Watch the First Lady talk about the opioid crisis.
Video Credit: KSNV News 3 Las Vegas
First Lady Melania Trump has recently revealed what she tells her 12-year-old son Barron about the harmful effects of using drugs.
‘I teach him, I try to explain how drugs are dangerous and how they will mess up your head, mess up your body and nothing positive comes of it,’ she said Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Las Vegas.
The meeting, conducted at the International Theater at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, was hosted by Eric Bolling to discuss the on-going opioid crisis.
Bolling, who is a former Fox News star and has lost his son to an opioid overdose, asked Melania at what age parents should start discussing the dangers of drugs with their children.
‘I think eight,’ the first lady replied. ‘Nowadays the children are so smart and the life is so fast and they have access to everything.
‘We need to teach them at very early age how bad drugs are.’
Bolling’s son Eric Jr. was a student at the University of Colorado who died at the age of 19 in 2017 due to a drug overdose. The police later revealed that his overdose was unintended.
The increasing rate of deaths from opioid overdose is one of the essential pillars of Melania’s Be Best campaign.
She also argued how the Mexican border wall is a necessity for them to save their children from the drugs entering the US through its Southern border.
‘We need to make sure that no drugs are coming to our country. They are coming south through our border. They are also coming through China. They are very dangerous,’ she said. ‘We need to stop that.’
At the town hall meeting, Melania also asked the media to give the opioid crisis ‘the same amount of coverage that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories.’
‘I’d also like to take a moment to challenge the media to cover this very real issue as often as possible,’ she added.
‘In 2017, we lost at least 72,000 Americans to overdoses – that’s 197 lost American lives per day – more than 8 lost lives per hour,’ she said.
‘I challenge the press to devote as much time to the lives lost – and the potential lives that could be saved – by dedicating the same amount of coverage that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories.’
‘I wish the media would talk about more and educate more especially the children,’ she added. ‘They do it but I think not enough.
‘Just for example we are here talking about it and I think it should be on every media on the front page of every news paper. I think that every person would follow.’
It was Melania’s second town hall meeting with Bolling on the opioid crisis, with the first one conducted at Liberty University in Virginia in November 2018.
When the first lady was asked by the host about how she discusses the harmful effects of drug addiction with her 12-year-old son, Barron Trump, she replied: ‘I always tell him drugs can be very dangerous and mess up your mind and body.
‘And to love yourself more than you love drugs.’
She also revealed that her son ‘doesn’t have a social media yet.’
‘He’s not interested in it. He’s all into sports. He’s a great athlete,’ she said. ‘I teach him to be responsible and treat all people with respect and kindness. That is very important to me.’
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