Three Frightening Teen Drug Trends

All parents are concerned that their children will become involved with using illegal drugs, like alcohol or marijuana. However, new evidence suggests that parents shouldn't be as concerned about these drugs but should instead focus on the ones that are easier to get since they are right in their home or at their children's schools.

For example, in recent years, energy drinks have become increasingly popular and can even be found in elementary schools. Given the fact that these drinks contain large doses of caffeine, they are potentially dangerous to children's health. Some schools have reported students coming to school nurses complaining of heart palpitations. Doctors also say that consuming too much caffeine can lead to seizure, stroke or even sudden death for small children.

Another dangerous drug trend that students are participating in is huffing. While huffing paint fumes isn't necessarily a new trend, students are turning to a different source–the computer duster Dust-Off. Dust-Off can produce an instant high that lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. Inhalants can cause nosebleeds, nausea, impaired coordination and death.

The final trend that teens are picking up on is pharm parties. Pharm parties typically involve teens stealing prescription painkillers from their parents or grandparents and bringing a ziploc full of them to a typical party. All of the pills are then combined and party-goers can take their pick. More people die from prescription painkiller overdoses than from heroin and cocaine overdoses combined, so this is also a serious problem affecting today's teens.