Let us be an example

A new year is beginning. Let us continue, let us intensify our fight against the curse of drugs. Our children must be able to go about their business, to study, to have fun, to travel without being the prey of those who only want to destroy them. Let us go on tirelessly giving them arguments to refuse drugs. Let us help them by refusing it ourselves. Let us not accept being prescribed sleeping pills, antidepressants, stimulants because our difficulties, real and painful as they are today, will have passed in a few months. Let us be an example for them. Nothing can be stronger to them than the value of example. Let us not fear a few nights without sleep, jetlag, and face the truth, for truth alone will never die. One day or another the truth will be told. We have the strength to do it for the sake of our children. We all know that nothing is acquired without daily effort. To ascend a mountain summit is a great pleasure. Our youth is not mistaken, they strive for this: to row across the Pacific Ocean, to conquer fear, loneliness, they long for it. To follow the path of effort lifts one's self-esteem, respect and love for one another. This is a nice challenge for each of us.

Marie-Christine d'Welles

Keeping one's self-esteem

What makes our teenager so charming is seeing him changing, his excesses, his vitality, his enthusiasm. If he takes drugs, his joy will disappear and will be replaced by attitudes, which will gradually become so unbearable that we will no longer recognize our own child. He will not recover his joy and the pleasure of being involved in what he likes by taking psychiatric drugs. These poisons will end up damaging his personality, destroying his abilities and reducing to nothing his moral conscience. We have to help him understand that to keep his self-esteem, the first step is a life without drugs.

Marie-Christine d’Welles

Parents have to help their children

Parents have to help their children find an internal balance and to acquire autonomy to make their own decisions. If our children are hesitant or confused, it is proof that they need us. If they sometimes get lost along the difficult path to becoming autonomous, it is proof that they still are teenagers. They must be able to lean on our confidence in them and on our love. The aim is that one day each of them will become fully responsible for him or herself and will live happy in the respect of all human beings.

Marie-Christine d'Welles

Another Miracle Pill

An anti-tobacco campaign, complete with miracle cures, has been invading France. You or your children, your parents and friends may have discussed the pros and cons of the serious information being circulated. We all understand that those "criminal" smokers will be punished at last. Phew! I have even heard that a brand new miracle pill will be on the market that replaces cigarettes during working hours. This new product, made in an excellent laboratory, unfortunately cannot be given to those under 18 years old, because, as they say, its side effects are numerous and terrifying. But do not worry, soon another great pill, Rimonabant which is for the treatment of obesity will be given to our teenagers. Its undesirable side effects include anxiety, depression, nausea, vertigo and so on. A women's magazine tells me this great step forward in pharmacology will counter all the effects of cannabis! I'm not so sure...

Marie-Christine d'Welles

The price to be paid

All parents who have children who use drugs can attest that they are sad, they have lost the drive to work hard, their goodwill and because of their mistakes, their self-esteem.

So why does my child take drugs, you ask.
Because, even if tomorrow will be difficult, for an instant drugs will satisfy all his desires. The price to be paid by him to rediscover happiness within himself is fraught with consequences: he must take drugs again.

The way out of it will be long and painful and will require, believe it or not, effort and goodwill. Let us listen to the moving testimonies of those who have been trapped and who have gone down this slippery slope, which goes from an artificial paradise to the hell of drugs. Abstinence is the only way out but it is long and painful one.
With the family, let us repeat this short phrase, which was spoken loudly and clearly by a 7th grade pupil in front of his class. "I think it is easier to never take any than it is to stop."

Marie-Christine d'Welles