Moundsville, WV - March 16, 2009

"Parent to Parent: A Dialogue on How to Talk to Your Children About Drugs" planned April 30

          Did you know that 34% of Marshall County youth who use drugs say that their parents never talked to them about the dangers of drugs?

           If you think that’s way too high – or want help finding ways to open up the lines of communication with your children – please come to “Parent to Parent: A Dialogue on How to Talk To Your Children about Drugs.” The forum will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30, at the Calvary United Methodist Church, 1601 1st Street, Moundsville. The dialogue is free and open to the public.

           The April 30 forum is sponsored by the Marshall County Family Resource Network. It’s one piece of a multipronged effort following an October 2008 PRIDE survey of Marshall County 6th to 12th graders. The survey found that 34% percent of the youth who reported using drugs said that their parents seldom or never talked to them about the dangers of using drugs. The percentages were the same for middle and high school students.

           “It’s never too early to start talking to your children about the dangers of drugs,” said Whitelatch. “Children, especially at a young age, listen to their parents. Studies have shown that even the simplest message, delivered by a parent, at the right age can go a long way toward keeping them away from drugs.”

           Children whose parents talk with them regularly about drugs are 50% less likely to use them, according to Drug and Alcohol-Proof Your Child by Dr. Marcus Mottley.

           If your community group or organization wants to host a short, five-minute presentation – prior to the April 30 dialogue session -- about how parents can talk to their children about substance abuse, please call the FRN at (304) 845-3300.

           The April 30 forum will be funded by Federal Drug-Free Communities Support Program Funds. The grants are administered by the Marshall County Family Resource Network. The surveys were purchased with funds from the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG) from the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

          The Marshall County Family Resource Network Network is a not-for-profit organization that builds community partnerships to make Marshall County a better place to live and work. The FRN’s key efforts focus on substance abuse prevention, health and wellness and community development. It has leveraged more than $2.2 million in state and federal grants for Marshall County over the past three years. The FRN can be reached at 304-845-3300 or on the Web at www.marshallcountyfrn.com. To register, call the Marshall County FRN at 304-845-3300 or marshallcountyspfsig@comcast.net.