I had the sad occasion to attend the visitation for a former foster daughter of ours who died at twenty-three years old. It was uniquely sad because of the approximately seventy-five people who came and went in the hour we were there, fewer than ten weren’t either drunk, high, or both. The death was an unintentional overdose and the girl and her friends were involved in drug running. Her mother was locked up and couldn’t attend because she had failed a drug test the week before. Fewer than ten people in the room who were of age to have graduated high school in actually did. From the oldest to the not old enough to drink legally, most everyone in the room was addicted.

Some would be tempted to carry on about enforcing drug laws and similar ineffective nonsense, but the truth is that if people want to get drugs or buy alcohol underage it isn’t difficult and there isn’t anything we can do to change that truth. It’s also true that parents watch their parents and other adults and learn from them, both good things and bad. There are countless families in America where the parents are teaching the children to be addicts, and it has to stop. If you are one of those parents who thinks it’s cool to get drunk or high in front of your kids, you need to know there is a good chance you are killing them and that it’s an absolute certainty you are lowering their quality of life. That means you are a selfish loser, and you are the problem. Wake up.