Cocaine or Crack - All The Warning Signs and Symptoms for Parents
Parent’s love their children. It’s so obvious that it almost goes without saying. Yet in today’s society and in these tough economic times, in many cases, that love leads to both parents working to make needs meet and to provide their beloved children the things they want. This results in very busy and hectic lives between work, shopping, caring for the home, the children’s sports event and activities, and much more.
So during these hectic times, what should a parent look for to ensure their children are not doing crack or cocaine? It breaks down into three categories: social signs, physical signs and financial signs.
First, parents should know that the threat of their child or children doing cocaine or crack is very real. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicated that an estimated 6,222,000 U.S. residents aged 12 and older used cocaine or crack at least once in their lifetime. The survey also revealed that hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults use crack cocaine more than once.
Crack cocaine use among high school students is a particular problem. Nearly 4 percent of high school seniors in the United States used the drug at least once in their lifetime, and more than 1 percent used the drug in the past month, according to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Survey.
Cocaine or Crack Use Social Warning Signs
Crack or cocaine use can be either a social event or a solitary one. Although it is not a party drug like ecstasy or crystal meth, young people use cocaine powder at parties or gather to smoke crack. Conversely, people who are attempting to escape being sad or upset about something will often use it alone.
Usually, “a great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to get the substance.”
Look for these social warning signs that could mean your child is on cocaine or crack:
- Any alterations in your child’s route
- Missing school
- Taking time off work regularly
- Disappearing frequently on mysterious errands
- Make excuses for going to the bank or asking to borrow money, maybe even going to a pawn shop
- They may secret themselves in the bathroom, their bedrooms or the basement, claiming to have ailments or to be working on projects
- They may use of masking devices such as cough drops, or children living out of the home may use cigarettes
- Frequent changes in friends
- They stop spending time in public places
- Keep an eye out for paraphernalia such as Brillo pads, baking soda, matches, glass pipes and mirrors.
Also, listen to their conversations with friends and see if they are using any of the street terms for cocaine or crack which are:
Coke, Snow, Crack, Rock, 24-7, Backrock, Beat, Candy, Chemical, Cloud, Coke, Cookies, Crumbs, Crunch & munch, Devil drug, Dice, Electric kool-aid, Fat bags, French fires, Glo, Gravel, Grit, Hail, Hardball, Hard rock, Hotcakes, Ice Cubes, Jelly beans, Nuggets, Paste, Piece, Prime time, Product, Raw, Rock(s), Scrabble, Sleet, Snow, Snow coke, Tornado or Troop.
Many of these words could be for very innocent items like real candy, playing Scrabble, or just wanting to eat some Jelly Beans or Chicken Nuggets. A clue to real trouble is if you ask your child about this and they become very defensive or angry with you. Should this negative reaction occur, it is recommended that you look for other warning signs.
Cocaine or Crack Use Physical Warning Signs
Look for these physical warning signs that could mean your child is on cocaine or crack:
- An increase in talkativeness and energy
- Discussion of grandiose plans
- Embarking on often unachievable projects
- Becoming irritable
- Easily angered
- Sleeping excessively.
- No appetite or disinterested in food
- Personal grooming declines
- Difficulty sitting still or relaxing, nervous or aggressive
- Rambling conversation, going on and on without regard for the subject
- Constantly sniffing despite lack of a cold or allergies
- Constantly licking lips and extremely thirsty
- Profuse sweating
- Sudden change in appetite or weight
- Glassy eyes
- Very, very large pupils (often hidden with sunglasses)
- Sores under the nose or nostrils appearing red and raw (if cocaine is snorted)
- Needle marks in the arms, behind the knees or ankles (if injected)
- The wearing of long sleeves even in hot weather to cover their arms
- Scabs on arms, face or legs from picking (crack often gives one the feeling of insects crawling on or under skin)
- Dental problems and teeth that are in poor shape, weak or broken
- Sudden weight loss
Cocaine or Crack Use Financial Warning Signs
Crack or cocaine is cheaper than many drugs like heroin, however the high only lasts for a brief time such as 15-30 minutes or an hour, so more drugs are quickly required. Users of any age are often hooked quickly. And no matter the age, child or adult, they will soon become desperate for extra cash.
Look for these financial warning signs that could mean your child is on cocaine or crack:
- Changes in their financial practices
- Asking to borrow money or an advance on their allowance
- If the child is old enough to have a job, they may ask for cash advances from work
- Items missing from the house that could be pawned such as jewelry, paintings, etc.
- Writing false checks
- Stealing anything they can find to feed their habit
Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program Can Help
Paying attention to these symptoms, signs and warnings can catch cocaine or crack use from when it starts and hopefully stop it before it creates irreparable damage.
Parents seeing any of the above warning signs and should call a Narconon Drug Rehab counselor for more information and help for their child.
Narconon is a non-profit State licensed drug rehabilitation program. Narconon is registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Narconon has been recognized for years as being an effective method of drug rehabilitation with a success rate four times that of the international average.
Narconon staff are unique rehab professionals. Each one has been highly trained, not only in drug rehab but also as a specialist for the job they do. Many of the Narconon staff are themselves graduates of the program and so fully understand all the facets of drug addiction and have a personal reality on what an addict goes through. This helps the person coming into Narconon for cocaine addiction to feel like he or she is understood.
Cocaine addiction is a serious addiction that doesn't resolve itself short of a full drug rehab program. The Narconon program is the program that has proven itself safe and effective over 44 years of handling cocaine addiction. If you know of someone struggling with cocaine or crack addiction, contact Narconon East U.S. at 877-237-3307