Parenting Tips: Catching and Preventing Adolescent Substance Abuse

by Jennifer Shakeel

Some troubled teens turn to drugs - will this happen to your teen?

There are few things that scare me as a parent. One of those scary things is the thought of one of my kids doing drugs then compound that with the fact that it could slip under my nose. We all want to sit there and think that our children wouldn't do something like that. I urge you to take alook at the current national statistics on Adolescent drug abuse, all of which can be found here http://www.adolescent-substance-abuse.com/signs-drug-use.html You will be shocked at what you see. You will be even more shocked to find out that your own child has tried or is friends with someone that has tried an illicit substance.
The goal of this week's tips then is to offer you ways to spot drug/substance use and how to stop it from occurring at all or again.

Tip One: Know the Signs of Drug Abuse

It is difficult to spot something if you don't know what it is you are looking for. So I want to give you 14 signs that your child is using drugs. Now keep in mind that they do not have to exhibit ALL of these signs, even one or two should be enough for you to be concerned. Here they are:

• Abnormal sustained fatigue or bursts of energy
• Drastic change in mood with no rhythm or reason to it.
• Change in sleep or appetite patterns
• Decline in personal hygiene
• Withdrawal from family activities or decline in adherence to family rules
• Change in friends or loss of interest in typical activities
• Decline in school performance and/or attendance
• Loss of job or irresponsibility during work that is pointed out
• Aggressive behavior
• Unaccounted for blocks of time
• Being caught in lies about whereabouts or events
• Unexplained loss of money or possessions
• Finding drug paraphernalia or noticing a lot of material with drug references
• Legal involvement