Narconon Reviews Teen Drug and Alcohol use Statistics

It seems these days there are more kids that are using some common sense with what their drug use. It seems that way, but it actually may not be true. The reason that it seems that way is because there are fewer kids that are using illegal drugs, but the fact of the matter is that there are more kids that are using prescription drugs than ever before.

In general there are actually less people that are smokers than there were ten or twenty years ago which is definitely a move in the right direction.

Although drinking rates and the rates of illegal drug use are down in teens these days, some of the current drug trends in teens could be considered even scarier than ones child coming home drunk from prom.

Spice and Bath Salts

There is a new kind of drug that is available legally in many head shops and gas stations and is scarier than most drugs that are available today, illegal or not. It is known as Spice and is sold as an herbal incense. It is supposed to be a legal alternative to marijuana and there are many teens that are using it. It is a blend of herbs that is sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are certain chemicals that are found in marijuana and other plants, the most known one being THC. Not all cannabinoids cause a person to get high, but some do. Apparently the synthetic versions that are being sprayed on Spice fall into the category that do. Most people that use Spice say that it has an effect that is similar but not identical to that of marijuana. Some people say that they have tried spice and had a reaction that was very different than that is caused by marijuana and not in a good way.

The situation goes like this. Teenage male goes over to his friend’s house. One of his friends pulls out a package of Spice and tells the other guys in the group he heard it is just like weed but won’t show up in a drug test. His parents have begun to suspect that the kid has been using drugs and have been administering random drug tests. He decides he wants to try Spice to see if it is a fun alternative to pot.

He offers it to the others and only one of them accepts. The other people in the group say that they don’t have to worry and they will just stick to the real stuff. The one kid that accepts is often paranoid about getting found out by his parents so he decides that a legal alternative would be a good thing. Kid number one packs a pipe full of the stuff and they begin the age old ritual of passing it back and forth. They have no idea how strong the blend is and each one hits the pipe four times. With regular marijuana, even if it was strong, the worst one could expect to be would be extremely stoned. Not the case with Spice. Both of the kids notice that their depth perception and size perception begins to become quite altered. They also notice that they are beginning to feel like they are having trouble breathing and they feel that they cannot get all of the smoke from the Spice out of their lungs. They try to tell their friends that they are having trouble breathing but they also seem to be unable to speak intelligibly. They only are able to repeat a few words over and over again. They both kind of feel like they are going to die and luckily their friends notice both of them curled up in little balls on the ground. The friends rush over and ask if the boys are ok and see that they are indeed not ok. They call 911 and then the parents of both of the boys to tell them they need to go to the hospital because that where their children are going to be.

When the parents get to the hospital the other boys tell them, as well as the doctors that the two young men had smoked spice and that was how they ended up in the predicament they were in. The physicians say that this is not the first case of this drug that they have seen, nor the worst. It is not known why this drug effects some people who smoke it this way, but look on the internet and one will find many accounts of Spice experiences that are similar to the one above. Some say it is the people that had this type of experience smoke too much at a time; others say it is because the batches of Spice vary constantly. Because bags of Spice are labeled as not for human consumption and as herbal incense, there is very little regulations for the chemicals that are contained in the mixtures. They are supposedly sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids, but it is hard to say for certain what is on the stuff. Some experts say that natural marijuana contains an anti-psychotic in it in addition to the cannabinoids, or it would probably affect people in a similar fashion. There are a lot of speculations out there but no real definitive answers because the truth of the matter is that this drug has just not been out long enough for experts to have done much research on it. Not to mention, it is not even known what exact chemicals are in it anyway. Supposedly each batch may be different from the last and there is no regulation to guarantee some type of standard.

Prevention

One thing parents can do to prevent this from happening to their children is to show them the Narconon Reviews and other reviews concerning this drug. The accounts of some folks concerning their experiences on this drug are really quite scary. It does not sound like a very fun time for anyone. Not everyone has had this experience, but apparently it could happen to anyone that smokes this stuff and they will have no idea it is coming.