Proactive steps to a drug-free C.L.E.A.N. home
Communicate beliefs on drug and alcohol use
- • Talk with your kids about alcohol and drugs in the household.
- • Be honest about the limits on alcohol and drugs. This is similar to a company's limits detailed in a drug and alcohol policy.
- • Explain your views on why these limits are in place in the household and your personal reasons that informed these choices.
- • Have your kids help write this home drug and alcohol policy.
Learn the signs of drug and alcohol use
Be trained on the signs of potential drug or alcohol abuse. This is similar to a company's supervisor Reasonable Suspicion Training that is sometimes required with a two hour course. Below are the basics:
- • Look for abnormal behaviors: Speech, physical appearance, behavior, performance, and body odors may be altered if an employee is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
- • Marijuana indicators: Redness of the eyes, distinct odor, tired, avoidant social behaviors
- • Cocaine indicators: Runny nose, constant sniffing, dilated pupils and redness around the eyes, increased or reduced fatigue, abnormally talkative
- • Opioids/Heroin indicators: Drowsiness, disoriented or confused, vomiting, frequently itching or scratching the skin, droopy eyes, pale skin
- • Abnormal behaviors will not always indicate substance abuse!
Educate your kids on the dangers and consequences of substance abuse
- • Teen alcohol abuse is responsible each year for nearly 200,000 ER visits and 4,300 deaths among kids under 21.
- • In 2016, an average of 28 people a day in the U.S. were killed in DUI accidents, according to federal estimates.
- • Over 1 in 10 of people who start smoking marijuana as teenagers become dependent on it.
- • Spice or K2 (Synthetic Marijuana) is about 10 times more potent than naturally occurring THC and can be up to 800 times more potent.
- • A July 2016 report found that there has been 200 calls related to marijuana received by the Oregon Poison Center between January and June compared to 158 calls in all of 2015.
Announce deterrents to using such as testing
- • If drug testing is an option, incentivize your kids for a clean drug test.
- • If drug testing is an option, detail how often a drug test is needed.
- • Decide if you will require a home drug test or a clinic drug test.
Network of treatment options
If you notice any signs of addiction, now is the time to reach out to a professional. There is help for teenagers on drugs or alcohol, but the longer that substance abuse continues, the harder it will be for your child to recover over the long-term.
- • Drug treatment recovery site
- • Professional and/or Church counseling
- • Family and friends intervention
