the most important thing youve learned about raising drug-free kids? The most important thing Ive learned is this: you, as a parent, are on the front lines every day. Whether your child smokes, drinks, or uses drugs is more likely to be determined in your living room or dining room, or over your kitchen table, than in any classroom, courtroom, or legislative hearing room. And your job gets more challenging each year. Thats why Ive spent the last couple of years revising How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid : to help you do the most important job in the world.