Article Contributed on: 4/5/2007 1:22:13 PM
The first time you discover it, perhaps you know what it is, but probably you don't. It's a cored out apple that is scorched on the inside and it's lying somewhere hidden in your child's bedroom.
The next time you carry out your son or daughter's trash, you discover a pop bottle with a broken pen sticking out of it, and you still can't quite make anything out of this. It can't be drugs, because you know the signs... your child would be having their grades dropping, they'd be hanging wiht the "wrong" crowd, they'd be coming home late at night, their eyes would be blood shot and they'd smell, right? Wrong!
Today's teen users have smartened up, and it's time the parents catch up. Your teenagers buy and sell easily. Their transactions are small - "e" or "pot" for just one or two usages. If they do pot, they hollow out a cigar, smoke it in an apple pipe or use a water pipe made of a water or pop bottle, and don't need the old drug paraphenaillia such as a bong.
They have visine for their eyes, body freshner and febreze for the smell, and time on their side since they know your comings and goings better than you do.
The alchol they carry is mixed with whatever pop or drink containerthat theyto and from school and other places, or even in a cup from McDonalds or Subway. They drink listerine (like we did) only they have it stored in the trunks of their cars.
Did you ever find a bottle and wonder why they didin't carry it into the house? With the breath freshner strips on their tongues, they kiss you goodnight and you never suspect that they've just driven home drunk.
Gues what? It's time to wake up to what your kids are doing. Times have changed, and yes, they can have new friends, but not always.
At least in the affluent area of Douglas County, there are so many teens who can afford recreational drugs, many have tried it and can get them any time they want them. Grades may slip, but not necessarily.
Transactions take place after school and since it is easy to stop someplace on the way home, you don't necessarily have the control to know whether your child has something illegal or nothing.
The biggest tricks a parent has are to talk to them, check up on them constantly (calling the parents of the house they claim they will be at), check their wallets at least once a month for possible illegal IDs, and don't be afraid to do UFOs... random searches of their room and bathroom for Unidentified Foreign Objects.
If you find something that looks like it's for drugs, call a cop and ask. Trust your gut, not your kid in this circumstance.
Get help from a professional such as the Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Center.Whatever you do, don't ignore the problem. It won't go away.