Parents Get the Straight Story on Teen Drug Use

Devin McKenzie and Julia Baidoo, Student Assistant Program Specialists for high schools in Fairfax County, gave an alcohol and drugs presentation to an audience of about 50 parents on Tuesday evening at South County Secondary School. McKenzie is a specialist for Hayfield, Edison and Lee, while Baidoo is a specialist for Annandale High School and Thomas Jefferson.

The Student Assistance Program offers substance abuse prevention, intervention, education, consultation and treatment referral services to students and their families. 

Baidoo began the presentation by addressing the ever-important question of why teens begin to use drugs.

"If they are hanging out with people who are using, they are likely using," said Baidoo. Other reasons include being influenced by peer pressure, the desire to feel good, excitement, relaxation, curiosity, boredom and self-medication.

One problem teens face while using drugs and or alcohol is the effect that usage has on the brain, which does not stop growing until the age of 26. And the earlier they begin using, the more likely a teen is to have a dependency on a drug.

Signs and symptoms of teen drug use are very difficult to find because their emotions change almost everyday—it’s hard to tell the difference between an average teen and a teen that is using drugs, explained McKenzie. Some red flags include the disappearance of money, valuables, alcohol or prescriptions. A sudden use in body sprays, mouthwash or mints is also a warning sign—these products to mask smoky or chemical odors.

Many teens obtain alcohol from their, or other, parent’s liquor cabinets, from older siblings or friends, buying a fake ID or through "shoulder tapping" (asking someone 21 or older to buy them alcohol as they walk into a store).

To combat drinking and driving some parents host "shut-in" parties, where teens come and surrender their keys, plan to sleep over and the parents allow them to drink. It is a good idea to get to know the parents of your teen's friends, said McKenzie.

It's important to realize that many drugs and paraphernalia may already be in the home. A scale concealed as a CD case, a smoking device concealed in a highlighter, or drugs hidden in the teen's room.

"It's your job to be a parent," said Baidoo. "You’re paying for the house— search their rooms."

Over the counter medications are also easy for teens to access. Medications like Robitussin, Nyquil (which is 10 percent alcohol), Dramamine and Benadryl can often be found in a home. Teens will sometimes attend "pharm parties", bringing any pills they can find to a designated party house. The teens will grab a handful of the pills and take all of them, usually with alcohol— a dangerous combination. These pills are usually pilfered right from their parent's medicine cabinet.

Other dangerous drugs often found in the home are the inhalants. Solvents like paint thinners, gas and glues, gases from whipped cream cans and butane lighters, aerosol sprays and nitrates can all kill the first time they are used.

While there are many illegal drugs and uses of everyday items, there are now legal ways to get high from products marketed as incense or bath salts. K2, also known as “spice,” is marketed as incense. It is a synthetic cannabanoid that creates a marijuana-like high that usually lasts less than an hour. A product marketed as bath salts, also known as "soap", is synthetic cocaine. Both products say they are not for human consumption on the packaging.

Narcotics detective Shawn Monaghan closed the presentation with many ways to "catch" your kids using drugs. He recommends looking through the trash from their rooms, because "kids throw away everything."

"You [as a parent] being intrusive is better than people robbing what they think is a drug house or the cops showing up as the house," said Monaghan. "Be a detective in your house...you can do a lot of things covertly but you can save you life or the lives of others."