These days drugs are everywhere. Everyone is using them. All types of people from athletes, business professionals, teenagers, and even parents. Sometimes it’s easier to find drugs and cheaper than it is to go see a movie. A lot of small towns where teens live really have nothing to do. Teens everywhere these days are hooked on video games, sitting at home or a friend’s playing games online or with each other.
One of the biggest parts of a teenager’s life is becoming “accepted” or “fitting in”, they want to be cool! There are a lot of instances where the cool crowd likes to party. They have parties when parents are away, or find a park at night to jam at, or even have friend’s whose parents don’t mind them partying at their house. Other kids looking to “fit in” envy the “cool kids”. More often than not those kids are using drugs. So I am going to ask you a couple questions and see if your teen fits in any of these. If so, it may be time to confront your teen about the possibility of using drugs.
Was your child once very active in sports, but no longer?
Do they seem very distant from your family?
Do they lack interest in gathering at family social events?
Do they increasingly spend more time over a friend’s house? Do you know the parents of the friend?
Does your teen tend to avoid you as much as possible?
If you go to their room, do they get angry?
Does your teenager have a job, but have nothing to show for it? What is their bank account like? Do they spend more time away from the house, going “out”?
Is your teen on the phone a lot, and when you ask who they are talking to they say “a friend”? If it was a friend and you knew them, wouldn’t they just tell you?
Is your teenager getting colds and flu more so than before?
Do they have a job, but often ask you for money? If they don’t work, are they increasingly asking you for more money, to buy a “video game”, go to the “movies”?
Do they lack interest in the opposite sex?
Are their grades slumping? Were they once very active in the school, like student government or leadership programs, but no longer? When you ask them why, do they say “just because”?
Ask yourself if your teenager seems like he or she is hung over on a Saturday or Sunday morning.
Do they have a credit card and are racking up debt? Are you missing anything in your house?
These are all very real questions to ask yourself and really think about. While they all might not mean your kid is using drugs if you see a trend in a few of them then maybe it’s time to try and uncover the truth. Teenagers use drugs because they want to be cool and fit in, they may often see a peer of theirs “stoned” while in class acting like is having so much fun, when they are bored, and the kid is high off drugs. They may see this as making school much more tolerable. For a very active teenager to have a sudden decline in interests and increasing amount of time away from the family is very unusual.
Yes maybe they are chasing boys or girls, maybe they are very social people, maybe the like their friend’s house more than yours, but maybe they are staying away because they’re high and are highly unmotivated because the drugs make them crash. Has your child gained interest in weightlifting and is growing very fast, eating a ton, staying on a tight schedule, making sure he or she eats at a certain time, staying home more and building muscle at an alarming rate? Maybe they are using anabolic steroids. Although very rare it does happen and more so than you’d think. This can permanently damage your child’s growing endocrine system if they don’t know what they’re doing.
While some people may say marijuana use isn’t as bad as more illicit drugs they very well can lead to the more illicit ones or even a lazier life. Cocaine, Heroin, and Prescription Pills may even be more readily available to your child than pot. Their friend’s Mother or Father could have hurt their back and received a pain prescription and they stole some. Those pills are passed around on a daily basis at school. Is your child getting lazier, gaining weight (fat), and talking with a tight mouth? Maybe they are popping those pain pills.
While some parents may never know if their teenager is using drugs, the signs are there and they are very noticeable. If you feel like your child maybe smoking pot or popping pain pills, sit back and observe them. Notice different behavior, both mentally and psychically, then you’re accustomed to. Use your instinct and really ask yourself if that is possible. Then it can be time to confront them. Those drugs if abused can and will lead your child to a world spiraling towards rock bottom if not stopped. Teenagers all over the world die every day from a drug overdose. Even from drug-related crimes. Please open your eyes and maybe you can prevent years of torment to your child. The worse thing a parent would ever want to see their little boy or girls grow up to is a drug addict loser.
