About Parent Movement 2.0

Reducing the underage use of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine

In 1979, drug use peaked among 12-25 year olds at the highest levels in history before or since. Parents joined together to safeguard their kids’ health. This national movement – Parent Movement 1.0 – reduced drug use among ages 12-25 by two-thirds between 1979 and 1992. But gradually, things changed. Now it's time for Parent Movement 2.0.

California mom and NFIA Board Member Debbie Berndt is the driving force behind Parent Movement 2.0 and is its executive director. She and other volunteers are shaping this national movement for several reasons:

• Teens are replacing 6-packs of beer with handles of vodka at parties.
• A highly profitable, politically sophisticated marijuana industry is aggressively pushing legalization -- taking away families’ rights to live in pot-free communities.
• Today’s marijuana is highly potent -- industry is marketing it to children in kid-friendly forms.
• The number of high-school students who vape THC doubled since last year. Some suffered severe lung injuries.
• A national opiate crisis -- compounded by legal pot, RX opiates, heroin, and fentanyl – is taking far too many lives.
• Most addiction begins in childhood.
• The brain undergoes unique development between ages 12-25 when drug and alcohol use can be particularly damaging.

• "Because it attacks the lungs, COVID-19 could be an especially serious threat to those who smoke or vape tobacco and/or marijuana," warns Nora Volkow, MD, director of the Nation Institute on Drug Abuse.

These and other problems help us understand that NOW is the time for parents to rethink substances relative to their kids – and to do something about it.

Sign the "I'm in" Pledge to join an online community of parents working to reduce underage alcohol, marijauna, and nicotine use.