How do I know if my kid is high or drunk?
The green crosses in the photo signify that the building is a medical marijuana dispensing site. As the TMZ tour bus director pointed out the crosses when my family was recently on vacation in Hollywood, I saw all the kids on the bus crane their heads to look at the building. As I watched the kids, I was reminded that it is summer time and summer brings late night parties for teens. For parents, it brings late nights of worry. “I’d know if my kid was high or drunk,” you say to yourself. Or would you? Here are some signs you can use to tell:
Your tween or teen wanders in late on a Saturday night and acts like he is in slow motion. “I’m just tired,” he claims. Have him look you straight in the eye as you talk to him. Even if he is lying, the truth will be in his eyes. More specifically, it’s in the size of his pupils (the black part of his eyes). Too big (nearly covers the colored part of his eyes) or too little (like pinpoints) is a sign he is currently high.
Most intoxicants not only affect pupil size, but also affect skin (hot and flushed, or cold and clammy), heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature. Any unusual extreme means there’s something on board or the person is sick.
Unfortunately, with pot it’s more difficult to tell if a person is high because people often have different reactions, and pot does not affect pupil size. Most display the usual well-known side signs of acting mellow (a pothead) and having the munchies. Some experience paranoia. Almost everyone has bloodshot eyes shortly after smoking, although that can also be from any smoke irritation. The most reliable way to detect if your kid has been around marijuana probably is to smell his clothing and hair for the distinctive scent of pot.
How can you tell if your kid is drunk? Again, look at his eyes- if he is drunk you may see pupils dancing in small circles. The dancing eyes give the sensation of “dizziness” to drunk individuals.
Another note on alcohol: Parents, beware. Your kids may have more access to alcohol than you think. The type of alcohol in your beer, ethanol, is the same type of alcohol in your morning mouth wash and perhaps in your medicine cabinet. The difference is that mouthwash contains more alcohol than beer. Beer typically contains up to 5 percent ethanol, wine up to 14 percent ethanol, and liquors usually up to 40 percent ethanol. Compare this to Original Listerine with 27 percent ethanol and Nyquil Nighttime Cold/Cough with 25 percent ethanol. And you wonder why it helps you fall asleep?!
Pharming: We teach our children medicine is not candy, and yet Pharming—consuming prescription substances to get a high—is a big problem among teens. And it’s not just medical marijuana kids are using. Since 2003, according to the Centers for Disease Control, more overdose deaths have involved painkillers like Vicodin and Percocet than heroin and cocaine combined. Among teens, medications prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are the most popularly pharmed drugs. Don’t unwittingly contribute to a pharming party where kids raid medicine cabinets, deposit pills into big bowls, and randomly ingest them.
Worried? Call your pediatrician. Two national useful resources:
Drugfree.org information on getting help and preventing drug and alcohol abuse by teens and young adults
DrugNet.net a comprehensive national drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and addiction treatment program resource guide
Naline Lai, MD with Julie Kardos, MD and toxicologist Melisa Lai Becker, MD
©2013 Two Peds in a Pod® based on original post of 4/23/12