As your child navigates the teen years, you may find yourself questioning your ability to trust her. She may be hanging out with new friends or exhibiting troubling behaviors. If you find yourself leaning toward testing your teen for drugs, consider the topic carefully.

Ask Yourself Why
What is prompting you to consider drug testing your teen? Could your child’s negative behaviors be attributed to issues other than drugs or alcohol? If you haven’t sat down and had a serious talk with your teen about drug use, don’t spring a drug test out as the first defense. Establish a conversation and open yourself up as a sounding board for troubles—especially if your teen is acting withdrawn or depressed. You may end up learning that his behavior is due to other issues.

Consider Your Options
The most common type of drug test is a urine test. You’ve probably experienced one at some point or another as an employee. They’re cheap and easy, but they’re also relatively unreliable. Many common street drugs won’t show up, while others like marijuana may show up weeks after your child quit smoking it. Certain medications can affect the results as well. Alcohol will not show up in a drug test. Urine tests can be administered by your pediatrician or at home, but both types may influence your teen’s trust and may not actually deter drug use.

Consider Your Goals
What do you hope to achieve from a drug test? If you discover that your child is abusing drugs, do you have a game plan? If your child is opposed to the idea, you may be better off approaching the situation the same way, without resorting to drug testing. However, if your child wants to go ahead with a test to prove himself, that may be a more positive situation for your family. Regardless of what you hope to discover, you should plan ahead for any outcomes and should be working closely with your pediatrician to fight drug abuse.

Don’t Force It
The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes forced drug tests for teens. In the context of your family’s dynamic, involuntary drug testing can foster mistrust and resentful behavior in the future. Your teen may be more likely to hide things from you if she already thinks you don’t trust her or that you’ll invade her privacy against her will.

The LiveFree! Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a coalition of members of the community who strive to address alcohol and drug use in Pinellas County. Visit us online today to see how you can get involved in this cause that is so important to our community.

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Parents, your worries about whether or not your teenager will be tempted to abuse drugs may start closer to home than you think. Your medicine cabinet is a prime target for teenagers looking to get high by taking your prescription medication. It turns out that prescription drug abuse is rapidly increasing, and possibly serving as a gateway drug to the use of street drugs.

By the numbers

The number of Americans abusing prescription medication is higher than the number of people using heroin and cocaine combined. And like a lot of unwanted behaviors, that trend is carrying over into the younger generation. According to a recent poll, more than 50 percent of teenagers in the United States admitted to stealing medication from their parents or their friend’s parents.

What drugs are abused?

Sedatives, tranquilizers, uppers and pain medication are the most commonly abused prescription medications among young people. Teenagers may turn to sedatives or tranquilizers for help through a stressful time in their lives. Some kids like the opposite effects of feeling revved up, much like being on speed. Abusing Ritalin and other attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs may also result in weight loss, a side effect embraced by teenagers struggling with their weight. Check your medicine cabinet for one of the three most commonly abused prescription medications:

• OxyContin
• Xanax
• Adderall

Why do kids abuse prescription drugs?

• Peer pressure
• To feel more relaxed or more energized
• To help them study for an exam or stay up all night to finish a paper
• To lose weight
• To have fun

Over-the-Counter Dangers

Combining prescription medication with cold medicine, antihistamines or alcohol can intensify side effects. Maybe you’ve recently purchased cough syrup at the drug store and been asked for a photo ID before you were allowed to purchase the medicine. That’s because of recent laws cracking down on the abuse of an ingredient found in cold medicine. Dextromethorphan (DXM) is fine in small doses of cough medicine. But it can cause hallucinations and a distorted sense of reality if taken in large doses.

What can be done?

Talk to your kids about the dangers of abusing prescription medication. Prescriptions are only safe for the person whose name is on the label. Using someone else’s prescription can result in seizures or death. It’s also against the law. Your child might assume that he’s not engaging in criminal behavior because the pills came from a doctor. But taking Vicodin that aren’t yours can land you in jail, much the same as buying street drugs. Abusing prescription medication can also lead to a dangerous road of drug or alcohol addiction.

Are prescription medications the new gateway drugs? Photo courtesy of joguldi.

Sources:

NY Daily News

Live Free Pinellas County

WebMD

Teens Health

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