As Kids Go Back to School, Parents Need to Know How to Protect Them from Drugs in Schools

According to a study by the Columbia University National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, eighty percent of high school students in American have personally witnessed drug use or possession or drunk or high students at their schools. Forty-four percent of middle school children have had the same experience. The study also showed that students in drug-infested schools are much more likely to use drugs or alcohol themselves.

Until school systems learn how to turn this situation around, a student’s primary line of defense is his or her parents. To protect their children, parents must learn what changes may indicate that the student has started abusing drugs or alcohol. Symptoms include:

Missed classes, lateness, incomplete or missing assignments, falling grades

Accidents, mistakes

Sudden, unexplained weight loss or gain

Neglect of school, work or family affairs

Discontinuation of hobbies, sports or group activities

Deterioration in appearance or hygiene

Change in communication with family or good friends

Secretive behavior

Missing money or unexplained money or new and expensive items, missing items of value

Health problems, change in sleep patterns, runny nose, cough, irritated shin, hangovers

Explosive arguments, often over small matters

A young person who is using drugs may also change the type of clothes they wear and the group of friends they spend time with. This commonly occurs if the former friends were not drug users and the new group is composed of drug users.

These indicators are not always indicative of drug use but they should alert a parent to look more closely, to inquire into a young person’s whereabouts more frequently.

When you suspect that a family member is abusing drugs or alcohol, the right thing to do is to look for yourself, rather than believe everything you are told. The wrong thing to do is to hope that maybe whatever is happening is not that bad and will all go away on its own.

If drug use marches forward into addiction, what is needed is a drug rehabilitation program that addresses and eliminates the true causes of addiction. The Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Canadian, Oklahoma treats the whole person and the reasons they began to use drugs as well as the effects those drugs had on the body and the mind. The result is a happy, productive person who has the life skills to live a completely drug and alcohol-free life.