Found drugs in DS room.

[gardenerofdelights]

DS, 17, has just gone away for a week. On the side in his bedroom he has left a plastic bag with the remains of some drugs in it. It's probably a 'legal' high. A parcel arrived for him recently so he clearly bought it online. We have a five year old so I'm also furious, in addition to any damage he may be doing to himself, that he would leave something like that lying around.

He is back next week so we have plenty of time to set out our reaction.

I would really appreciate any insights or experiences.

TruTru - There is an article in last weekend's Telegraph - not sure if it was Saturday or Sunday about cannabis. You could suggest she reads it. Or you could show her my thread. Or you could get in touch with your local drug abuse counselling service/support group.

CatMilkMan - well as least I know my children aren't and won't ever be taking drugs. I'm far from hysterical, just rather take a serous approach than brush it under the carpet. Each to their own.

No one can say with absolute certainty that their children won't ever be taking drugs.

Well at least I know my children aren't and won't ever be taking drugs

Unless you plan to do regular blood/urine/hair analysis for the rest of their lives, you can't know that. All you'll know is what they tell you, which may be nothing because they know how you'll react.

Haha-what you mean is you won't know Your child is taking drugs-a big difference!

Show him some online content of the effects of legal highs.

It's very serious as they are laced with lots of toxic crap to create a buzz.

I have lost 2 young family members to this ages 14+25 plus many other young ones in my town. A few as result of the drug itself and other due to dioxide cause as a result of taken this

Well, if have said that many years ago. Trouble is nothing can prepare you for the teenagers you get when they hit puberty. They hate you. Anything you say is rubbish. Their friends know everything. Unless you plan to prison them, you don't really have that much control over them.
My daughter was anti drugs, anti smoking, star pupil, etc.
The last few years though have been a nightmare. A nightmare that seems to just get worse & worse with every day that passes. It's like she's doing it on purpose and I dread my other 2 children becoming teenagers now. ????

OP has asked for advice on how to approach her DS so I will try to avoid getting drawn into the debate even though some of you are being ridiculous

OP I too am concerned that the drugs you found were of the 'legal high ' variety. In my view, this poses the double danger of being completely unknown substance, from an unknown source (this matters because if you are scoring a known drug from a local known dealer there is a small element of 'comeback' and the onus is on the dealer to maintain their reputation by supplying 'clean' drugs whilst buying online carries no such comeback. Second ally the 'legal' aspect is so misleading.

I expect your SD will play the 'legal' card and the 'alcohol is worse' card so you should be prepared to answer thee. I would be inclined to agree that alcohol is more dangerous than many drugs but the thing you need to stress is that he is playing Russian roulette buying stuff over the Internet.

How to feel about him experimenting with other drugs like dope - only you know, but please do your research first so that you are confident in your arguments and approach calmly.

Good luck.

Get him to watch video about the legal high Spice canabis substitute. It should be enough to put anyone off legal highs. just pray he's smoking real dope and not this poison !

A lot of people take illegal drugs. I have taken them on and off in quite some volume in the past but the only substance I would say that I've ever come close to having a real problem with is alcohol. The best thing you can do is research and educate about the risks. The worst thing you can do is try to rigorously enforce a ban - that will simply make it more enticing to a teenager who is experimenting with autonomy. Sooner or later most drugs will be legalised. It makes far more sense and it makes drugs safer and more ethical as they no longer fund criminal cartels. The odd joint I smoked or pill I popped as a teenager never rendered me utterly incapacitated in the way the booze has. It is far more dangerous and yet we overlook this because it isn't labelled as illegal. Read David Nutt's article - it explains all this far better than I can:

Sorry meant to past but ended up posting.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/28/why-are-drugs-illegal-google-answer