How to Know If Your Teen Is Using Drugs (signs and Symptoms of Illicit Drug Use) Read more: How to Know If Your Teen Is Using Drugs (signs and Symptoms of Illicit Drug Use)

Signs & Symptoms of Teen Drinking/preteen Drug Use

How can you tell if your child is using drugs or alcohol? It is difficult because not all teens are the same. In this article you will find specific, up to date signs and symptoms that your child is using. The age of teens and pre-teens using drugs is getting younger everyday. Changes in mood or attitudes, unusual temper outbursts, changes in sleeping habits, new friends they might be hanging out with and changes in hobbies or other interests are common in teens and pre-teens. What should you look for? What should you do about it?

You can also look for signs of depression, withdrawal, carelessness with grooming or hostility. Also ask yourself, is your child doing well in school, getting along with friends, taking part in sports or other activities?

Instructions

1. • 1
     Does your child exhibit any of this new behavior? I'm going to teach you what to look for, drug lingo, and how to talk to you child. Drug abuse is a disease and should be treated like one. As will any terminal illness this should be caught early. Would you not have your child treated for cancer right away? This is a terminal illness, it wants to destroy the users life and the sooner it's caught the better. Many people believe that the user has a choice, many do not after their first use. I am a former user and i want to help you understand just how hard this disease is. Some teens might be using to fit in, some teens might have an underlying mental illness such as depression or anxiety or some might just be using because they fell in love instantly with the feeling of being high. Whatever reason they have we must stop them as soon as possible for the best results.

     The parents watch list

     Changes in friends (your child is no longer hanging out with the same people they have always been friends with)
     Negative changes in schoolwork, missing school, cutting classes, ditching school, or declining grades
     Increased secrecy about possessions or activities
     Use of incense, room deodorant, hairspray or perfume to hide smoke or chemical odors
     Subtle changes in conversations with friends, e.g. more secretive, using "coded" language, or your child leaves the room when he/she receives phone calls
     Change in clothing choices: new fascination with clothes that highlight drug use
     Increase in borrowing money
     Drug paraphernalia such as pipes, rolling papers, cigar guts(the insides of a cigar), straws that have been cut in half, hypodermic needles, rubber arm ties(the ones they use in hospitals to draw blood),pill grinder(these are plastic or glass and circular with spikes inside),spoons, tiny pieces of balled up cotton, etc.
     Evidence of use of inhalant products (such as hairspray, nail polish, correction fluid, common household products, whipped cream in a can); Rags and paper bags are sometimes used as accessories, a balloon with a metal piece inserted into the opening of the balloon
     Bottles of eye drops, which may be used to mask bloodshot eyes or dilated pupils
     New use of mouth wash or breath mints to cover up the smell of alcohol
     Missing prescription drugs-especially narcotics and mood stabilizers
     New attitude towards you (your child tells you just leave me alone, it's none of your business, stay out of my life etc.).
   • 2
     Drug Lingo: Know What to Listen for
     Does your child use the words such as dope, tripping, rolling, blunted, geeked, tweeking, or twisted these are some of the frequent words used when they are referring to getting high. Every state has different terms that they use but, these are the most common.
     Have you ever heard your teenager reference the time "4:20?" Many parents don't realize that 420 (pronounced "four-twenty") is a "secret code" for a time to get high, it mostly is referenced for pot. The reference to 420 presumably dates back to '70s stoner lingo but is still widely recognized by the youth of today. Some people have even designated April 20th as "National Pot Smokers Day." Every pot user is supposed to smoke a blunt (pot rolled into a cigar such as a Dutch master or Phillies blunt)at 4:20 pm on this date.

     If you hear your teenager reference 420, see that he is using the term while instant messaging with friends or has a 420 sticker on his car or backpack, call him on it. Also there is a magazine called high times that a lot of teens might purchase. Let him know you know what he's talking about and set up a time for a longer conversation about your family's no tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use. Be understanding if your teen thinks your being mean or you don't understand this may make them withdraw even more. You teen needs to know that you care about them and your not judging them. Let them know that you understand and let them know if you have ever done it before, you want to make sure that your child feels like they can trust you. They are more likely to tell you information if they feel like your not mad but you understand what they are going through and why they are doing this.
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   • 3
     Illegal drugs and their slang names:

     Cocaine: powder, white, coke, C, big c, flake, fish-scale, rush
     LSD: Acid, tabs, blotters, gel tabs, drops, hits, trip
     peyote: cactus, plant, blue
     Mushrooms: magic mushrooms, shrooms
     Ketamine: Special K, Kat, K-hole, Kit-kat
     Heroin: Dope, black tar, herron, nodding out, H, Hairy, H-bombs
     Marijuana: Pot, weed, trees, green, hay, haze, herb
     Extacy: E-bombs, E, Extacy, X
     Crack cocaine: Rock, crack, C, electric kool-aid
     Nitrous oxide: ballooning, whippits
     Methamphetamine: crystal, crystal meth, glass, upper, speed
     Other drugs your teen might be using, these are drugs you might find in your own home.
     Prescription pills: oxycontin, dilaudid, ****, ****, darvocet, ****, klonopin, ativan, ambien, lunesta, morphine, lorocet, ****, ultracet, and seroquil (It is very common that these pills are also sold on the street). If you take any of these prescription drugs make sure to keep them locked up in a safe or lockbox. If you cannot afford one keep them in your bedroom and lock it and sleep with them. The best way is to hide them in your pillowcase while you sleep.
     Inhalant: hairspray, air freshener, paint thinner, spray paint, whipped cream.

     Gateway drugs: These are the drugs your child is most likely to use before using any hard core drugs like heroin or cocaine. Gateway drugs include tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Teens don't really perceive these drugs as being bad, they say things like "well i' m only drinking and smoking pot it's no big deal". After that they start using things like acid and mushrooms. Then they progress to cocaine, crack and heroin.
   • 4
     How to have "The Talk" with your child

     If you suspect that your teen is doing drugs don't fly off the handle, that is sure to make them not want to reveal anything to you. Let them know that you understand. ask them why they are doing it, is it to fit in, do they feel depressed, have anxiety or just like the feeling. Tell them you know what they are going through, that you were that age once too. Let them know you are not mad at them but instead you want to help them. You know sometimes you hear people say "don't be a friend to your child, be a parent" well this is a time you must be a friend and parent so you can gain their trust. Let them know the dangers of drugs also let them know that their new friends really don't care about them and it's not a real friendship, the only thing the actually have in common is the fact that they all use. Be as honest as possible and always let them know no matter what you love them. sometimes by the time you reach this point it's already too late for a talk to work, if so you might want to consider a drug rehab, AA or NA meetings, or tell them they are not going to be able to live in your home anymore. As hard as this may seem in the long run you are saving your child's life. I told you earlier i am a former drug user, like most i started with pot and alcohol. In the end i was hooked on heroin. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I've been through. it has taken me three stints in drug rehab to get clean. I have been sober now for 5 months. If i had parents who would of talked to me it probably would of had a huge impact on my life. So remember go easy and always love them no matter what. Like i said it is a terminal disease.

Read more: How to Know If Your Teen Is Using Drugs (signs and Symptoms of Illicit Drug Use) | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5802984_teen-symptoms-illicit-drug-use_.html#ixzz2RCtC40Kw

Teens and Bipolar Disorder

By STEVE BRESSERT, PH.D.

Teenagers with bipolar disorder have an ongoing combination of extremely high (manic) and low (depressed) moods. Highs may alternate with lows, or the person may feel both extremes at close to the same time. Bipolar disorder usually starts in adult life, before the age of 35. Although rare in young children, it does occur in teenagers. This illness can affect anyone. However, if one or both parents have bipolar disorder, the chances are 5-10% greater that their children will develop the disorder. Bipolar disorder may begin either with manic or depressive symptoms. The manic symptoms may include:

• severe changes in mood compared to others of the same age and backgroundùeither unusually happy or silly, or very irritable
• unrealistic highs in self-esteem — for example, a teenager who feels specially connected to God
• great energy increase and the ability to go with little or no sleepfor days without feeling tired
• increased talkingùthe adolescent talks too much, too fast, changes topics too quickly and cannot be interrupted
• distractibility — the teen’s attention moves constantly from one thing to the next
• high risk-taking behavior, such as jumping off a roof with the belief that this will not cause injury

The depressive symptoms may include:

• persistent sadness, frequent crying, depression
• loss of enjoyment in favorite activities
• frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches or stomach aches
• low energy level, poor concentration, complaints of boredom
• major change in eating or sleeping patterns, such as oversleeping or overeating

Some of these signs are similar to those that occur in teenagers with other problems such as drug abuse, delinquency, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or even schizophrenia. The diagnosis can only be made with careful observation over an extended period of time. A thorough evaluation by a child and adolescent psychologist or psychiatrist can be helpful in identifying the problems, manic-depressive or other, and starting specific treatment.

Teenagers with bipolar disorder can be effectively treated. Effective treatment for this disorder usually includes education of the patient and the family about the illness, medication such as lithium, andpsychotherapy. Lithium often reduces the number and severity of manic episodes, and also helps to prevent depression. Psychotherapy helps the teenager understand himself or herself, adapt to stresses, rebuild self-esteem and improve relationships.

Most teen-drinking deaths aren't traffic-related

MADD is warning parents of teenagers that drunk driving is not the only underage drinking concern. Its analysis of federal data estimates that just 32% of underage drinking deaths are traffic-related.

By Larry Copeland

When it comes to teens and alcohol, drunken driving is far from the only thing that should concern parents.

That's the message from MADD, whose new analysis of alcohol-related deaths among people 15-20 estimates that 68% of fatalities connected to underage drinking are not traffic related.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving analyzed 2010 data from the FBI, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on deaths related to underage alcohol use. It estimates that 32% of these deaths were traffic fatalities; 30% were homicides, 14% suicides, 9% alcohol poisonings and 15% other causes.

"As parents, we are definitely aware of the dangers of drinking and driving," says MADD national President Jan Withers. "I think we're not as educated about all the dangers that drinking before age 21 can be related to. And they're very, very real."

MADD and Nationwide Insurance commissioned the analysis for their third annual PowerTalk21 day on Sunday when parents are encouraged to start talking with their children about alcohol.

It's never too late to begin that conversation, says Rob Turrisi, professor in behavioral health and prevention at Pennsylvania State University. The parents of even a high school senior who drinks occasionally or not at all can prevent that child from becoming a heavy drinker in college; parents of a teen who drinks heavily as a high school senior can reverse that pattern when the child gets to college, he says.

The key: parents having caring, thoughtful, ongoing conversations about underage drinking. "There are two really important social influences on a young person's life," says Turrisi, who has researched underage drinking for more than 20 years and developed MADD's free handbook, Power of Parents, (www.madd.org/powertalk21) as a guide for parents. "The first is their friends, and we know all about peer influence. The second most important influence is their parents. Parents can be really impressive. We are really in charge of helping our kids grow."

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found one-quarter of people ages 12-20 — 9.7 million — reported drinking within the previous month. Among those who did not illegally buy booze themselves, parents, guardians or other adult family members supplied it to 21.4% of the underage drinkers.

Many parents mistakenly believe that exposing their teen-aged children to alcohol in the safety of home while taking away the car keys is a good preventative approach, says Bill Windsor, Nationwide's associate vice president of consumer safety.

"Parents think, 'If they do it here, they won't do it somewhere else,' " he says. "But that's just not the case. It's important for parents to know that there is a significant danger here and it goes deeper than just taking away the car keys."

Turrisi's research shows that kids who drink perform worse in school, get pregnant at higher rates and have higher rates of alcoholism later in life, Windsor says.

Debbie Taylor decided to let it slide when she found her teen-aged son's stash of rum in the garage. After all, she reasoned, Casey was pretty much an all-around great kid: He was a high school senior who was on the honor role. He played football, wrestled, played tuba in the marching band, sang in the school choir and worked part-time in a restaurant near their home in Casper, Wyo.

She figured that it was OK for him to have an occasional drink at home; he wasn't going to be driving anywhere. "Instead of taking the bottle and bringing it in the house and having a conversation with Casey, I left the bottle where it was. And thought, that's not so bad. It's what all the kids do.

"I ignored the fact that he was drinking at all," says Taylor, 54.

Today, she regrets that decision as only a grieving mother can.

Four months after she found Casey's rum, he was dead of alcohol poisoning. One Saturday night after chugging rum with friends, he never regained consciousness. His blood-alcohol content was .41.

"My message to other parents is talk to your kids about the dangers of alcohol, because it isn't just driving drunk," Taylor says. "I taught my kids to never drive drunk. That was always a statement in my home. Don't drive drunk. They understood that. But I never raised them to not drink alcohol at all."

Casey was 18.

Go Ahead, Have The Alcohol Talk

Alcohol consumption patterns going into college were influenced by parents

 Parents may feel like their teenagers don’t listen. But when it comes to talking to teens about dangerous drinking, parents can make a real impact.

In a recent study, researchers tested how well parent-based interventions would work to prevent problematic drinking in a group of college freshmen.

The results showed that problematic drinking during freshman year was reduced when parents talked to their kids about drinking before they started college.

Michael J. Cleveland, PhD, research assistant professor at the Prevention Research Center at The Pennsylvania State University, led a study that investigated the use of parent-based interventions to help teens avoid problematic drinking in the first year of college.

“Several studies indicate that the transition from high school to college is a particularly vulnerable period that is associated with increased alcohol use and risk for experiencing negative alcohol-related consequences,” said the authors.

Previous studies have shown that parent-based interventions, in which parents talk to their kids about the dangers of problem drinking, can help reduce problem drinking in the late teen years, according to the authors.

This study looked at the effects of parent-based interventions on 1,900 incoming college freshmen at a public northwestern university. The students were recruited during the summer before heading off to college for the first time.

The students were randomly split into three categories:

1. Parent-based intervention before going to college
2. Parent-based intervention before going to college, plus three booster sessions throughout the first semester
3. Parent-based intervention during the fall of the first semester

The parents were given a pamphlet that outlined ways to talk to teens about how to resist peer pressure to drink and how alcohol affects the body. The pamphlets also included the university’s policy for alcohol violations, statistics about college drinking and the student code of conduct.

Before beginning the parent-based interventions, each of the students were asked about his or her drinking behavior. The students were classified into four categories:

• Non-drinkers (low-risk)
• Weekend light drinkers (low-risk)
• Weekend heavy binge drinkers (high-risk)
• Heavy drinkers (high-risk)

The researchers followed up with the students at the end of the fall semester to see if the parent-based interventions played a role in their drinking behaviors.

The results of the study showed that teens in the pre-college parent-based intervention group were less likely to engage in problematic drinking behavior during their first semester.

The authors said that 80 percent of pre-college non-drinkers and 53 percent of pre-college weekend light drinkers remained in the low-risk drinking categories at follow-up. 

They also found that the 86 percent of pre-college weekend binge drinkers and 95 percent of pre-college heavy drinkers remained in the high-risk drinking categories at follow-up.

“Parental influence can remain strong for young adults who are transitioning into college environments, even among students with relatively high peer influence to drink alcohol,” said the authors.

The authors concluded that parent-based interventions were a cost-effective tool to prevent the escalation of alcohol use during the first year of college, when there is a risk for developing high-risk drinking habits.

This study was published in April in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

(dailyRx News)

DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends

Every year, the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey measures drug, alcohol, and tobacco use and related attitudes among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. Following are facts and statistics about youth substance use from the 2012 MTF report.

Illicit Drug Use

Illicit drug use among teenagers has continued at high rates, largely due to the popularity of marijuana. Marijuana use by adolescents declined from the late 1990s until the mid-to-late 2000s, but has been on the increase since then. In 2012, 6.5 percent of 8th graders, 17.0 percent of 10th graders, and 22.9 percent of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month—an increase among 10^th and 12^th graders from 14.2 percent, and 18.8 percent in 2007. Daily use has also increased; 6.5 percent of 12th graders now use marijuana every day, compared to 5.1 percent in the 2007.

Rising marijuana use reflects changing perceptions and attitudes.Historically, as perception of risks goes down, use goes up (and vice versa -see figure). Young people are showing decreased perception that marijuana is dangerous. The growing perception of marijuana as a safe drug may reflect recent public discussions over medical marijuana and marijuana legalization.

Synthetic marijuana is a new and major concern. Also known as Spice or K2, synthetic marijuana refers to herbal mixtures laced with synthetic cannabinoids, chemicals that act in the brain similarly to THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana. These mixtures could be obtained legally until recently and are still wrongly perceived as a safe alternative to marijuana. Synthetic marijuana was added to the MTF survey in 2011. In that year, 11.4 percent of 12th graders—one in nine—reported using it in the past year. This year 4.4 percent of 8^th graders, 8.8 percent of 10^thgraders, and 11.3 percent of 12^th graders reported past-year use.

Nonmedical use of prescription and over-the-counter medicines remains a significant part of the teen drug problem. In 2012, 14.8 percent of high-school seniors used a prescription drug nonmedically in the past year. Data for specific drugs show that the most commonly abused prescription drugs by teens are the stimulant Adderall and the pain reliever Vicodin (see figure).

Positive trends in the past several years include reduced use of inhalants and less use of cocaine. Inhalant use is at its lowest levels in the history of the survey. Past-year inhalant use by younger teens dropped significantly between 2007 and 2012, from 8.3 percent of 8th graders and 6.6 percent of 10th graders to 6.2 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. Past-year use of cocaine by 12th graders dropped from 5.2 percent to 2.7 percent from 2007 to 2012. Other drugs, such as heroin, methamphetamine, and hallucinogens, are holding fairly steady.

Ecstasy (MDMA) is seeing a significant drop among teens. Past-year use of ecstasy by 12th graders decreased from 5.3 percent in 2011 to 3.8 percent in 2012. Among 10th and 8^th graders it dropped from 4.5 to 3.0 percent and from 1.7 to 1.1 percent, respectively.

Alcohol

Alcohol use among teens has dropped to historically low levels. In 2012, 3.6 percent of 8th graders, 14.5 percent of 10th graders, and 28.1 percent of 12th graders reported getting drunk in the past month, continuing a long-term, downward trend.. Significant declines include 5-year drops in daily alcohol use by 8th, 10th and 12th graders (0.3 percent, 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, in 2012). In 2012, 23.7 percent of high-school seniors reported binge drinking (defined as 5 or more drinks in a row in the past 2 weeks)—a drop of one-quarter since the late 1990s.

Tobacco

Fewer teens smoke cigarettes than smoke marijuana. Cigarette smoking by high-school students peaked in 1996–1997 and has declined continuously since then. In contrast, marijuana use has been rising in recent years. Now, while 17.1 percent of 12th graders were current (past-month) cigarette smokers—the lowest it has been in the history of the survey—22.9 percent were current marijuana smokers.

Other forms of smoked tobacco are remain popular, however. The use of hookah water pipes and small cigars has raised public health concerns and has recently been added to the MTF survey. In 2012, 18.3 percent of 12th graders had smoked a hookah in the past year, and 19.9 percent had smoked a small cigar.

Learn More

Complete MTF survey results are available atwww.monitoringthefuture.org. For more information on the survey and its findings, also visit www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/monitoring-future.

Other sources of information on drug use trends among youth are available:

The annual National Survey of Drug Use and Health, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, gathers detailed data on drug, alcohol, and tobacco use by all age groups. It is a comprehensive source of information on substance use and dependence among Americans aged 12 and older. Data and reports can be found atwww.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUHLatest.htm.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is a school-based survey conducted every other year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It gathers data on a wide variety of health-related risk behaviors, including drug abuse, from students in grades 9–12. More information is available atwww.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/index.htm.

Revised December 2012

About the Survey

Since 1975, the MTF survey has measured drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among 12th graders, nationwide. In 1991, 8th and 10th graders were added to the survey. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month. Overall, 45,449 students from 395 public and private schools in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades participated in the 2012 survey.

The survey is funded by NIDA and conducted by the University of Michigan. Results from the survey are released each December.

7 dangerous new teen trends--What parents should know

High school alcohol and drug use is on the decline, But older kids are finding dangerous ways to push boundaries. Here are 7 of the most frightening new teen trends.

By Lauren Shanley

I-dosing

In this age of technology, it's not surprising that entrepreneurs are trying to create a way to get high online. The result is a phenomenon called "I-dosing," which attempts to alter consciousness via sound. The Internet craze has teens plugging in their headphones to listen to downloadable MP3s that are said to have effects akin to getting high on actual drugs. There are various tracks designed to elicit the same "high" as specific drugs. Anywhere from five to 30 minutes long, the tracks consist of binaural beats, in which the tone of one frequency is played into the right ear and a slightly different frequency is played in the left ear. While some parents have expressed concern that the trend could lead to future use of other narcotics, researchers say that I-dosing itself is harmless.

Purple drank

Popularized in the late nineties rap scene, purple drank has been abused by teens for decades. Rap music is still peppered with references to the substance, and more teens have been brewing the concoction at home. By adding cough syrup with codeine to a soft drink and candy (usually Sprite and Jolly Ranchers), tweens and teens create what they consider a quick remedy for tension, anxiety, and aggression. The drink can be made with the over-the-counter medications like Robitussin DM, which contains dextromethorphan. Normally used as a cough suppressant, in large doses this substance causes hallucinations. A single use can be lethal to an inexperienced user. Other possible side effects include drowsiness, inability to concentrate, slowed physical activity, constipation, nausea, vomiting, and slowed breathing.I-dosing

Planking

While its origins have been disputed, one thing can’t be denied: Planking has taken over as a new teen trend. The activity consists of lying face down — like a board — on any and every surface. Participants snap a photo and upload it to the internet, where planking groups have proliferated to immortalize the most daring or silly pictures. It has caused numerous injuries and at least one death when a young man tried to plank on a balcony and plummeted seven stories. In most cases, planking is relatively harmless, but parents should remind teens to use common sense and safety while participating.

Vodka eyeballing

Afraid to be caught with the smell of alcohol on their breath, many kids have taken up the vodka eyeballing trend. Instead of throwing back a shot, teens hold the bottle to their eye and pour the liquid directly into the eye, which is laden with blood vessels. Here, the alcohol is quickly absorbed through the mucous membrane and enters the bloodstream immediately through the veins at the back of the eye. Eyeballing may yield a quick buzz without the bad breath but there can be extreme consequences:  Because most vodkas are between 40 and 50 percent alcohol, it can scar and burn the cornea, and even cause blindness.

The choking game

This potentially lethal "game" involves the use of restraints or the assistance of a friend to choke the player in order to cut off the flow of blood to the brain. The purpose is to obtain the high that comes when the restraint is released and the blood rushes back into the brain. In actuality, the "high" feeling comes from thousands of brain cells dying because of lack of oxygen, causing long term brain damage, comas, strokes, and bleeding in the brain (also known as "silent stroke"). Because there is never a way to know the exact time to let go, many participants pass out and some have actually hanged themselves. Most players are teens who want to get high with using drugs or alcohol. Although it is estimated that as many as 250 to 1,000 teens die from playing the choking game each year, most are ruled suicides.

"Bath salts"

The new drug sold legally as “bath salts” in head shops and liquor stores grabbed national headlines when it was outlawed byLouisiana in January 2011. Many states are trying to make the drug illegal, but since it takes different forms and combines different ingredients, state government officials have struggled with how to define the illicit substance. The bath salts have been found to contain mephedrone and MDPV, two drugs that cause severe hallucinations and psychosis in users who smoke, snort, or inject the substances. A single use causes intense cravings that results in three to four day binges and can end in suicide. Because bath salts continue to be legal in many states, some teens incorrectly assume the effects are less dangerous than other known narcotics. In the past six months, there have been over 3,470 calls to poison centersin 28 states to report incidents of bath salt exposure.

Overdosing on supplements

Studies indicate that as many as 40 percent of all young athletes take protein enhancements, which are available in forms ranging from bars to shakes to powders. While teens may take the supplement in order to improve muscle growth, muscle recovery, and overall athletic performance, there is no evidence that supplements are any more "enhancing" than a nutritious diet. In fact, such supplements can have harmful effects, such as weight gain, muscle cramping, high blood pressure, and heart problems. Creatine, which is found in many products, can actually interfere with a growing adolescent’s own natural production of creatine, making the body reliant on supplements. Overuse can actually cause blood acidity, which then draws calcium from the bones to counteract the higher acidity of pH in the blood, leading to declining bone strength and kidney stones formed by excess calcium. Advertisments for protein enhancements are ubiquitous in sports magazines, and the substances will likely continue to be popular because of the high protein to low carbohydrate and fat ratio, but parents and athletic coaches should monitor their use and encourage a healthy diet for teen athletes.

Heroin epidemic: How did we get here?

Monica Robins

CLEVELAND -- An Ohioan dies of a drug overdose every six hours. Usually it's an opioid painkiller or, more recently, heroin.

Suburban teens are the fastest growing group of heroin users in Northeast Ohio. Experts call the problem epidemic.

You know those little smiley and frowny face pain charts in the doctor's office? Well, in the late 90s, a push started in the medical community to start treating pain as the fifth vital sign.

Doctors started prescribing narcotic painkillers by the millions..

In 2004, state medical boards were encouraged to make undertreatment of pain a punishable offense.

Doctors were essentially forced to treat patients with drugs many believed might be too strong or addictive.

In fact, in 2010, doctors and pharmacists gave out enough opiate painkillers to medicate every American adult around the clock for a month.

And by the middle of the decade, we had a prescription addiction epidemic.

The opioid pain pills, like oxycontin, oxycodone, percocet and vicodin, were usually reserved for cancer patients. They work great, but too often were being prescribed for people with back pain, arthritis and other chronic pain conditions.

When it was time to ween them off, many patients were helplessly addicted. So another push started to limit the amount of painkillers prescribed.

But there were already thousands of people hooked.

Without access to their meds, they started hitting the street.

Heroin is cheaper, easier to get and a much faster high. It's also the same derivative as what's in those opioid prescriptions.

Heroin is an old drug, but now it's a new killer epidemic.

Since 1999, unintentional drug overdose deaths in Ohio increased 372 percent. Heroin and opioid drugs killed 161 people in Cuyahoga County alone last year..

That's more deaths than all other illegal drugs combined, more than homicides, suicides and fatal car accidents.

The majority of deaths happen in the suburbs. The users are predominately white and women are the fastest growing users.                                         

WKYC-TV

Experts: 5 Signs Your Teen Could Be Using Club Drug 'Molly'

By Lisa Finn--Northfork

Parents who have never heard of Molly, a club drug that some teens are using to get high on the North Fork and in Riverhead, need to be educated.

So said John Corbett, clinical coordinator at Mary Haven Center of Hope in Riverhead, who works with teens and adults addicted to Molly and other synthetic drugs in the "Steps to Life" program.

Molly is the powder or crystal form of MDMA, the chemical used in making ecstasy, said Susan Toman, of the Guidance Center in Southold. MDMA, she said, is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that produces feelings of increased energy, euphoria, emotional warmth and empathy toward others, and distortions in sensory and time perception.

Corbett said there are five signs parents can look for to see if their teen has been using Molly:

• Jaw clenching
• Sudden loss of appetite
• High and low temperatures
• Signs of depression such as sadness
• Not being able to get out of bed for an extended period of time

Parents whose teens are exhibiting any of those symptoms should be brought to the emergency room, Corbett said.

Toman said parents should also look for changes in behavior, grades, and friends, as well as mood swings and anxiety.

Short term effects of the drug include confusion, strange cravings, sleeping problems, memory loss, blurred vision, fever, muscle tension, rapid eye movement, and profuse sweating, Toman said.

One also needs to be aware of the signs of a teen overdosing, Toman said. If a teen has a mental health issue, or a predisposition for a mental health issue, and if there are breathing issues, asthma, or heart problems, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease or those physical illnesses run in the family and the teen can be potentially predisposed, the teen then is at higher risk for overdose and long-term damage from Molly, Toman said.

The warning signs of overdose are: headache, tremors, vomiting, collapsing, feeling hot or sick, fainting, loss of control over movement of the body, a racing pulse or heart, problem with urinating, and foaming in the mouth. Death can be a result of using Molly due to seizures and cardiac arrest, Toman said.

Parents can be proactive, Toman said. "Talking to your teen, having healthy conversations regarding your family values, and knowledge regarding the dangers of substance abuse, for anyone, and then more importantly for teens, whose brains are still in development through until their early 20s," are all critical, she said.

"Preparing to respond to teens rather than react, when challenged," she added. "This is extremely important. Don't let them isolate from you. Take a deep breath, and if you don't have the answer to their questions or challenges; respond, 'Let's look that up together.' Stay engaged with your teen. You are still the most important influence in their young lives. If the rules in your home have been relaxed and you realize the results are not what you thought they'd be, don't be afraid to have that conversation, make changes, and revisit the rules. This can be a learning curve. Teens need you to stay in charge and aware," Toman said.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Molly's technical name is 1-(3-Trifluoromethylphenyl) piperazine, or TFMPP.

Taken in large doses, Molly causes hallucinogenic reactions; the DEA considers MDMA to be a schedule I controlled substance, and can cause confusion, anxiety, depression, paranoia, sleep problems, and drug craving. The drug also can cause muscle tension, tremors, involuntary teeth clenching, muscle cramps, nausea, faintness, chills, sweating, and blurred vision.

In addition, the DEA reported that high doses of MDMA can interfere with the ability to regulate body temperature, resulting in a sharp increase in body temperature and hyperthermia, leading to liver, kidney and cardiovascular failure. Severe dehydration can result, the DEA said.

Experts warn Molly is being used by area teens. "Molly is being experimented with by youth on the North Fork and Riverhead and I am sure through out the United States," Toman said. "The hip hop community promotes it in music," she said.

In addition, Toman said, teens are experimenting with other synthetic substances, such as Smiles, a hallucinogenic drug -- and others that can be smoked in "e-cigarettes," electronic cigarettes that look like nicotine cigarettes but can be filled with synthetic drugs and masked with pleasant scents so parents remain unaware.

Corbett recently addressed the alarming topic of widespread Molly use at a forum held at Mattituck High School in December.

"Molly is like the 70s version of crack," he said. Teens, Corbett said, are combining Molly with other drugs, including marijuana and alcohol.

Today, Corbett said, teens are shooting dope, sniffing heroin, injecting "oxys and roxies," or the pill form of heroin, and opiate, and using Smiles, a form of K2, another dangerous synthetic "designer" drug.

But, Bennett said, although kids love the "highs and lows," of Molly, the crash is a hard one; body chemicals are being reconfigured and body temperatures being manipulated -- something that can cause dangerous medical issues, he said.

"Kids are experimenting with this on a regular basis," Bennett said.

Molly can sell for anywhere from $8 to $25, but because the drug is so highly addicting, he said, "They're buying a lot of it."

Molly, he said, is a drug parents should fear, causing a spike in emergency room visits, with teens experiencing heart palpitations, hallucinations, and lower than normal body temperatures.

Toman said synthetic drugs work with chemicals with in the brain that help regulate mood by increasing the activity of three neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

"When depleted of these natural occurring neurotransmitters, youth can fall into depression. It can be for a short period time, while others may need to be hospitalized," she said. "Brain chemistry is general and yet unique. Some of our youth do not have the advantage of an abundant supply of these neurotransmitters. It is playing a psychological Russian roulette.

"Youth have died in emergency rooms," Toman said. "We need to stay current, to battle the romanticizing of these dangerous substances."