Drugs In The Family

Drawing on research involving drug users and their families in Scotland, this report is based on the first ever UK study of siblings of drug users. It reveals the influence that problematic drug users have upon their non drug-using brothers and sisters and highlights how drug use by a family member impacts on the day-to-day functioning of the family as a whole, skewing relationships and limiting the amount of time parents can spend with non-drug using children. The report also exposes the loss that children experience when their relationship with a sibling is affected by drug use. This telling book considers the nature and extent of the older siblings' influence as role models and advocates both for and against the use of illegal drugs, highlighting how siblings of drug users are more likely to use drugs themselves compared to children who do not have a drug user in the family. Despite this alarming statistic however, the author shows an absence of support agencies for siblings of drug users. Drugs in the family identifies factors that may be associated with mediating the influence of sibling drug use and examines the views of problematic drug users, non drug-using siblings and a range of service providers as to the sorts of interventions that might be developed to reduce the negative impact of sibling drug use.