The New York City teenager who admitted smoking marijuana and speeding before crashing into a tree in 2012, killing four of his friends, has been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.  NBC New York

A Pine Plains teenager has been found guilty in connection with a high-speed crash that killed two other teens last summer; it’s been an emotional case that likely will bring little comfort to surviving family members but hopefully will send a powerful message about the dangers of drugged driving.  Daily Freeman

Two teen drivers, one on Long Island and one in the Hudson Valley, are being sentenced for deadly crashes that killed their friends.   This is tragic for all involved and it should be a wake-up call for parents to talk to their kids about the consequences of driving high.

Teenagers never set-out to hurt their friends when they drive high or drunk, no one does. But the tragic truth is that drugged driving does kill!

Substance abuse is on the rise in the United States, particularly, amongst teens and young adults in their 20’s. Governors, guidance counselors and medical professionals around the country are talking about the growing heroin epidemic and the abuse of prescription drugs.  Just last week the Federal government tightened the restrictions on hydrocodone, a drug that is part of a growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse that, in many cases, leads to heroin addiction.

In a November 2013 Teen Vogue article, Riding High: Teens Talk Smoking Weed and Driving Stoned by Julia Rubin, a young woman admits that: Though she’s driven high, she’s never driven drunk, nor would she get in a car with a friend who’s been drinking. Why the distinction? Driving high is risky, but driving drunk is worse.

For years, there has been discussion about the effects of marijuana and other drugs on a person’s ability to drive.  What we are discovering is that marijuana does impair driving ability.  For many teens the results, as we see with these two young drivers, are tragic.

Talk to your kids about drugged driving and driving high.  Smoking pot is not a “rite of passage” for teenagers.  The stakes are much too high!

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription.