How to Know if Your Teen is Smoking Pot

Are you worried that your teen might be getting high? How do you know if you teen is smoking pot? Those are questions that parents of teens often ask and in this article I will give you a few tips that will help you determine if you teen is smoking pot.

First, you should know that many of the signs of someone smoking pot are quite typical of the life of a teen. One sign should not be considered a reason to panic. Multiple signs should be considered reason to keep your eyes open and have a frank discussion with you teen. The second thing you should know is that not all teens that smoke pot will gravitate towards other drugs. It CAN be a gateway drug but this is largely dependent on the personality of your teen.

There are physical signs and non-physical signs that you can watch for.

Physical signs:

• Blood shot eyes (but don’t depend on this – most regular pot smokers carry Visine with them)
• The munchies – do they come home and immediately start looking through the cupboards and fridge for something to eat?
• The smell – the smell of marijuana is pretty obvious and will linger for hours on their clothes in and in their hair. Give them a hug when they get home and if they’ve been smoking you’ll likely smell it.
• Extreme tiredness – if they come home and climb into bed and fall to sleep much earlier than they normally would watch for other signs.
• Sudden weight gain or weight loss.
• Drug paraphernalia – not just the obvious things like rolling papers or pipes either. Watch for little mini-ziplock bags, broken pens, plastic pop bottles or can with holes in the sides, pieces of plastic pipe. These things can all be used to make makeshift pot smoking tools.

Non-physical signs:

• An apathetic attitude – they don’t really care to much about anything.
• A sudden drop in grades or missed classes.
• Money missing in the house.
• Withdrawal from family activities – their room becomes their place of refuge.

As mentioned earlier, these signs can be related to normal teenaged hormonal changes as well. So look for these signs in combination of other signs. They may or may not be related to pot smoking. But if you’re suspicious, do take the time to talk to your teen. You might think that what you say holds very little weight but they do think about what you say, even if they won’t admit it.

If you liked this article you might also like Top Five Parenting Skills for Parenting Teenagers

published 2 years ago

DMcGaw

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