Your teen could be hiding drugs in plain sight and you might not even know it.
That’s the message Trooper Robert Purdy had for a group of citizens who met at the Estill County Extension office to learn about heroin and addiction.
“The days of partying with just a case of beer are past,” he said.
Pill use is waning too, with new state regulations such as KASPER making doctor shopping more difficult for abusers.
In the past, Purdy said, “Pill Bills” would take x-rays to Florida to get prescription pain medicine and bring the drugs back to Kentucky for dealing. But with new legislation making that more difficult, opiate addicts are seeking other cheaper ways of getting high. (Oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine and heroin all fall into the category of opiate drugs.)
Purdy said heroin is the latest drug of choice, and a habit can be sustained on $50 a day as opposed to $150 a day for pills.
A common scenario, he said, is for a dealer to catch a ride on a Greyhound bus to Berea where an Estill County resident might pick them up and allow the dealer to reside with them while they sell drugs.
Percocet 30s, very small round blue pills, typically sell for $35 to $40 a day, and many users take three or four a day.
Heroin on the other hand, sells on the street for about $12 a hit, and two or three highs a day can be purchased for less than $50.
Heroin is highly addictive and very dangerous. Inconsistent levels of purity make overdose common, and users are at a high risk of coma and/or death.
Besides the perils of heroin use, there are many other methods for getting high of which parents may not be aware.
Purdy said a recent poll revealed that seven of ten high school students admit to drinking, that 25 percent of them do so before the age of 13, 25 percent admit to binge drinking, and 20 percent say they have had alcohol in school.
Alcohol and marijuana abuse are still common, but the methods of taking the drugs are constantly changing.
For example, students may pour vodka over gummy bears and soak them, put them in baggies and take them to school to imbibe in class.
Powdered alcohol can be sneaked into about any drink.
Flasks that look like tampons can be purchased to make discovering alcohol less likely, and some even soak real tampons in alcoholic beverages and insert them, where the alcohol is absorbed into their bloodstream. This process is called “butt chugging.”
Huffing paint is still a problem, Purdy said, and gold paint is the preferred means to get high.
The legalization of marijuana in some states is allowing many edible marijuana products to be smuggled into the state.
The use of ordinary marijuana is becoming less common as users seek ways to concentrate the THC value in marijuana.
One way is to pour butane (lighter fluid) over marijuana in herb form and distill the resulting
“oil” into a marijuana wax with a 90 percent THC level.
Anything in oil or wax form can then be “vaped” with a certain kind of electronic cigarette. There is little to no smell, so parents are often unsuspecting.
Even more concerning is that heroin can be processed the same way, resulting in a product called “black tar heroin.”
The wax or liquid can be put into an e-cig, and users don’t have to tie up their arms and inject with a needle, so again, use often goes unnoticed.
A representative from the Bluegrass Prevention Center, Sharon Tankersley, was present to address treatment options for opiate abusers. She also works for a heroin task force in Fayette County.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” she said.
Tankersley said communities need to address the problem of social stigma of addiction.
“We need to let go of why,” she said, noting that it doesn’t matter how it got started, but that addiction is a disease.
“They (addicts) are human beings,” she said, “and we’ve got to meet them where they are.”
An attendant of the meeting asked about programs for treatment and said many people feel they don’t have anywhere to turn because of the cost of rehabilitation. Another asked about medical assisted treatment, and the fact that drugs prescribed for treatment are also abused.
Tankersley said that drugs such as suboxone must be used in conjunction with counseling and close monitoring with a doctor to be effective.
“The approach is key,” she said, adding that simply handing out drugs to treat addiction is not effective.
Another citizen asked if the DARE program, a drug prevention program, is still offered at schools, and Sharon Hensley, with Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (the group that hosted Thursday night’s event) said it is not.
Trooper Purdy said by the time kids are in high school, it is “almost too late,” because they are experimenting with drugs and alcohol at earlier ages now.
Anyone with questions concerning drug abuse or treatment options may contact the Bluegrass Prevention Center at 859-225-3296 or go to www.drugfreelex.com and download a free guide, “Seeking Treatment: Know What to Ask.”