what are some ways to find out about your schools policies related to drugs?

| Last Updated: 3/02/xx | 29 sources

When Tara Fitzgerald, a 17-year-old inferior from Woodbury, Minnesota, died of a drug overdose in 2014, her family unit was stunned. A talented musician and honors student, Fitzgerald was the last kid anyone would wait to be using drugs.

Just Fitzgerald, it turned out, had been harboring a marvel about LSD and thought that's what she was taking the nighttime of Jan. 11. It wasn't. As an dissection later showed, Fitzgerald had died from a single dose of a synthetic drug called 25I-NBOMe, a potent chemical concoction with hallucinogenic effects that can besides cause cardiac and respiratory arrest, seizures and expiry.

While the tragic case drew considerable attention to the scourge of synthetic drugs, information technology also underscored a troubling truth about the nation's drug epidemic — the ease with which teens can access drugs.

In Fitzgerald's case, she had purchased the drug from another honors educatee for just $10. Five teens in her town were eventually implicated in the drug supply chain and charged with murder in her death.

But while Fitzgerald turned to friends for drugs, she could have just equally easily purchased them online.

Drugs, as about teens will tell you, are more readily bachelor today than e'er before. From friends and family unit to Facebook and Snapchat, here'southward an eye-opening look at some of the mutual ways teens are accessing drugs and booze.

At Dwelling house

The easiest identify for teens to access drugs and booze is inside their own home — and information technology's not necessarily the liquor chiffonier attracting the most attention. It's the family medicine chiffonier. Inside, they're apt to find a cornucopia of drugs: leftover painkillers from Mom'due south knee surgery, Dad's sleeping pills and stimulants such equally Ritalin prescribed for their little blood brother'south attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

"Kids tend to view prescription drugs as being condom because they were prescribed past a dr. and come in a nice bottle."

Prescription cough syrup containing promethazine and codeine is another mutual medicine-cabinet staple associated with teen drug abuse. A pop method of consumption involves mixing the coughing medicine with a fruit-flavored soda and dropping in a Jolly Rancher candy for coloring and flavor.

Teens often call this drink "sizzurp," "regal drank," "syrup" or "lean." The unsafe cocktail has get pervasive in rap music and culture.

Dr. Laura Markley, a pediatrics and child psychiatry specialist at Akron Children's Infirmary in Ohio, says kids often have a false sense of security well-nigh prescription drugs.

"Kids tend to view it as being safe considering it was prescribed by a doctor and comes in a nice bottle," Markley said. "[They] think information technology'south non every bit bad as marijuana or cocaine. And if a physician says it'southward OK, how could it possibly kill me?"

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids recommends that parents keep all medications in a locked identify and perform an annual spring cleaning of their medicine cabinet. Information technology's of import to make note of how many pills and refills are remaining and safely dispose of any unused or expired medications.

Long gone are the days when the simply source of drugs was a shady-looking character on a street corner. Social media and the internet take spurred a new generation of digital dealers who are footling more than a click away.

Facebook, it seems, isn't simply nearly connecting with friends. The popular social network has also go a fertile marketplace for the drug trade. While some dealers peddle drugs such as Xanax, LSD, ecstasy and cocaine through secret Facebook groups, others practice it more blatantly.

For instance, a quick search of the term oxycodone on Facebook reveals photos of pills and profiles of simulated pharmacies offering opioid painkillers, sleeping pills, sedatives and other drugs for sale through the mail without a prescription. Teens are too ownership drugs through popular apps, including Snapchat and Instagram, according to media reports.

Online pharmacies

The internet is awash in websites offering potent pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription.

That'south how Jason Surks, a 19-year-old sophomore at Rutgers, University was able to feed his Xanax addiction, according to his mother, Linda. Unfortunately, Surks' parents didn't realize that he even had a drug problem until he died in 2003 of an adventitious overdose. Just a posthumous search of his computer led them to several pharmacies he had visited online, including one based in Mexico.

"We establish indications that this pharmacy automatically renewed his gild each month," Linda Surks said during a congressional hearing on prescription drug abuse in 2006. "It was a simple procedure of a few clicks and the drugs were delivered right to his door."

While the Nutrient and Drug Administration and U.Due south. law enforcement agencies have fabricated a concerted endeavour to crack down on the global network of rogue online pharmacies over the past decade, they've barely fabricated a dent. It's like a game of whack-a-mole with new pharmacies popping up as shortly as others are shut downwardly.

The Night Web

The online drug trade is likewise flourishing on the dark web, a hidden network of websites that aren't indexed past normal search engines and are just attainable only through special web browsers such as Tor. In January 2016, alone, drug revenues in cryptomarkets totaled between $12 1000000 and $21.1 million, according to an analysis by RAND Europe. Some tech-savvy teens are finding their mode to these illicit markets.

That's allegedly where two 13-year-olds from Park Urban center, Utah, got their hands on an obscure synthetic opioid known as U-47700, or "pinky." According to news reports, Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth received the drug from a 15-year-former friend, who had it delivered to his house after purchasing it from China on the dark web using bitcoin, a digital currency. Seaver and Ainsworth died within 48 hours of each other after ingesting the substance in September 2016.

With so many means for teens to notice drugs on the internet, experts recommend that parents proceed a close center on their kids' internet browsing and social media use. This means checking out your teen's Twitter and Instagram feeds and familiarizing yourself with hashtags that include slang and street terms for diverse drugs.

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Drugs in School

In a perfect world, schools would be condom, drug-costless zones. Unfortunately, many of America's loftier schools have go "supermarkets where students can by drugs." Researchers at The National Center on Habit and Substance Corruption at Columbia Academy reached this conclusion afterward completing an in-depth survey on teen drug utilise.

90 percentage of American loftier school students say that some classmates potable, use drugs or smoke during the schoolhouse day.

According to the 2012 written report, nearly 90 per centum of American loftier schoolhouse students say that some classmates beverage, utilise drugs or smoke during the school day — and 44 percent know of a student who sells drugs at their school. Drugs are then attainable, in fact, that half of the teens surveyed said they believed they could get marijuana, prescription drugs or alcohol inside a 24-hour interval if they wanted to.

In that location's rarely a day that goes by, it seems, that a student isn't arrested somewhere in the country for dealing drugs on schoolhouse property. In October 2017, for case, a 17-year-old student in Fresno, California, was arrested afterwards allegedly selling Xanax pills to his fellow students that he kept in a Tic Tac container and an Altoids box.

A month subsequently, two students at Central High School in Fort Pierce, Florida, were arrested and charged with allegedly attempting to sell prescription drugs, including oxycodone and a fentanyl patch, to their classmates.

Information technology's not just a public school problem. In the 2012 study, 54 percent of students at individual loftier schools described their schoolhouse as being "drug infected," compared to 61 percent of public loftier school students.

• 91 percent say marijuana is sold
• 24 percent say prescription drugs are sold
• eleven percent say other drugs are sold
• 9 percent say cocaine is sold
• 7 percent say ecstasy is sold
• half-dozen percentage say cigarettes are sold
• five percent say LSD or mushrooms are sold
• i percent say alcohol is sold
• 1 percentage say methamphetamine is sold
• one percent say heroin is sold

Source: 2012 National Survey on Drug Utilize and Wellness

At the Store

Prescription and illicit drugs aren't the but substances teenagers are using to get high. Abuse of over-the-counter medicines, such equally cough syrup, is also on the rise.

• Cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine or dextromethorphan
• Nutrition pills
• Caffeine medicines and free energy drinks
• Motion sickness medications such as Dramamine
• Laxatives, herbal diuretics and other herbs
• Allergy medications such every bit Benadryl and Chlor-Trimeton

While teens are attracted to these medications because they're cheap, legal and readily available without a prescription, they're far from safe.

1 popular method of abuse, known as "robotripping," involves ingesting large quantities of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that comprise dextromethorphan, or DXM, including Robitussin and NyQuil.

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Disorientation
• Diarrhea
• Dumb vision and speech communication
• Lack of motor coordination
• Increased heart rate and blood pressure

In severe cases, a person can suffer cerebral hemorrhages, seizures, permanent brain harm and even death.

At the cease of the day, teens can utilise numerous methods to get drugs through various avenues. They could use fake IDs, attend parties or meet dealers on the street. Like adults, teens can also access prescriptions past visiting a physician or past rifling through the cabinets of a grandparent, friend or neighbour.

If you suspect that your teen has a drug trouble or an addiction, professional person intervention may be required. When possible, go your kid aid before he or she develops a substance use disorder. Habit treatment can exist challenging for children, but rehab facilities for adolescents offering unique programs that set teens for success in recovery.

The best steps a parent can accept to protect their teen children from drug and alcohol abuse include talking to them almost the dangers of habit and monitoring their activities — both online and off.

Medical Disclaimer: DrugRehab.com aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with a substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral wellness conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information technology should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider.

Writer

As a one-time announcer and a registered nurse, Amy draws on her clinical experience, compassion and storytelling skills to provide insight into the disease of addiction and handling options. Amy has completed the American Psychiatric Nurses Clan'due south course on Effective Treatments for Opioid Employ Disorder and continuing pedagogy on Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). Amy is an advocate for patient- and family unit-centered intendance. She previously participated in Moffitt Cancer Center'southward patient and family informational program and was a speaker at the Establish of Patient-and Family unit-Centered Care'due south 2015 national conference.

@DrugRehabAmy

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