Are your college kids taking ‘study’ drugs? Have they told you that everyone in school is taking them and that it doesn’t get them high, it just helps them focus so they can get better grades? Have they told you that they don’t take them all year, just at exam time? Have you been worried about it and wondering if they need drug rehab?

Whatever your kids have told you about these drugs – which are primarily Adderall and Ritalin – here is what you as parents should know, and should look into further.

Here are the side effects for each drug – taken from drugs.com. The lists are long, and there may be things on them you don’t understand. You can look them up online. But, even if you didn’t look up anything, there’s enough there that you will understand to make you realize that these drugs are nothing to fool around with. And if your kids are taking them, it might be time to contact a drug rehab program and speak with a professional to see if there’s a problem.

Adderall

Cardiovascular: Palpitations, tachycardia, elevation of blood pressure, sudden death, myocardial infarction. There have been isolated reports of cardiomyopathy associated with chronic amphetamine use.

Central Nervous System: Psychotic episodes at recommended doses, overstimulation, restlessness, dizziness, insomnia, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, depression, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics and Tourette’s syndrome, seizures, stroke.

Gastrointestinal: Dryness of the mouth, unpleasant taste, diarrhea, constipation, other gastrointestinal disturbances. Anorexia and weight loss may occur as undesirable effects.

Allergic: Urticaria, rash, hypersensitivity reactions including angioedema and anaphylaxis. Serious skin rashes, including Stevens Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis have been reported.

Endocrine: Impotence, changes in libido.

Ritalin

Nervousness, insomnia, hypersensitivity (including skin rash, urticaria, fever, arthralgia, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme with histopathological findings of necrotizing vasculitis, and thrombocytopenic purpura); anorexia; nausea; dizziness; palpitations; headache; dyskinesia; drowsiness; blood pressure and pulse changes, both up and down; tachycardia; angina; cardiac arrhythmia; abdominal pain; weight loss during prolonged therapy, Tourette’s syndrome, toxic psychosis has been reported, abnormal liver function, cerebral arteritis and/or occlusion; leukopenia and/or anemia; transient depressed mood; aggressive behavior; scalp hair loss, neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS).

So, now your kids are going to say they’ve already taken it and nothing like that has happened to them. But, that doesn’t mean it won’t. It’s probable that they won’t have some kind of severe physical allergic reaction to it if they’ve already taken it and nothing has happened – but it’s not true that none of the other things will happen. They could happen at any time.

Another really worrying thing is that kids often get their drugs from other kids – not from doctors. Their friends either sell them to them or give them to them free of charge. And your kid might do the same – give someone a few of their pills to ‘help them out’ during exams time.

But they never know how that person is going to reaction. What if they did have a severe reaction? What if they wound up in hospital or, heaven forbid, dead. Your child would feel horrible about that for the rest of their lives. It might even ruin their life.

Also, if your son or daughter knew about the possible effects of these drugs, continues to take them and also doesn’t tell others about how dangerous the drugs can be, and then someone they know is injured while taking these drugs – that’s another guilt trip.

Don’t take your son or daughter’s word for what is safe and what is not – no matter what their friends have told them and how many of them are doing it. Learn the information you as parents need to have to make certain that something is safe for yourself.

And don’t get fooled into thinking “Oh, that could never happen to my son!” I’m sure you could guess that that’s what most parents of kids who’ve gotten into trouble with drugs or alcohol told themselves.

If you’re not successful at getting your kids to stop taking drugs by reasoning with them and giving them the full and correct information – they need drug rehab.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Americans have decided, through their votes, that anyone should be able to decide to drink alcohol, as long as they’re of a certain age and aren’t driving. With the possibility of legalization of drugs, we are essentially saying that they also have the right to decide whether or not to take drugs. Obviously, people do have the right to do either – and they can handle at least some of the effects it creates on them personally through alcohol and drug rehab. But do they also have the right to inflict pain and suffering on others?

In addition to making sure your kids understand what drugs can do to them, it’s also important to make them aware of how drinking and taking drugs affects others.

For example, you could make your kids aware of the following:

• The tax collected by the government on alcohol sales is about $18 billion per year, but the cost of healthcare, lost productivity and justice system expenses add up to about $180 billion – 10 times as much. Let your kids know that that other $162 billion comes directly from your pocket, and will come directly from his or her pocket once they’re also paying taxes.
• Partially as a result of people getting sick due to drugs and alcohol, healthcare costs are so high that millions of people in America can’t afford to go to a doctor or to buy health insurance. It’s hard to pay for these things even for someone who makes a better than average income. But for many people, it comes down to eating and paying rent OR paying for the doctor or having health insurance. Give them examples of how much you have to pay. And how much they’ll have to pay as they get older.
• The same is true for auto insurance. If there weren’t so many people on the road drinking and driving, or driving while on drugs, it wouldn’t be necessary to charge so much for auto insurance. That also effects you, the parents, and will effect them as they get older.
• Tens of thousands of people in almost every state go into drug rehab and alcohol rehab every year. Most of these services are ‘free’ to the people getting helped, but are paid for by the taxpayer, which will one day include your son or daughter.  And the people who get help never have to repay anything for the services they receive, so no one who footed the bill for them will ever get any of that money back.  Helping is great, but those people did make the decision to drink or take drugs, and to drink too much, or to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and they may even have damaged cars, other property, their passengers, the people in the other cars – someone may even have died or been crippled for life. It might be appropriate that, once the alcoholic or drug addict is doing better, they repay for the damage they caused and the help they got.

The point is – individuals may have the right to do whatever they want regarding drugs and alcohol, but they do not have the right to infringe on and damage the lives of others. They will agree, I’m sure, that they also don’t want to harm others. But, if you’re drinking too much (by which I mean more than the occasional social drink) or taking drugs, there’s really no way you can avoid negatively effecting someone else – even if it’s just your parents worrying about you.

If kids understand this, it will go a long way to helping them say no to drugs and alcohol, and it could make them a better, more socially responsible person in the process.

Popularity: 1% [?]