What Every Parent Needs To Know About Drug Abuse, Drug Testing And Teens
Are you a parent who is concerned about whether your child is using drugs? If so, you may have considered drug testing. Perhaps they have taken drug tests in the past, and you may even wonder if your child is clever enough to "fake pass" a drug test. It is possible that your suspicions about your child are wrong, and they may not be using drugs. The following information is designed to help you identify potential signs of drug abuse in teens.
Behavior Changes
Drugs can cause people to act differently than they act when they are not under the influence. Look for changes in academic performance. Also, be mindful of whether or not your child has lost interest in leisure activities or sports that they used to enjoy. Some children may abruptly start hanging with a different group of kids when they start experimenting with drugs. Keep in mind some drug abusers are high performers, which means that they may still be able to make good grades, go to school, and even participate in activities despite being at risk for addiction.
Legal Problems
If your child has had contact with law enforcement or had issues in juvenile court, they may feel stressed. Unfortunately, many teens and adults turn to drugs in an attempt to relieve stress. Being placed on supervised probation could catch drug abuse in children; however, if your child has a pending case, you may want to ensure they are clean and sober before their court date by having drug tests administered.
Past Use or Suspected Use
If your child has ever been caught with drug paraphernalia, drugs, or looked high, chances are that they might have been. Even if they shifted the blame to someone else or vehemently denied the allegations, you should trust your gut feeling.
Peace of Mind
Drug testing and its availability in modern times make it an ideal first mode of intervention for teens. The tests can be administered in clinical settings, schools, probation offices, and even the privacy of your home. False positives may occur, which is why if you perform testing at home, a re-test is encouraged. Also, keep in mind that some substances such as THC from marijuana may take a while to clear from your child's system, and a positive test result could be indicative past use rather than recent use
A professional drug testing lab would have access to more sophisticated tests that could show whether the levels of drugs in your child's system are hovering, going down, or going up. Hovering and rising levels suggest that drug use could still be occurring. You should keep in mind that some tests only check for certain substances, which means your child might still be abusing or addicted to another substance. For example, alcohol or cold medicine abuse might be difficult to detect in some drug tests.
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