Drug Testing Your Teenager

The article/news story I chose to talk about for my eight blog was written by Lindsay Lyon of US News. This particular piece is titled, “5 Ways Teens Might Cheat on Drug Tests—and How to Catch them”. Along with this article/new story there are other stories regarding the same situation of teenagers and drug abuse, including, “7 Reasons Parents Should Not Test Kids for Drug Use”. All of these articles are obviously useful to parents when it comes to their children/teenagers/loved ones, etc.

As stated by the article/ news story,

“Google "beat drug test," and the search engine spits out page upon page of ploys and products that can make incriminating urine seem drug free. All it takes is a computer-savvy teen to access them.”

The main point of the article is obviously discussing the 5 main different ways children my cheat on drug test. The five main ways are; tampering, water-loading, switching drugs, popping vitamins, and swapping urine samples. In my eyes, it is just so sad that it has come to teenagers having to think and do these sorts of things to pass a drug test. Just from personal experience of course, as a teenager I could never imagine such things even going through my mind. It just goes to show you how big of a social problem this really is.

To add on this particular social problem discussed in the article/news story. Even though two of the sources they gathered information were from places such as Washington DC and Texas, this social problem is obviously something that exist all over our country as well. Also, it was written in 2008 but clearly still a social problem to this day. Some of examples of sources the article/ news story used were; president of the Institute for Behavior and Health Inc./former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Robert DuPont and a toxicologist of the University of Texas-Houston medical school, Amitava Dasgupta. A week before this article/ news story was published, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry's annual meeting was held in Washington, D.C. Throughout the meeting they discussed how adults had all these different ways of cheating on their drug tests for work, and therefore it enabled teenagers even more to try and do the same things.

In conclusion, even though I was aware drug testing with teenagers was a significant social problem, this article helped me realize even more. To do our best to solve these issues, I think the first step would definitely have to be talking to our children/future children and drug related issues more and more. In my eyes, I feel is always best to have the parent/child relationship where the child feels safe talking to their mother/father about just about anything and everything. After reading this article and seeing even more the significance of this social problem, I definitely have made a pledge to myself to take any steps I can to help prevent these types of issues.

What Do You Do and When?

One problem parents face once they think their child is abusing drugs is they dontknow how to approach their child. With the article I chose it helps the parents of addicted children once they see some signs.

A Guide to Action for Parents talks about the science of why children using drugs is harmful.to their still developing bodies. In one study done if a child that starts to drink before the age of fifteen they had a forty percent chance of alcoholism intheir adult future. one very strikingthing i read about the way adults may think today is even though their child may have tested with drugs such as marajuana some parents will say it's just experimentation because they once did it their selves. But in fact marajuana of today is much stronger than in the past and much more easy to get addicted to especially with the strong acceptance among teens of the drug.

There was also a very helpful sign and symptoms list on What parents should look for listed which were:
1.Negative changes in schoolwork or missing school and declining grades.
2.Increased secrecy about about possesions or activities.
3.Use of incense, room deodorant or perfume to hide smoke or chemical odors.
4.Subtle changes in conversations with friends (code words)
5.New friends
6.Clothing changes
7.Increase of borrowing money
8.Evidence of pipes or rolling papers.
9.Bottles of eye drops
10.New use of breath mints or mouthwash to cover up smell of alcohol.
11.Missing prescription drugs-especially narcotics and mood stabilizers

These are just a few of many more signs parents should look for in their children and when they do notice these signs parents should then know what to do and when. First things first for parents is to get as educated as possible on drug abuse and alcohol abuse. The next best thing you can do to help the child sit down and talk to them when all parties are calm and collected. The most important way to make sure you don't push your child away is to let them know you aren't angry but are there to help. Being the parent though you must make sure that the child knows there are rules in the house and they will be enforced if necessary. Always remember though that this is not a one time conversation but may need to have multiple attemps but make sure not to give up on your child.

How Secure Are Your Medications?

The article I chose to talk about for my fourth blog was written by Alison Johnson from the “Daily Press” Newport News, Virginia. The piece is titled “How to keep medicine out of the reach of children”. The article was also published and linked to the Post and Courier website from Charleston, SC. Even though this was written by an author in Virginia, it is clear that this issue does pertain to a much bigger area, including us in South Carolina and much more. Children and drug abuse, I have realized through just how I felt before I started this assignment, and have definitely grown through my research and my “blogging”, it is very significant social problem in our world today.

This particular piece discussed the issue of children having the ability to get prescription drugs through family and friends. From the family and friends I myself am surrounded by, this is definitely something that shocks me. It is bad enough that the children are receiving these prescription drugs in the first place, but by people that are close to them is just beyond belief. Through the different stories I have read so far, in the first couple of articles it was children being affected by a parent/guardian’s drug abuse, and now is going to children being enabled to have substance abuse problems by receiving them through people like friends and family. Honestly can’t tell you which one is worse and I feel it is both poor parenting in many ways.

Even though the article did discuss children getting the prescription drugs from family and friends, it also discussed the risk and different steps people like parents could take to try to prevent drug abuse being an issue with their own children. The group the author got information about this issue through “National Family Partnership”. From what I have gathered, this is one of the many different organizations are centered on things such as the issue of drug abuse (along with other issues) within families. In my eyes, there definitely can’t be enough of them! According to “National Family Partnership”, “seventy percent of children who abuse prescription drugs get them from friends and family.” Looking at these numbers makes the realization even bigger on how big of an issue this really is.

According to the President of “National Family Partnership” Peggy Sapp,
“The No. 1 mistake parents make is thinking it can't happen to their child.”

During the part of the article that discusses ways of preventing substance abuse with children, there are eight different tips discussed. They are recognize the risk, explain the risk, store drugs safely, dispose of drugs safely, set a good example, have family dinners, get to know your child’s friends, and collection information from places such as LockYourMeds.org for more ways to prevent risks and substantial information on the issue. As I said earlier on, reading this articles and looking at the number of children affected by the issue of drug abuse. This social problem is definitely a scenario that needs all of the awareness and risk prevention possible, as a society it is definitely something that needs to be brought up and prevented as much as possible.