Club drugs: is your child a user? A million teens between 12 and 17 are addicted to recreational drugs. Another million are alcohol dependent. Forty percent of U.S. teens expect to use drugs at some point. Twenty percent of eighth graders have already tried marijuana

Vibrant Life, July-August, 2004 by Richard Maffeo

Marijuana is a mixture of dried leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana. Some of the more common include: pot, grass, weed, Mary Jane, reefer, skunk, and ganja.

Many marijuana users say they experience enhanced sensations of touch and taste. Colors and sounds seem more intense, and time appears to pass very slowly. The user's mouth feels dry, and they may be very hungry and thirsty. After an hour or two, euphoria gives way to sleepiness or, sometimes, depression. Occasionally, marijuana use produces anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.

Marijuana use also impairs a person's ability to remember events and to shift attention from one thing to another. It affects coordination and depth perception, making driving especially dangerous. Overwhelming research over the past several decades concludes that marijuana can not only be addictive, but users are much more likely to use other drugs like methamphetamine.

METHAMPHETAMINE

When Frank Smith was 22 years old, he had an argument with his girlfriend. He stormed out of the house and decided to get high on methamphetamine and stoned on alcohol to help him forget his problems. Then he climbed a tree, lost his balance, and fell 40 feet to the ground.

"The next thing I remember is waking up from a coma eight weeks later," he says. "I lost control of my bowel movements, could no longer perform day-to-day tasks by myself, and the legs that once carried me swiftly down the football field in high school were now lifeless. I weighed less than 100 pounds and was faced with the harsh reality that at 22 years of age, I would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of my life."

Methamphetamine, also called speed, ice, chalk, and meth, can produce euphoria, heightened energy, and increased libido. Methamphetamine can also cause serious problems, including heart damage, memory loss, aggression, and psychotic behavior. Users who share needles to inject meth increase their risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis.

LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD)

Eighteen-year-old Dave Marks's friend gave him a postage-stamp-size piece of paper treated with LSD. It usually comes in tablets or blotted onto small strips of paper. The drug causes visual, tactile, and auditory hallucinations. Depending on the amount used, the user's personality-even the room in which the drug is taken--LSD can produce unpredictable behavior ranging from intense floating to paranoia and psychosis. Persistent psychosis and perception disorders (flashbacks) are some long-term effects of LSD use.

Dave took acid only a few times. His last experience was the night he did LSD with his best friend, Wolfman. That evening, Wolfman had a psychotic meltdown. "It was the scariest thing I ever saw," Dave said. "Like he was crazy and paranoid. Nothing calmed him down." Wolfman ended up in a mental health facility. He was there a year before Dave moved away and lost track of him.

In one survey two thirds of teens reported that their primary reason for not doing drugs is that they didn't want to lose their parents' respect. Two thirds! That's good reason to believe that parents can help their children win this common and deadly struggle.