A drug awareness programme aims to alert parents to the symptoms of drugs misuse and the best way to handle any confrontations, writes Alison Healy
WHAT WOULD you think if you smelled toothpaste from your teenage son as he passed you in the kitchen? You'd probably be happy that he was taking care of his teeth.
But this incident caused alarm bells to ring for one mother because her son was never an enthusiastic supporter of dental hygiene. She immediately recalled advice at a drugs awareness course that unusual behaviour could be a sign of drug use.
It was a really strong smell of toothpaste and it struck her as out of character, explains drugs educator Bernie McDonnell.
"It turned out that he was inhaling petrol. Had she not done the course, it would have gone right over her head."
The course she refers to a six-week programme run by Community Awareness of Drugs, a voluntary organisation which provides drugs awareness education to parents and communities in the Leinster region.
The organisation was set up in 1983 in Dublin, when the city was trying to come to grips with its heroin problem and parents worried that they would not be able to spot the signs if their children became involved.
Bernie McDonnell joined the group 23 years ago when she moved into a new area in north Dublin. "My son was only three and I was expecting my daughter so there was no immediate problem, but I felt there was so much information I didn't know. And I kept hearing that parents were always the last to find out that their children were taking drugs."
She is now the co-ordinator of Community Awareness of Drugs and has worked with thousands of parents to alert them to the signs and symptoms of drugs misuse.
The abuse of solvents such as aerosol or petrol is one that's frequently raised at the six-week courses, although it seldom gets the public's attention in the way that drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy do.
"We have eight to 10 deaths a year directly as a result of solvent abuse," says McDonnell. When another parent heard about solvent abuse at the course, it struck her that her daughter had tried to tell her about solvent abuse but she had not realised it at the time.
"Her daughter told her that some people were messing with aerosols on a school trip but she paid no attention to it," McDonnell recalls. "It never occurred to her that it was solvent abuse."
The course prepared another parent for an incident involving a student selling LSD tablets at school. His fellow students knew that he was hiding the drugs in his school tie and when a student alerted his mother, she contacted the school and the problem was resolved.
The course encourages parents to talk to their children and let them know that nothing is out of bounds for discussion.
McDonnell also advises parents to walk around their home and see what's lying about.
Diet pills could be a sign of stimulant use, while sleeping tablets or tranquillisers may be used by users of cocaine or ecstasy. "And keep an eye on the alcohol in the house," she advises.
Some teenagers siphon a little alcohol from a few bottles at home and combine all the alcohol to make a "dolly mixture" when they meet up.
"It just looks like they are drinking Coke, but it can be very dangerous because it's so strong."
She recalls one incident where a 12 year old ended up in the emergency department after drinking vodka in a friend's house while the parents were out.
"Alcohol is by far the greatest problem where substance abuse is concerned, but we also get a lot of calls about cannabis. Young people are being misled by older people into thinking that it's harmless," she says.
She recalls one parent who told how her daughter was mixing cannabis into yogurt and eating it. But at the end of one training session, the parent took a joint from her pocket as she left the room. "There we were talking about the importance of having nothing around the house that might lead to experimentation but she had missed the point completely. Cannabis is far from harmless. It impairs learning and your ability to retain information and recall it at will. It has links to depression and psychotic episodes. It's really frustrating to hear adults trivialising it."
Community Awareness of Drugs, which is mainly funded by the HSE, offers the training to groups of parents "within driving distance of Dublin" but it also runs training days for community workers from all over the State.
The heroin problem that sparked the establishment of the organisation may have receded but McDonnell says heroin has been replaced by many other drugs of choice and they are all easily available. "It's better to be prepared," she says. "Parents need the tools to spot the early signs and symptoms and take action before a serious problem develops."
• See the CAD website, aboutdrugs.ie
'Most of us wouldn't know what's in a grandparent's medication but a young person experimenting will know exactly what they want'
ANNA COURTNEY from Glasnevin, Dublin, thought she was reasonably well-informed about drugs until she did a Community Awareness of Drugs course earlier this year.
"It was a total eye-opener," she says. "Of course we all think it's not going to happen to us, and that drug problems only happen in deprived areas but that just isn't the truth."
The mother of two teenagers had expected that the course would look at illegal drugs but she hadn't anticipated the focus on alcohol and on the legal drugs contained in all our medicine cabinets.
The importance of monitoring everything from paracetamol to granny's pill-box was something that surprised her. "Most of us wouldn't know what's in a grandparent's medication, but a young person experimenting will know exactly what they want."
And the extent of the "party pills" and stimulants for sale in the so-called head shops alarmed her. "They are selling things that are labelled as herbal but they could be as dangerous as an ecstasy tablet. It's a very grey area." Advice was also given to parents on the best way for them to handle confrontations about drugs.
She heard about the course from a friend and she wondered how the tutor would find enough to talk about over a six-week period.
"But there was definitely no time to spare. It was so in-depth."
In fact, the course originally ran over five weeks but tutors found that they didn't have enough time to cover all the issues.
Anna was one of 15 people from a parents' committee who did the course and she was so impressed that she spread the word to other parents in the school and now two groups of parents have signed up.
"We all hope that we will never have to experience the situations we talked about but at least we have the information now," she says. "Knowledge is power."
Alison Healy
Drugs: symptoms and signs to expect
The following symptoms may occur, but some are not definite.
• Amphetamines: hyperactivity; unusual confidence; jerky movements; insomnia; very talkative; grinding teeth; very large pupils; sweating; thirsty; no appetite; staring
• Cocaine: signs and symptoms are similar to amphetamines with the addition of: nose irritation (runny, itchy - due to snorting); and extremely rapid heartbeat after use
• Benzodiazepines(sleeping tablets and tranquillisers): aggression when used with alcohol; slurred speech; gentle, monotone voice; distracted, tranquil; agoraphobia, passiveness when used with opiates; reclusiveness; fear of people and the street
• Ecstasy: hyperactivity; unusual confidence; jerky movements; insomnia; very talkative; grinding of teeth; very large pupils; sweating; thirsty; no appetite; staring; and spitting "cotton" - spit is like a cotton ball
• Hash: Bloodshot eyes; giggling (especially in the early stages of using); distracted; introverted; short attention span; scattered train of thought; loss of short-term memory (resumes when person stops smoking); "Bomb" burn on clothes - multiple burn marks caused by falling bits of ash.
Source: Crosscare's Drug and Alcohol Programme
