The Way Out Recovery SCV, an outpatient rehab in Santa Clarita, is speaking out against the common myth that some drugs are harmful, while others — such as alcohol, marijuana and nicotine — are not.

Bob Sharits, program director at The Way Out Recovery SCV, recently participated in a community outreach event in an effort to debunk this myth, specifically for parents of teenagers.

“We take an attitude overall on things like marijuana, alcohol and nicotine, and we think and we like to say, ‘Oh, a lot of those are socially acceptable and they’re less harmful (because) they’re not the heavy drugs,’” Sharits said during the event. “I want to debunk this myth.”

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Sharits noted that while “harder” drugs like opiates and heroin are the among the most dangerous in terms of toxicity, statistically, the supposedly “less harmful” drugs of alcohol and nicotine are far more deadly.

“Nicotine is absolutely, by the numbers, the most toxic and dangerous drug that there is worldwide. It kills more people than all the other drugs combined,” Sharits said. “Alcohol is second to that. There are more problems caused and more deaths caused by the drug alcohol than there are by any other drug except nicotine.”

While Sharits noted he is not a prohibitionist who thinks all drugs and alcohol should be banned, he emphasized the importance of parents educating their children and teenagers on the realities of “socially acceptable” drugs like alcohol, nicotine and marijuana.

In addition, Sharits advocated against parents having the mentality that they should allow their teenager to drink alcohol or smoke marijuana as long as they do it at home.

“There’s a reason you can’t drink until you’re 21,” he said. “If we’re allowing our teenagers because, ‘I did it when I was a kid,’ or something like that, we are setting them up for failure.”

The reason for legal age restrictions on alcohol and marijuana is because children and teenagers’ brains are not yet fully developed, according to Sharits.

“If you have a teenager and they are pushing back on marijuana and telling you it is legal, it is medicine, it is not a big deal anymore, as a parent, push back the other way,” he said. “There are some medical benefits, … but no marijuana or cannabis advocate in the world will tell you that it’s okay for teens to do it.”

Sharits continued, “Why we need to keep our kids from doing this more than anything is that their little brains are extremely susceptible to damage from these drugs before full development. They are roughly fully developed around, coincidentally, the age of 21.”

When it comes to nicotine, many parents and teenagers believe the “lie” that vaping is not harmful, and as a result, a vaping “epidemic” has taken place with teens across the country, according to Sharits.

“People know that smoking is dangerous for you,” he said. “Not that many people smoke anymore. Tons of people vape. Everybody’s vaping, because we were sold this thing that said that vaping is the alternative that’s not dangerous for you.”

Sharits pointed out that vaping was initially designed to be a “harm reduction” or smoking cessation tool for adults who were addicted to cigarettes, and it has been successful in that sense.

“But the problem with it is in the marketing and in the delivery and in the fruity flavors,” he said. “It’s been sold to our teen population as a non-harmful, cool thing to do, and what’s happening is, we have watched over the last five years or so the teenage population with vaping just exponentially grow. Everybody is doing it nowadays. The numbers are astounding.”

A recent survey given to 12th graders showed that approximately 37 percent of them are using vape products, which Sharits said is taking place “because we’ve been sold this lie.”

Another reason that supposedly “less harmful” drugs like nicotine, marijuana and alcohol should be taken very seriously by parents is because they are the “setup to addiction,” according to Sharits.

“They are the setup to doing the so-called more harmful drugs,” he said. “It would be ridiculous for me to say that everybody that smokes pot is going to be a heroin addict, but I have never in my life met a heroin addict who didn’t start with marijuana first. Never.”

Parents who are concerned about their teenagers because of substance use or mental health issues are encouraged to contact to The Way Out Recovery SCV for more information and additional assistance by calling (661) 296-4444.

In Santa Clarita, drug issues are a major concern for many. The mission of The Way Out Recovery Outpatient Rehab in Santa Clarita is to provide high quality, effective alcohol and drug rehab outpatient services to the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita rehab’s goal is to assist adolescents, adults and their loved ones in becoming happily and usefully whole, free from drug addiction. Those seeking alcohol and drug treatment in Santa Clarita, a drug rehab in Santa Clarita, a teen drug rehab or simply a “rehab near me” can rest assured that The Way Out Recovery SCV’s philosophy is to teach life-long coping skills and strategies to assist in improving quality of life and living happily and meaningfully without the need of destructive behaviors.

The Way Out Recovery SCV – Santa Clarita

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