The Perils of Drugs and Cory Monteith’s Untimely Death

Cory Monteith, an actor made famous by his role in the hit TV series “Glee”, was found dead yesterday in his hotel room.  He was only 31.

This is the first actor who has passed away that my kids are fans of because, although I don’t allow them to watch the whole show due to adult themes in the shows, they enjoy watching and listening to the songs in Glee.

His death was shocking because Cory is very young.  He had his whole life and a promising career ahead of him.

Cory Monteith’s life isn’t all about drugs.  He had loved ones.  He was a good actor and singer.  He made a lot of people happy doing what he did.

However, his death was tragic.. and unnecessary.

Drugs destroys lives.  Pure and simple.  It’s a habit that’s easy to start but stopping can take a lifetime of struggling.  Cory Monteith was always open about his drug problem and he admitted struggling with it on and off since he was 13…. that’s 18 years of his short life.

His death, although sad, can be a teaching opportunity to children worldwide of the danger of drugs.  He is a person familiar and admired by teens and children alike.   His death then becomes a very real example to children of how drugs can destroy lives.

At least, that’s what happened with my children when they found out.

The first question my daughter asked when she found out was “What happened?!”

I told her the truth. “It’s because of drugs baby girl.”

This triggered a long discussion between my 10-year-old daughter and my 6-year-old son.  They are familiar with drugs because I bought an excellent children’s book called “Nice or Nasty? Learning about Drugs and your Health” that I highly recommend parents read to their children.

Children’s book about drugs and health. Written by Claire Llewellyn and Illustrated by Mike Gordon. Published by Hodder Children’s Books.

The book differentiates medicines from drugs and discusses how medicine are used properly. This helps the children identify at an early age what is safe to take and what isn’t.

So my children took the news of Cory’s death equipped with the knowledge to discern that the drugs he took warped his brain and his decision-making process.   The drugs also messed with his body so much that he died as a result.

My daughter was very sad to hear of his death but her immediate reaction was to say “That’s why we should always say No to drugs.”

My son responded, “Yes, drugs are very bad.  Why do people take drugs?  Drugs don’t help you play badminton. Drugs don’t help you learn. Drugs don’t help you in Taekwondo.  Drugs don’t help you grow.  Drugs are useless.”

Daughter C agreed and said “So when someone tells us to take drugs we have to shout at them No Way! We shouldn’t even try it even if our friends are the one telling us to take it.  It’s bad for us.  We shouldn’t take drugs, not even once.”

Son A said “Yes, drugs are useless.  Always say no to drugs… I learned that also from Archie comics!”

They went on and on talking about how bad drugs were while mommy was sitting in the front seat thankful that they were able to learn an important lesson vicariously from a tragic event.

I was also very glad to have bought and read them the book about drugs which gave them enough knowledge to listen to the news I shared, deal with it and have the ability to connect it to their own lives.

I am sharing a few pages of the book below.  I feel it is a must have for parents.  It’s not a guarantee that it will stop our kids from taking drugs at all.  But at least it gets the lesson into their heads at this stage in their life when lessons are still seriously considered and ingrained.  Hopefully, they’ll have the right tools to deal with peer pressure IF the situation arises in the future.

RIP Cory Monteith.  You will be missed.

Benefits of medicine

Teaching the right way to use medicine

Introducing Drugs