Do you think your teen is on Drugs? part 3: 6 Red Flags to look for
Do you think you have a better idea of when to ask for help about your teen’s drug use? If you guessed early, you’d be right. The sooner the better since the longer a teen misuses drugs the harder it is to reverse the addiction or dependence. Sometimes you need a professional to help make the call, but first see if your teen raises any of the red flags listed below.
1. Grades. Grades are an important indication of a teen’s sense of well-being. If grades have changed dramatically, there is need for concern. This does not mean that you think your teen should be getting As and they earn Cs and you want their grades to be higher. This is a student who was getting As or even Cs and by the end of the semester or the following grading period the grades have dropped 1-2 letter grades.
2. Friends. A change in friends and interests is also cause for concern. As in, “Why don’t you hang around Ceci anymore? I thought you two were great friends.” The original friends are not likely to support the drug use and/or your teen is more likely to feel ashamed of how the drugs make them treat their original friends so they do not hang out with the original friends anymore.
3. Appearance. In terms of teens, a lot can be said about their appearance or the way they look because so much of their identity and expression is done through their clothes, hair, etc. However, when a teen goes from well kept to disheveled and not caring about their appearance at all, there is cause for concern.
4. Moody. Teens can be moody. Yes, this is normal, but mood swings are not normal. Wide variations in mood and at the slightest provocations are cause for alarm. When the drug is not in their system they will be less patient than when the drug is in their system. This will cause extreme highs and lows in their mood that will make you feel like you are walking on eggshells around your teen. I know you may already feel this on some level, but this is outside the range of what is considered normal.
5. Privacy. This is another alert that is difficult to tease out from normal teen needs of privacy so please do not think that you shouldn’t give your teen privacy in order to prevent drug use. This is not true and it will not prevent drug use. This is more like:
- Extreme needs for privacy like outbursts that are unusual when you enter their space almost like they have been caught.
- No information about their coming and going or not having any schedule.
- Having conversations that are immediately stopped when you enter the room are cause for alarm.
6. Evidence of drugs. This may seem obvious, but many parent have mentioned, “Their teen was in a car with others who were using drugs and they just smell like it because they were in the car.” It is important that you are cautious with the number of times you let this excuse explain something that is clearly odd. Your teen is more likely to use drugs if their friends do. If you keep smelling drugs or you find drugs or items that look like they are used to do drugs you should pursue any suspicions that you have at that point.
Hopefully this list will help you make a decision about whether you need to ask for help. If this list makes you want to talk to your teen about your concerns and you need help read part 1 of this series and if you get a positive answer back and want to know what kind of drugs use is considered abuse read part 2 of this series.
Part 4 will cover resources because if enough of these red flags are positive then you need to know how to get help for your teen using drugs now. Asking for a drug test is not the answer so you need real help and information.
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