A white paper - Family Matters: Substance Abuse and the American Family - released by The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, says parents who use illegal drugs, abuse alcohol and use tobacco put half the nation's children - more than 35 million of them - at greater risk of substance abuse and of physical and mental illnesses.
The CASA report found that 13 percent of children under 18 live in a household where a parent or other adult uses illicit drugs, another 24 percent of live in a household where a parent or other adult is a binge or heavy drinker and 37 percent of children live in a household where a parent or other adult uses tobacco.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, says the findings are a tragedy and too many parents set examples that increase the risk their children will smoke, use illegal drugs and abuse alcohol. Children of substance abusing parents are much likelier to become substance abusers themselves. Parents who behave responsibly - who don't smoke, abuse alcohol or use illegal drugs - have a positive influence on their children, steering them away from substance abuse.