If you're like most parents, you may not know enough. Did you know, for instance, that for many teens, there is a perception that drug and alcohol use is a normal rite of passage? Many parents of nine to twelve year olds would be shocked to discover how plentiful drugs are in their children's world. The good news is that parents can teach their children that drug abuse is serious and they can influence their children's decisions about whether or not to use drugs.
 
This article gives a broad overview of some of the risky behaviors in which teens are engaging and will introduce you to some of the terms being used.
 
Pharming
"Pharming" is the popular name for the abuse of prescription medication by teenagers, and it's on the rise among twleve to seventeen year olds. The most common source for teens to obtain prescription medication is from the medicine cabinets of family members, neighbors and friends. They can also easily buy them off the Internet with a credit card.
 
Some teens individually experiment with the medicines in various combinations just to see what will happen, but a growing trend is "pharm parties," where teens bring the pilfered pills to a party, drop them into a bowl or bag with other teens' pills, mix them up, then pass around the "trail mix" for the party goers to grab a handful on which to "graze." Medication in the mix may include anything from aspirin and codeine to Xanax™, Vicodin™ and Oxycontin™. It's also not uncommon for teens to take their "trail mix" to school. They have no idea which medications they are taking. Nor do they understand the danger in which they are placing themselves. 
 
Pharming is so common that there's a television commercial showing a teenage boy holding up a pill and saying "I got this one for my hysterectomy."
 
Robotripping
Robotripping is the use of cough medicine or other medications containing dextromethorphan, or DXM, to experience out-of-body sensations and hallucinations. The most commonly used medications are Robitussin™ and Coricidin™ pills. Users may suffer irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and seizures, overdosing or death.
 
Because the drugs are sold in pharmacies and sit in their parents' medicine cabinets, teens believe experimentation with them is harmless, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
 
ADD and ADHD Medications
Medications used for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) - Ritalin® and Adderall® - are being used by teens to "help me study better." Teens buy it on the street or from other teens or children legally using the drug for $1-5 a hit.
 
Ritalin contains the stimulant, methylphenidate. It's being used by teens for weight loss (it suppresses the appetite) and to keep them awake, attentive and focused. Its street names are "Vitamin R," "R-ball" and the "Smart Drug." It may be taken orally, crushed into a powder and snorted or mixed with water for injection. Used over a long period of time, it can become addictive. It may also lead to chest pain, seizures, psychosis or stroke.
 
Flavored Meth
With meth usage decreasing among adults, drug traffickers may have found another way to get business - flavored meth marketed to children and teens. Methamphetamine, a very addictive stimulant drug that can be smoked, inhaled, injected or taken orally, now comes in flavors such as cola, strawberry and chocolate and looks like a candy called Pop Rocks. Teenagers who have been taught that meth is dangerous may see the flavors as less harmful.   
 
Huffing, Bagging, Sniffing
Inhalant abuse (commonly called "huffing") is the intentional inhalation of chemical vapors to attain a mental "high" or euphoric effect. A wide variety of substances, including many common household products, are abused by inhalers. Primary users are pre-teens and teens. The products inhaled include solvents such as Dust Off™, paint thinner, gasoline, felt-tip markers, fingernail polish remover, airplane glue and aerosol products such as spray paint, deodorant, hair care products, gases such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and nitrites such as those used in room deodorizers.
 
Inhalants produce an effect similar to alcohol intoxication. Symptoms of huffing include drowsiness, lightheadedness, loss of inhibitions, hallucinations, impaired judgment, weight loss and lack of coordination. Brain, kidney, lung and liver damage or death may occur upon the first use or after prolonged use.
 
Alcohol and Nebulizers
Among the many drug and alcohol dangers parents need to be aware of, there is something new. Kids are putting alcohol into nebulizers and inhaling the vapors straight into their lungs, where the alcohol is absorbed much more quickly than through the stomach.
 
A nebulizer is a machine that converts a liquid form of medicine into a fine mist or vapor that is inhaled into the lungs, usually through a tube with a mouthpiece. Many households have them to treat young children with asthma, allergies or other upper respiratory ailments.
 
Now the helpful device is being used to get high quickly. When the alcohol is taken as a mist instead of a liquid, it enters the bloodstream faster and the effects are more immediate.
 
Some teens are also inhaling alcohol in its liquid form - a potentially deadly practice.
 
Cheese Heroin
This is black tar heroin and the ingredients in Tylenol PM™ and generics crushed up together and used by teens. It is snorted through a straw, tube or ball point pen.
 
According to users, the effects of "cheese" heroin include euphoria, disorientation, lethargy, sleepiness and hunger. This combination appears to be highly addictive. Withdrawal symptoms from "cheese" heroin may begin within twelve hours of use and include headache, chills, muscle pains, muscle spasms, anxiety, agitation, disorientation and disassociation.
 
What makes the drug so dangerous is a combination of several factors. It combines heroin, which is a highly addictive depressant, with other drugs that also slow the nervous system. In high dosages or in combination with other depressants, such as alcohol, the effect can be fatal. Also, the analgesic acetaminophen can cause serious liver damage and with high dosages or prolonged use, can be fatal all by itself. Diphenhydramine, the third drug in the combination, can cause hallucinations, delirium and confusion.
 
The drug is not only dangerous, at about $2 a hit, it's cheap and easy to obtain.
 
Salvia Divinorum
Salvia Divinorum, sometimes called the "new LSD," is a cultigen or plant made by man found in some parts of Mexico. When chewed or smoked, it produces experiences ranging from uncontrollable laughter to much more intense and profoundly altered states. It can also be made into a tea. It is not the same plant that is used in flowerbeds. The duration of effects is much shorter than that of other, more well-known psychedelics; the effects of smoked salvia typically last for only a few minutes.
 
This drug is illegal in Delaware, Louisiana and Missouri, and there is pending legislation that will make it illegal in 25 additional states. It can be easily purchased on more than 30,000 Internet sites at less than $10 a dose. The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration classifies it as a "drug of concern."
 
 
What can parents do?
The teen years are challenging for even the most well-adjusted teenager as he/she struggles with issues of rebellion, burgeoning sexuality, fluctuating hormones and evolving brain functioning. Teenagers often see drug and alcohol use as an expression of their individuality, daring, curiosity and rebellion.
 
The most effective resource parents have to keep their children drug free is communication. Kids turn to drugs and alcohol initially because they feel no one hears them and that no one cares. Other suggestions include:

• Set a good example for your children. Make sure that what you say and what you do are consistent. You lose credibility if you tell your child to avoid alcohol then ask them to bring you a beer from the refrigerator.  
  
• Keep the lines of communication open between you and your child. Make this a priority. Find the time to talk, but more importantly, to listen.
• Let your teenagers know you love them. They need to hear it frequently. Hug them. 
  
• Teach, don't criticize. A parent's job is to teach their children. The child's job is to learn. When you criticize, they turn the volume down so they don't hear you. 
  
• Listen to your child. You have to be quiet to listen. Don't sit there thinking about what you're going to say next. 
  
• Find teachable moments. Use television programs, things that happen with their friends, something you've heard on the news to generate conversation.
  
• Learn about the most current drugs and how to spot the signs of use.
  
• Be involved in your child's life. The better you know your teen the easier it will be to have difficult conversations. Know their friends and where they hang out. Enjoy activities with them.
  
• Talk to your children about your values.
  
• Teach your child to choose friends wisely.
  
• Give your children boundaries. It makes them feel safer to know what is acceptable and what isn't. They also want to know that somebody is in charge, that there is a touchstone.
  
• Be alert to the amount of medication in a bottle. If pills seem to be disappearing quickly, you need to find out why. Also, look out for assorted colored medicines in one bottle. Pharmacists only put one kind of pill in a single bottle.
• Safeguard all drugs at home, monitor quantities and control access. Even if you trust your child, you should lock up all medications. This will protect your child and his/her friends from the temptation.
• Properly conceal and dispose of old or unused medicines in the trash. Mix them with coffee grounds or kitty litter to make them undesirable. Do not flush medications down the drain or toilet because the chemicals can pollute the water supply. Remove identifiable information from prescription bottles before your throw them away. The incidence of medical identity theft - where people go through your trash and assume your medical identity to get drugs - is on the rise.
  
• Ask family and friends to safeguard their prescription drugs as well.
  
• Help your children practice saying "no" to drugs and alcohol. Give them the words to say. "My parents would kill me if they found out." "No, I'm not into that stuff." "My parents trust me not to drink, and I want to keep their trust."
• Monitor your child's Internet use.  

 
For additional information, visit www.samhsa.gov and www.theantidrug.com.