Teenage drug abuse is at an all-time high. No pun intended. Youth between the ages of 12-17 are being reported using illegal drugs If you are a parent, you know that teenage drug abuse is not an imaginary problem in our society, but instead is a very real, dangerous and quite far spread activity amongst teens. Unfortunately, to their child's detriment, parents sometimes like to delude themselves with the fantasies that a good private school, active participation in the church or synagogue's youth group program, strict curfews, and parental generosity will somehow deter their growing child from the dangers that lurk amongst peer groups, pushers, and the darkness of the dance clubs. Teenage drug abuse is a commonplace occurrence, and parents as well as caregivers need to be alert to the signs thereof, even in the most innocent of settings.



Frequently, you can hear teens making statements to their parents, "it's not like I am smoking crack" or "it's just a little pot, it can't hurt me". If you're suspicious about your teen's drug abuse or illegal drug usage, the best way to find out is by administering a teenage drug test from home.

If you're hesitant to attempt testing your child and suspect that your teen is abusing marijuana (aka pot, maryjane, chron, weed, herb, bud, dope, grass) there are simple THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol) detection wipes that you can purchase. These wipes can be used on any surface which your teen son or daughter may be smoking near, such as the walls of their room. If the test comes up THC positive, the next step would be to administer a drug test either through saliva, hair, or urine. If you're not sure what drug your teenager is abusing, there are Drug Detectors & Drug Identification Kits for Drug Testing available.

Not only can you test for THC found in marijuana, you can also test for other common drugs such as; cocaine (aka coke, snow, crack), ecstasy (aka XTC, X, Adam), opiates (aka heroin, codeine, opium, brown sugar), amphetamines (aka speed, whizz, amph, billy, phets, sulph), methamphetamine (aka speed, meth, chalk or in its smoked form, it is often referred to as ice, crystal, crank, or glass), barbiturates (aka barbs, downers, barbies, barbita, seconal, red devils, blue devils and yellows),

benzodiazepines (aka tranks, downers, benzos), oxycodone (aka oxy, hillbilly) and phencyclidine (aka PCP, angel dust, supergrass, killer weed, KJ, embalming fluid, rocket fuel and sherms).

Other drugs that teens may be addicted to and can be tested for are propoxyphene (PPX), tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) methadone (MET), morphine (MOP) and the popular LSD also known as acid.

Not only can teenagers abuse illegal drugs but they can also abuse and become addicted to prescription drugs found in your medicine cabinet. Commonly misused prescription drugs are Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, Adderall, Ativan and Fioricet.

The more that teenage drug abuse will continue to claim many victims, the more teenage drug testing kits will become popular. The most important step in helping a teen to avoid becoming another statistic is simply by not allowing rationalization of drug abuse to take root in the mindset of your growing child. Instead, children should be taught from the earliest years to take responsibility for their own actions, and thus many of the drug myths so prevalent in today's teenage society will not find any more believers. This approach will not eradicate teenage drug abuse but it will close off one more avenue by which teens and their pushers have been able to delude themselves into using substances.