DRUGS AND OUR CHILDREN

OK - you are going to have to forgive me because I am going to rant again and I will try not to be too long but there is something important that I have to say!!!!
Last night I went to an informative meeting at our High School that was put on by the Las Vegas Metro Police. They discussed the drug problem that is going on and that is slowly creeping into our small valley from the big city. As most of you know, I worked at a High School for about 4 years and I feel like I know quite a bit and am fairly knowledgeable regarding drugs and what to look for. While at the High School I had to deal with drug problems - teenagers getting drunk at lunch, a student who took 45 Coricidin pills at once and had his heart beating out of his chest, dealt with two students who were smoking marijuana in the bathroom at school and actually had to go in the bathroom and retrieve the marijuana and paraphenalia and then watch them get body searched by the police officer, students fights and too many more to count. Even though I have had these experiences, I still learned a lot and I wanted to share a little bit of the information with you:
There are the illegal drugs - Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, & Marijuana. He talked a lot about Marijuana (depressant) because it is called the Gateway drug to all other drugs, which means that if people smoke Marijuana they are more likely to take other drugs. 70% of teens that are in treatment are there for Marijuana use. Onset of effects is almost immediate and lasts 1 -2 hours. There is 4 times the risk of cancer compared to cigarettes and a few of the street names are Weed/Bud/420/Smoke/Cronic (something interesting is 420 stands for April 20 which is National Pot Smoking Day). Cocaine(stimulant) has an immediate onset of effectiveness and lasts only 20-40 minutes when injected, snorted, etc. When it is smoked it lasts only 5-15 minutes and so that is why people are constantly doing it. Street names - Coke/Snow/Blow/Toot/Nose Candy. Heroin (depressant) has an onset of 10-20 seconds and lasts 4-5 hours and they say that the first time using it is the best high ever and that all heroin users are always trying to get that same high and can never achieve it. Street names - H/Harry/Heaven or Hell Dust/Horse. Meth (Stimulant) - onset within 2 minutes and lasts 24-36 hours. Street names - tweek/ICE/glass/speed/crank/crystal.
Then we move on to the most used and scariest drugs and they are the Prescription Drugs. Narcotics: Oxycontin/Vicodin/Percocet
Stimulants: Ritalin/Dexedrine/Adderall
Depressants: Xanax/Valium
Kids are having Pharming parties where they go into their parents, grandparents homes and find all the prescription drugs they can find and take them to parties and just try them to see what will happen. SCARY, SCARY!!!! Kids think because they are prescribed by a doctor that it is okay to take them and that if 1 pill will do something then imagine what 2 or 3 or 40 will do!!!
Other drugs are Ecstasy - looks like candy but gives severe muscle cramps and so you will see people hugging a lot and having suckers or pacifiers because of jaw cramps. Inhalants - anything from Dust spray for computers to whip cream canisters can be used to make people high. 3 out of 10 first time users will die and it causes permanent brain damage. DMX (Dextromethorphan) - this is found in most cold medicines like Vicks 44/ Robitussin/Coricidin. It is very often called Skittling because they look like red skittles. Another scary drug is GHB - which is often called the date rape drug - it is odorless, tasteless and people usually put in a drink for someone to take without knowing and then when they are helpless they either steal from them or abuse them. Please tell your children to not ever take anything from anyone except their parents!!
I know that is a lot of information and I left out a ton of it out but it was very informative and so I really strongly suggest that if any of you have an opportunity to hear information like this - PLEASE DO SO! We can't be in the dark about the scary world that our kids have to live in and we need to be aware of the signs. I didn't talk about the warning signs but hopefully you know your children and you can tell when they act different and things start to fall apart, which they will if they are taking drugs of any kind.! Hopefully some of this is informative to someone and will help!!