(Teenage girl, Maggie, rolling down car window, driving)
MAGGIE’S MOM
Maggie and I have had many conversations about drugs and alcohol.
(Maggie driving her car)
MAGGIE My mom doesn’t really talk to me about drugs or drinking.
(Maggie fiddling with radio in car)
DUSTIN’S MOM
I don’t like very strict that they can talk about anything so they tell me everything.
(Teenage boy, Dustin, on computer)
DUSTIN
If my parents asked me I would lie and say no.
(Full page, graphic with pictures of four families, white letters over black. Text on screen: “Four Families”)
(Dustin on cell phone)
DUSTIN, Age 17
My parents, I don’t think they know too much what’s going on in my life.
(Picture of Dustin’s family)
DUSTIN’S MOM
Just don’t ask him any questions; just let him tell me.
(Maggie driving car, going into house)
MAGGIE, Age 17
My mom never checks up on me actually; she just, she’ll call once to see where I am.
(Maggie in bathroom, fixing hair)
(Someone typing on a computer)
MAGGIE’S MOM
It’s almost like this roller coaster ride at times that we’re on.
(Maggie and Maggie’s mom standing outside together)
(Maggie in kitchen with mom)
MEGAN
I think, she like, has an idea but she doesn’t know, like really.
(Teenage girl, Megan, sitting on bed reading a book)
(Text on screen: “MEGAN, Age 15”)
MEGAN’S MOM
I’m very empathetic.
(Megan’s mom gives Megan a kiss)
(Megan’s dad comes home; picture of Megan’s family)
MEGAN’S DAD
I don’t believe parents today have any idea of what it’s like to be a teen.
(Picture of teenage boy, Connor, at table with parents standing over him)
(Text on screen: “CONNOR, AGE 14”)
CONNOR’S DAD
We seem to know more about where they are what they’re doing, what they’re into.
(Connor on computer)
CONNOR’S DAD
We think we know.
(Teenage boy, Will, sitting in couch playing video games)
(Text on screen: “WILL, AGE 14”)
WILL
If Mom and Dad won’t let us like let us go to the skate park we’ll work at it together to go with our friends.
(Connor and Will’s family stands together outside)
(Text on screen: Full-page graphic, white letters over black: “Teen Pressures”
(Maggie driving her car)
MAGGIE
The culture is really different from like back, you know, like thirty years ago or twenty years ago.
(Maggie meeting her friends, giving each other kisses on cheek)
(Dustin smoothes his shirt while looking in a mirror)
DUSTIN
When I go to different parties, I do see kids drinking, I do see doing drugs. When parties are at houses, parents are never home.
CONNOR & WILL’S MOM
I think I’m the tougher parent actually.
(Will skateboards)
WILL
My mom really doesn’t have a say in the music.
MAGGIE
Listening to music, they have a lot of drugs, like, in songs.
(Maggie on computer)
MAGGIE’S MOM
She’s on the computer, she’s watching one of the crazy shows, the phone is ringing then the cell phone goes. And then, maybe on top of that she might even have her headphones on.
(Maggie walks by)
CONNOR & WILL’S DAD
But the kids today are exposed to so much more, through all the avenues between movies and TV and the Internet especially.
(Megan talking on phone in her room)
MEGAN
The pressure of like, those parties and..
DUSTIN
The drugs that everybody’s using in school are probably marijuana, weed.
DUSTIN’S MOM
Dustin is not doing anything right now but eventually what he’s doing will come out
(Dustin watching TV)
(Maggie and her friends talking outside)
MAGGIE’S MOM
I don’t believe her group of friends would ever put any pressure on her.
MAGGIE
A lot of my friends have put pressure on me to do stuff.
MEGAN
It’s like, casual, it’s…and that’s what makes it so hard to like avoid it like…
MAGGIE
I know kids that come to school drunk.
DUSTIN
Drink while school is going on actually.
WILL
Well I guess if you know probably the right people like you could probably get it pretty easily.
(Maggie standing outside a car)
MAGGIE
People in my school they can get pills, like you can call anybody and they’ll probably know someone
CONNOR & WILL’S DAD
If they were offered something somewhere, whether it’d be pot or drinking, would they tell us? I don’t know that they would necessarily volunteer it just within a conversation “oh by the way, we were offered…uh you know, some alcohol the other day.”
(Connor and Will carrying surfboards)
CONNOR
Sometimes when we’re at the beach at night and like there are bonfires and there a bunch of kids doing pot and drinking, and they’re like “yo, try this.”
(Connor and Will walking home)
(Full-page graphic, white letters over black: “TECHNOLOGY GAP”)
(Dustin walking with a football in hand)
DUSTIN’S MOM
He play football, he come home, he go straight to his room. He listen to his music, he go on MySpace, which I really don’t know what he’s doing on MySpace.
(Dustin on computer)
DUSTIN
My mom wouldn’t know how to get to my MySpace page. She probably wouldn’t even know how to get to her e-mail.
DUSTIN’S MOM
I just rarely go on the Internet.
DUSTIN
The way I got 800 people as friends on my MySpace… I guess because of pictures
MEGAN
I have a Facebook page.
(Megan reading magazine)
MEGAN’S MOM
And, you know I guess there’s stuff on there that I don’t really want to see sometimes.
(Megan in her room)
I think the Internet has taken up so much of who they are.
MAGGIE’S MOM
No, I did not know that Maggie had a Facebook page.
MAGGIE
No, my mom doesn’t know about the whole computer thing, she’s still learning
MAGGIE’S MOM
I have people who could help me find out, but I would not know how to get on her
Facebook page, or MySpace…
CONNOR
My mom’s like the person who likes to uh, sometimes check on our Instant Messaging.
CONNOR & WILL’S MOM
I do go up and down the stairs to check on them.
(Connor on computer)
CONNOR
We kind of know how to get around. There are…like block stuff they can’t see
(Video game on screen)
CONNOR & WILL’S MOM
And I will peek over their shoulders
(Connor and Will playing ping-pong)
WILL
Close the box so it’s like a little bar on the bottom
CONNOR & WILL’S MOM
With one push of a button the screen disappears.
(Will petting dog)
WILL
My dad, he’s not really like a technology person, like he doesn’t feel the use for all the new technology.
CONNOR & WILL’S DAD
I don’t get into the Internet. I never surf the Web, I don’t even do e-mail or anything like that.
(Will and Connor playing lacrosse)
WILL
He got a really cool phone like…he doesn’t even know what it’s called, like…
(Full-page graphic, white letters over black: “REALITY GAP”)
MAGGIE’S MOM
Maggie and I have had many conversations about how I feel about drugs and alcohol.
MAGGIE
My mom doesn’t really talk to me about, like, doing drugs or drinking.
DUSTIN’S MOM
I don’t like very strict that they can’t talk about anything so they tell me everything.
DUSTIN
If my parents asked me I would lie and say no.
DUSTIN’S MOM
You know, he’s teenager, and I, you know, I go with it, but sometime we very close and other times we like big fighting.
(Mom with family outside, talking on phone)
DUSTIN
The reason why I don’t tell my parents what goes on at parties is because, you know, I want to go out another day. And if I tell them, they’re like “woah woah woah, you’re not going to another party the rest of your life.”
(Dustin and his dad outside)
(Connor outside)
CONNOR & WILL’S DAD
I don’t think that pot is around them that much, or drugs at the skate park.
WILL
There’s a lot of like, older people there, like that are really into skateboarding, and they do like a lot of drugs like pot.
(Will and Connor skateboarding)
MAGGIE
A blunt is like, it’s not a joint, but like you take your cigar or whatever and you roll up your weed.
MAGGIE’S MOM
I have never heard of a blunt.
MAGGIE
Oxycontin – they call them an oscar.
MAGGIE’S MOM
I have never heard of an oscar.
MAGGIE
Xanax; like kids will call it zanybars.
DUSTIN’S MOM
But he’s seventeen, and I mean it’s never too late for them to get involved. Cause the wrong person or the time.
(Dustin and his family outside their house, sitting on front porch)
(Will and Connor sitting on couch, hitting each other with pillows)
CONNOR & WILL’S DAD
Because I don’t use the Internet or the Web sites, things like that. So a lot of times I don’t know what they could be exposing themselves to.
(Connor and Will’s family outside)
(Maggie’s mom getting out of car)
MAGGIE’S MOM
Because you’re juggling so many different things at once, it’s really hard to be consistent.
(Maggie picking up books from table, going inside; Maggie and her mom together outside)
MEGAN’S DAD
Am I aware of everything that she does, and what’s going around in the atmosphere? I would be honest, no.
(Megan and family outside)
(Full-page graphic, white letters over blue: “PARENTS. The Anti-Drug”)
(White letters over black: www.theantidrug.com
Video Courtesy of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign)