It seems that we are surrounded by drugs and as a parent you worry about the safety of your children. Many parents feel that they don’t understand drugs enough to keep their child free from harm.
There are some commonly used drugs that you need to be aware of. Here we provide a brief overview so that you can be better informed. We have several drug tests that look for drugs that are commonly used. These tests use strips and you can decide which drugs that you want to conduct a test for.
Drugs change how you feel and the way that you think. There are many different drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and those from modern medicine. We use the following groups to classify drugs:
- Analgesic Drugs – These drugs kill pain such as heroin.
- Depressant Drugs – These drugs slow everything down like alcohol, glues, aerosol, and gasses.
- Hallucinogenic Drugs – These drugs impact the mind and cause people to hear or see things. L.S.D. magic mushrooms and cannabis are common examples.
- Stimulant Drugs- These drugs make things seem, like they are faster and include ecstasy, cocaine, poppers, tobacco, speed, and crack.
Why Are Young People Taking Drugs?
Many parents just don’t understand why a young person would want to take drugs. These parents end up questioning their parenting skills and believe that the child is having problems at home or at school.
A child will take drugs for a number of reasons. They may enjoy the short-term effects of the drug or the fact that their friends do them and they don’t want to feel left out. It may be a curiosity factor and a part of growing up. These children want to break the rules but they don’t understand the consequences of their actions.
When you are an adolescent you tend to experiment quite often and this can involve drugs. As a parent you can have some influence over whether or not your child is using drugs. This doesn’t guarantee however that your child will not use them even if you’re supportive and a good parent. To reduce the risks you need to:
- Teach your children using accurate data about drugs because they always receive misinformation from their friends.
- Discuss drugs an open way that is relaxed.
- The key it to stay calm even if you think your child is using drugs. You need to discuss it without fighting, this doesn’t help.
- It is hard to give a lecture about abuse if you use tobacco or alcohol yourself so you need to set a good example for them.
- Listen and negotiate with your child when it comes to guidelines about behaviour.
- Growing up is difficult and children will make mistakes so keep this in mind.
As a parent, it’s natural to feel worried when your child experiments with drugs or alcohol. But try to stay calm and have an open conversation with them. Getting angry or overly accusatory often backfires and shuts down communication. Instead, approach it as a learning opportunity.
Ask them what motivated them to try drugs and really listen without judging. Let them share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings openly. This builds trust so they feel comfortable being honest with you. Clearly explain the risks in a factual, non-preachy way. But also remind them that you care about their wellbeing and safety above all else.
If you establish that trustful dialogue early on, your child will be more likely to come to you if they ever find themselves in a dangerous situation with drugs or alcohol. The key is keeping those lines of communication open, addressing it together as a team, and letting your love and concern guide the discussion – not anger or fear.
What The Risks When You Take Drugs?
Drugs impact people in different ways and they all carry some major risks Some of the major risk of taking drugs include:
- It’s not possible to know exactly what you are taking when you buy a drug. Most drugs are not pure and your child doesn’t know what the main drug has been mixed together with.
- It’s hard to know the exact strength of the drug and an overdose can occur if the drug is too strong.
- The impact of the drug on the child isn’t known even if the person has taken the drug before it can react differently in each situation.
- It’s dangerous to mix various drugs such as taking a drug with alcohol.
- If injections are done or other needles are used there’s a risk of infections such as HIV or hepatitis being spread around. When you inject you can damage the veins too.
The Big Killer Drug Is Tobacco
Many young people are beginning to smoke: When you use tobacco it can:
- Cause lung cancer
- Cause Emphysema or lung disease
- Cause Heart disease.
Nicotine testing: A urine test that detects cotinine will help you to check if a young person has been smoking.
Binge Drinking Is A Common Thing Among Teenagers And Other Young People
Drinking has risks of:
- Car and other accidents
- Money and legal problems
- Violence and fights
- Damage to the brain
- Having unsafe sex.
Alcohol testing: A breath alcohol test can be used to determine if alcohol is present in a person’s system. A rapid saliva alcohol test can also be used.
Cannabis Or Pot Causes Different Effects
When smoking Cannabis it impacts:
- The ability to use machinery or operate a car in a safe manner
- There’s the possibility of respiratory diseases such as bronchitis
- Smoking it can cause various cancers
- It can cause memory loss and psychosis
- If you smoke it while pregnant this can hurt the baby..
If a young person is using Cannabis, this can easily be detected using a Cannabis Drug Test.
Things You Need To Remember
- A drug is harmful when you take the drug and don’t know anything about it.
- Legal drugs cause more deaths than “illegal: drugs so tobacco and alcohol abuse are just as harmful as pot or other drugs.
- Some children will experiment with drugs even if you are a good parent.
Photo: “Protecting Young People From Drugs” by Anthony Cunningham for Zoom Testing
Zoom Testing is a leading UK drug testing company and a supplier of Drug Test Kits.
