Signs, Symptoms and Prevention

Concerned your child might be experimenting with drugs or alcohol? Below are some signs to look out for:

Changes in Behavior

• Missing school, declining grades or discipline problems
• Dropping old friends and getting new ones
• Dropping activities such as sports
• Increased secrecy
• Unusual borrowing of money
• Sudden mood changes, aggressiveness, irritability
• Restlessness, excessively talkative, rapid speech
• Irresponsible behavior, poor judgment
• Depression
• Forgetfulness, slurred speech, or difficulty expressing thoughts
• Lack of coordination, poor balance

More Direct Evidence of Substance Use:

• Increased use of incense, room deodorant or perfumes (to hide smoke or chemical odors)
• Increased use of eye drops (to mask bloodshot eyes or dilated pupils)
• New use of mouthwash or breath mints (to cover the smell of alcohol)
• Drug paraphernalia such as pipes, rolling papers
• Increased accumulation of inhalable products such as hairspray, nail polish, correction fluid, etc.
• Missing prescription drugs – such as narcotics, stimulants and mood stabilizers

Preventing Substance Abuse

• Set a good example
• Know your child’s whereabouts, activities, and friends
• Eat dinner together regularly
• Set fair rules and hold your child to them
• Be caring and supportive of your child
• Maintain open lines of communication
• Surround your child with positive role models
• Incorporate religion or spirituality into family life
• Learn the signs and symptoms of teen substance abuse and conditions that increase risk.
• If problems occur, get help promptly

Did you know?

• A child who reaches age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so.
• Each day more than 13,000 children and teens take their first drink.
• Children and teens that begin drinking before age 15 are four times likelier to become alcohol dependent than those who do not drink before age 21.
• More than five million high school students, almost a third, admit binge drinking at least once a month.
• On average, teenagers who use alcohol, tobacco and marijuana begin using them between 12 and 14 years of age, with some of the highest risk kids starting to use even earlier.
• More than forty percent of America’s teens – some 10 million – can buy marijuana within a day and 20 percent—some 5 million—can get it in an hour or less.
• Kids are particularly vulnerable to substance use during transitions from elementary to middle school, middle to high school, and from high school to college. Family disruptions, which can include separation and divorce, a death in the family, or even something like a move to a new home or a new town can hike a teens’ risk of substance abuse.
• The number of Americans who abuse controlled prescription drugs has nearly doubled from 7.8 million to 15.1 million from 1992 to 2003 and abuse among teens has more than tripled during that time.
• From 1992 to 2003, while the U.S. population increased 14 percent, the number of 12 to 17 year olds who abused controlled prescription drugs jumped 212 percent.
• From 1992 to 2002, new abuse of prescription opioids among 12 to 17 year olds was up an astounding 542 percent, more than four times the rate of increase among adults.
• One-third of teens and nearly half of 17-year olds attend house parties where parents are present and teens are drinking, smoking marijuana or using cocaine, Ecstasy or prescription drugs.
• Parents who use illegal drugs, abuse alcohol and use tobacco put half the nation’s children – more than 35 million of them – at greater risk of substance abuse and of physical and mental illnesses.
• Eighty-four percent of sites offering controlled prescription drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin do not require that the patient provide a prescription from his or her doctor. There are no controls stopping sales of these drugs to children.
• Forty-nine percent (3.8 million) of full time college students binge drink and/or abuse prescription and illegal drugs.

Source: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University’s reports: Family Matters: Substance Abuse and the American Family, National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XI: Teens and Parents, Teen Tipplers: America’s Underage Drinking Epidemic, The Commercial Value of Underage Drinking and Adult Abusive and Dependent Drinking to the Alcohol Industry, Under the Counter: The Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs in the U.S., Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities and “You’ve Got Drugs!” IV: Prescription Drug Pushers on the Internet.