Heroin is a very dangerous and highly addictive drug that is causing a public health crisis, and there are some warning signs of substance abuse that parents need to watch for in order to protect their teens from this drug. Many parents of teens did not recognize the warning signs which could have alerted them to the problem before it was too late. Heroin can cause addiction from the first use, and as time goes by the addiction grows stronger. Parents need to consider that a teen who is getting high on this drug will want to have easy access to the substance, so they will generally keep it close by. Small torn scraps of paper are commonly folded and used to hold heroin powder so search every area of the home and the personal belongings of your teen. Look in books, backpacks, garbage cans, under the bed, and other areas where these packages or other paraphernalia could be thrown or stashed.
One of the signs that a teen is using heroin is suddenly finding matches, lighters, razor blades, small mirrors, syringes, or spoons with soot marks. All of these can indicate that a teen is using heroin, either shooting, snorting, or smoking the drug. Check every item in the home very carefully, many specialty shops sell a variety of containers that look like normal household products but that include a hidden compartment. These products can be found in books, pop cans, calculators, food item packages like cereal, and even fake electrical sockets.
