Happy Valley

Talk about a depressing movie (documentary). It's about the drug issues in Happy Valley. I went into the show thinking it was going to talk about the meth problems around, but that wasn't really touched on. It was more about how teens and adults get hooked on pain pills (and how that leads to harder stuff like heroine). Quite a few of the people interviewed said how the religion and culture here hinders people from admitting that they have a problem, so they don't get help. I can see how that could be the case, although I think I was trying to fight that idea.

Most kids are taught that drugs are bad (ie. the DARE program in schools). Unfortunately some kids don't get the anti-drug idea reinforced at home (one of the stories in the documentary talked about a girl getting high with her mom). One drug officer in the show said he'd been at parties where many of the kids taking pills (like percocet) were LDS, and they didn't think they were breaking the Word of Wisdom because it was a pill. Wow!

It made me really scared for my kids. Some of the parents of kids who had died from drug ODs seemed like they had good relationships with the kids. How can you avoid/prevent your kids from getting involved with this junk? How can kids be taught about the dangers of drugs, and not get it? I'm so glad my friends were good, and weren't into these things.

The editing in this was a bit distracting at times, but I'm glad I watched it. It helps strengthen my resolve to build my relationship with my kids. I want them to feel like we're friends, and want to be at our house instead of always going to friends' houses.