Drug Proofing Your Home?

You may be surprised to learn that the first bit of advice we're going to give you about completely "drug-proofing" your home is to tell you that it's pretty much impossible. And that's because in both Canada and the U.S., we've become "nations of medications." The average house is like a drug store and when you add all the other substances that a kid can use to get a buzz, it's a near impossible task trying to "drug-proof" your home entirely. Combine that with the fact that sites like MySpace have thousands of posts about how to get high with things found around the house, and you're really fighting an uphill battle if you're approaching the problem purely from the "enforcement" perspective.

So this "How To" is really designed to show you that some common sense, plus educating yourself about some commonly abused substances that are often found in the average home are really your best strategy. Simply locking everything up and acting like a DEA agent every time your child walks in the room is not going to work and may actually do more harm than good.

If your child was to sit down one evening and watch the national news with you, two things would take place. One, they'd learn a little bit about what was happening in the world that day, and obviously that's a good thing. But the other thing they'd learn, or at least perceive, is that North Americans suffer from an endless number of ailments, and the solution to every one of them is a pill. And that's because about 95% of the commercials that punctuate the national news are for prescription drugs.

Got a headache? Can't sleep? Can't stay awake? Depressed? Too high-strung? Fidgety? Nervous? Can't concentrate? Restless legs? Dry skin? High cholesterol? High blood pressure? Low self-esteem? Too fat? Too thin? No energy? Can't relax? Stressed out? Can't make love? Constipated? Indigestion? No problem! Just take this pill. No matter what your problem is, the solution is just one pill away. And the accompanying message for all these drugs is "talk to your doctor, because unless you have these other pre-existing conditions, this is a safe drug to take."

And of course, your child either doesn't have those pre-existing conditions, or doesn't think they do. And they already know that some of the best athletes in the world use pharmaceuticals, as well as some of the most famous performers. And they might know about something that Mom and/or Dad use as well. So the message is, "got a problem? - take a pill." And when you look in the average medicine cabinet in the average North American home, there's no shortage of pills.

So as a result, many kids first experiment with drugs by abusing prescription drugs they find in their own homes. Recent surveys (2007) indicate that on an increasing basis, under college age kids and kids in college are using non-prescribed medication almost as the new "drugs of choice." There’s also a perception among kids that prescription drugs are safer to experiment with because they’re legally manufactured, are often in pill form and after all, “Mom or Dad takes them, so how damaging can they be?” And a huge number of kids themselves on are some serious prescribed medication as well, so it's not like it's foreign territory for them.

And sometimes they have more pragmatic reasons and motivations for "dabbling" with prescription medication. A surprising number of kids today for a variety of reasons, suffer from almost chronic fatigue. The percentage of teens today who are technically "sleep-deprived" is really alarming, and sometimes it's issues like this that provide what they feel is a good rationalization for a little experimentation.

So as a parent, the first thing you have to know is that kids aren't experimenting with pharmaceuticals and other potentially intoxicating substances found in the home because they're evil children, or because they're carrying an addictive "gene." It's because they're kids, they're fearless, hardwired to be curious and the message that they're getting from society is that certain types of drug use are acceptable. And as we said, the only thing you can really do is acknowledge that, use some common sense, and educate yourself a little as to what you should know and what you can do. And that's precisely what the rest of this "How To" is about.

There are four main types of prescription medications that are commonly abused — pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives and tranquilizers. Eleven percent of teens (aged 12-17) report using pain relievers and four percent report the non-medical use of stimulants. Painkillers are the most common pharmaceutical abused by teens, especially by younger teens. Stimulant abuse is more common among older teens and college students than younger teens. Girls are more likely to be current (past month) abusers of prescription medications than boys (4.3 vs. 3.6 percent). (Source: 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.)

So whether or not you suspect your kids are abusing prescription medication in the home, it just makes sense to keep such substances securely stored somewhere instead of leaving them out in the open, subject to their natural temptation.

There are other non-prescription medications in your home that should also be monitored and kept in a secure location as well. These include such products as Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough Medicine, Comtrex Multi-Symptom Cold, Coricidin Cough & Cold Tablets, Dimetapp DM, Robitussin cough products, Sudafed cough products, Triaminic cough syrups, Tylenol Cold products, Vicks 44 Cough and Vicks NyQuil LiquiCaps. These products contain "dextromethorphan" which when taken in large doses can produce dissociative effects. (lights on, nobody home) There are a great many street names for medications that contain this ingredient, but some of the more popular are Dex, DXM, Robo, Skittles, Syrup, Triple-C and Tussin.

- Acquiring an apathetic attitude of “who cares?” or “everything sucks.”

On the next and last page of this tutorial, we're going to discuss what you kids have to know about prescription drugs. It's not a scare tactic, it's simply the truth.