To be the parent of a teenager is to worry constantly. Your child is at a stage of his/her life when they are too old for kiddy things and too young for real adult situations. If you feel like you are constantly confused as to what your teen is going through, imagine how your teen feels.

Being a teen these days is nothing like it was 10 or even 5 years ago.  The peer pressure you survived during your teen years cannot begin to compare to the amount of peer pressure teens face today. Not only do they go through what are considered “old school” types of peer pressure, but throw the increased popularity of social media platforms and cyber-bullying as well as the rising issue of prescription abuse in the mix and your teen will need a lot of help with saying NO to drugs.

As the parent of a teen if you have asked yourself, “What can I do to help my child?” “How do I give my teen the proper tools to stand up to today’s peer pressures?” you’re definitely not alone. That’s where organizations such as The Partnership at Drugfree.org, the National Family Partnership (organizers of Red Ribbon Week®) and ANY LAB TEST NOW® come in. Each of these have vast information to help parents get informed about the latest drug and alcohol abuse within today’s youth and how to have that open conversation with your teen about the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.

According to the National Family Partnership, children of parents who talk to their teens on a regular basis about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs. Red Ribbon Week ®  (October 23 – 31) is the perfect time to openly speak to your teens about the dangers of drug use. ANY LAB TEST NOW® has a program specifically designed to help parents arm their teens with the tools to overcome peer pressure. The Trust, But Verify Program combines trust-building with random teen drug testing.

Since prescription medications are the fastest growing type of abused drug among teens, ANY LAB TEST NOW® has joined forces with The Partnership at Drugfree.org in a strategic partnership for the Medicine Abuse Project.  ANY LAB TEST NOW® ‘s Trust, But Verify program can help parents bring across the point that drug testing your teen is not to catch them using drugs, but to deter them from using drugs. To let them know that this is your way of helping them with peer pressure. This way they can let their friends know that they get drug tested at home… so “NO”… they can’t try it just this once.

As Red Ribbon Week ®  draws to a close talk to your teen and join the cause to help today’s youth say “A Healthy Me, is Drug Free!” To learn more about how ANY LAB TEST NOW® can help you and your teen establish a plan to stand up to peer pressure, stop by a location near you or visit www.anylabtestnow.com