Drugs and Your Teen

Substance usage is a major issue and has many angles, from experimentation to severe drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the misuse of prescription medications and inhalants. We realize we could only hit some of the major points with this book. We want you to understand the problem is not hopeless—many drug users and abusers have learned how to control their habits and have gone on to live normal lives. The secret is discovering the problem early enough to stop it while it is still manageable.

This book is a unique and rare product and, coupled with our drug and alcohol instant-test kits, is unlike anything currently available. We provide a self-contained item that offers everything you need to learn about your children’s relationships with peers and others who may have a negative influence on them. Along with this book, we offer instant-result kits, which will tell you if your children are doing drugs and then will help guide you through the process of treating the condition. Although we have tried packing all the vital information possible on drugs and alcohol into this book, please know there is much more information out there, and no one source can provide it all. What we’ve tried to do here is key in on the subject matter most helpful in dealing with the drug issues facing you and your family.

This book is meant solely for parents. In your hands lies the power to keep your children safe and healthy: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We want to connect with you and relate to you what we have experienced, what we know to be true, and what we hope to help you avoid. With this in mind we created this book, covering components of alcohol and/or drug abuse. We define terms, we lay out problems for you, and we explain how drugs can ruin not only our children’s lives, but our communities, our society, and our country as well. We give you facts and stats. We tell you what to look for—signs and symptoms. We describe the drugs of abuse in detail and attempt to give you a look into how they affect your children’s bodies and brains. We provide methods for you to protect your children.

Culled from years of experience—from experts in drug treatment, speaking engagements, endless hours of research, and our time as in-the-field drug-test consultants—the information we give you includes good advice on how to cope as well as some useful tools for fighting the problem.

In this book you will find what you need to know about drugs, how to test for them, how to read the test results, and how to get help. At the back is a wealth of reference charts. We even provide a response card, so you can give us feedback on our product and share any stories you may have—which, with your permission, might be a part of our next book on drugs. If, after reading this manual, you have suggestions on items you think we should add or delete, please fill out the Reader Response Card in the back of the book and mail it to us. We’re eager to read your feedback. Please refer to the glossary for any unfamiliar words.