Understanding and Preventing
Adolescent Drug Use
Page Two
No Place To Hide
In the far distant past, widespread drug abuse was generally limited to the ghetto-criminal types or delinquents. In a school, the drug user was in the lowly regarded minority. He was shunned, certainly not admired. In contrast, today a high percentage of students are openly and continually exposed to drug abuse. Many teenagers who go to parties where there are drugs are pretty average looking. They come to school regularly, take out the trash, wash the dishes, and some even go to church on Sunday. The cheerleader, the football hero, and the straight-A student are often as much a part of the drug scene as the delinquent and the criminal. Short hair and conventional dress guarantee nothing.
It is next to impossible for any teenager to avoid contact with drugs these days. Most teenagers are either offered various drugs or have friends who are. Those who resist can still be hurt and confused when friends become entangled with drugs. Where does their loyalty lie? When do they turn someone in? What can they do when they find classmates hurting themselves?
Signs of Drug Use
While teenagers will go to great lengths to escape detection, many seem to be ambivalent about being caught. They do everything to hide their problem and then leave one obvious clue. As one young girl said to me: “I wish my parents knew I was on drugs and would try to stop me, but don’t tell them because then I’d have to quit.” As a result of all the subterfuge that goes on to hide the problem, it can be difficult for adults who are not part of that subculture to penetrate into it. And one of the worst things you can do is accuse someone of being on drugs when they’re really not. You cannot go by just one sign, since nearly all of them can point to a variety of possible problems. One or more of these, however, should be enough to cause you to look for other possible symptoms or to wonder if your teen is struggling.
Mood swings. If your teenager changes from an even temperament to a more depressive and/or easily excitable personality, drugs may be involved. Yet remember, too, that teenagers are notoriously moody. Physical problems, like thyroid conditions, emotional problems, the loss of a friend, or just a bad hair day can also cause mood swings!
Personality changes. Depending on the drug, users can suddenly become more hyperactive and alert, temporarily outgoing, or talkative and pseudo-confident, confused, suspicious, anxious, apathetic, or impulsive. Any relatively quick change in your teen’s personality should raise the question, “What is causing this?”
Isolation from family or friends with whom he or she used to converse and spend time. Changes in friends and social patterns usually mean that some major issue is occurring. Teenagers naturally start spending more time with their peers. But kids that hang around other kids who drink, or use drugs, may be headed for trouble even if they are not actively involved in the drug scene.
Physical changes, like sudden changes in weight, dilated pupils (or “pinprick” pupils), and sudden bursts of hunger. Excessive and persistent sleepiness or wakefulness can also be indicative of problems. Changes in weight and sleep patterns, however, can also be symptoms of depression.
 When teenagers attend an
unsupervised party at a home,
most parents would be horrified
if they knew what can go on.
Parties. When teenagers attend an unsupervised party at a home, most parents would be horrified if they knew what can go on. Moreover, many parents would be shocked to know what happens in their own home when they think that on Saturday night their teenager is just going to hang out with a few friends. No party, of course! Many teenagers are reliable and have a good, wholesome time. But often that is not the case.
One girl describes a party this way: “One evening two girls and four guys decided to have a party, so everyone brought booze and the mix for the drinks. Everyone got up and started to dance, drink and crack jokes. After a while the guys started to roll the joints. They picked through it to get the best pieces for their joint. After they finished rolling the weed, they began to smoke it, but the smell got so bad that the two girls had to go out and get some fresh air. When they finished they sat down and figured out that between the four of them they had rolled and smoked ten joints.”
One boy describes a typical party at his house: “There was nobody but me and all my friends. My people were gone all weekend. That house stunk like you name it when the party was over. There were couples sleeping all over the house, in the bathtub, closet—everybody was so drunk and stoned.” The milder parties may be limited to drinking and smoking weed. Those not so mild may involve other drugs. Sex becomes a by-product of the lowering of inhibitions through drugs.
Over and over again, parents never know what is happening. They just go out for the evening, or the weekend. When they get home, often they still don’t know. Or they come home to a mess and get mad, but nothing changes. Promises are made and broken. And, unfortunately, some parents don’t even want to know everything that’s going on. That way maybe it will just go away without any further unpleasantness. As one parent said to me: “Cure it, but don’t let me know the details.”
Although you might never leave your teenager alone so he could throw a party at your home, you should know that he may be invited to an unchaperoned party at his friends’.
The money trail. Unexplained expenditures of money can occur when a teenager is into drugs: money from part-time jobs that seems to evaporate, birthday or Christmas money which is not used for something concrete like clothes or a stereo.
Unreasonable demands for money can also indicate problems. Don’t forget, however, that sometimes kids just save money for something they want; and, on the other hand, they can “earn” drugs by “holding” or keeping them for someone at school or passing them on.
Common Drugs
There are five major categories or types of drugs, each triggering a different kind of physical, mental and emotional response.
Hallucinogens, like LSD and PCP increase the user’s heart rate and blood pressure and cause a variety of changes in mental functioning, including hallucinations, distorted perceptions, confusion, and irrational actions. They can also trigger suspicion and paranoid thoughts and sometimes, depression.
 Continued on Page Three
|
