Nearly a quarter of all 12 to 17 year olds in the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported current marijuana usage. Unfortunately, kids with ADHD typically have the highest rate of drug use among their peers. According to Stephen Andrew LCSW, a substance abuse counselor and director of the Health Education Training Institute of Maine, the latest statistics say that 80 percent of all kids with ADHD are using illegal drugs.
What is the reason for this? “They don’t like the meds they’re given legally and there’s a high rate of non-compliance,” said Andrew, “so they turn to marijuana and other drugs.” Anger management and self-medication are two of the leading factors. “There’s an incredible correlation, in that kids with ADHD tend to have trouble with their anger. When they start using marijuana, the trouble with the anger goes away. This is interesting because people don’t understand why the child has changed, but they may like the change. There’s a collusion effect, so parents might be glad and not look into it too closely. For peace, you sacrifice the long term vision of the family…and pot becomes, ‘at least we’re not fighting.’”
“Pot is an ‘amotivational’ drug,” said Andrew. The real consequence of marijuana use is that the amotivated pattern can become permanent and the drug is used as a substitute for learning coping skills.
In fact, that is one of the very signs Andrew said parents should look for in a child suspected of using marijuana. “If you have an angry child, a child you find in an oppositional situation a lot, and then you start noticing that they are not oppositional—this is one of the ways you may be able to tell they are using pot.”
The average child who uses marijuana tries it for the first time between the ages of 12 to 14. “Now the developmental period is coming along, so parents might think that all these changes are developmental; you can get caught by ‘these are just life changes’ and not understand what is going on,” said Andrew. He recommends that parents trust their instincts more and follow through on any hunches they might have when they suspect their child of using marijuana.
According to Andrew, who is a former substance abuse coordinator for the public school system, some signs a child who is using marijuana might include:
- Spending more time lying around and not being active
- Paraphernalia shows up in the home: “Usually they’ll say ‘I’m holding it for a friend,’ but usually the case is that they’re doing it with a friend,” said Andrew.
- Academic studies are deteriorating
- Not engaging with you and other family members
- Less motivated in general
“Pot is an ‘amotivational’ drug,” said Andrew. “A place where you might see change is that your child’s academic studies might be going down. Or perhaps your son or daughter had been committed to a sport and now they’re not as motivated to participate as they used to be. Or they’re spending more time lying around, not engaging with you or others in the family.” Andrew defines amotivation this way: “If you think in terms of the opposite of motivation, which is of course what you want your child to be, if you think of education, social life, being part of the family, you begin to see a slow decrease in those kinds of activities…so the child who starts using will start to become less engaged.”
The real consequence of marijuana use, according to Andrew, is that the amotivated pattern can become permanent and the drug is used as a substitute for learning coping skills. “You don’t have an opportunity to spend a lot of time in amotivational states in our fast-moving culture. The second major thing is that kids are using an external material to modulate their emotional life. So they don’t learn how to moderate their emotions.”
Although many children—even those who smoke pot frequently—reduce or quit using the drug entirely by the time they are 22 to 24, the damage has already been done. “The consequences are there—they haven’t learned to regulate their emotions and that will become a problem both at work and at home, as they try to build relationships. They’re not using pot anymore, but the scars of using are left there,” said Andrew.
What are some short term steps you can take when confronted with the fact that your child might be using marijuana? “The truth of the matter is, they’re not going to let go of the pot just because you ask them,” said Andrew, but he listed the immediate steps you can take:
- Speak to your child immediately when you suspect them of using pot: “Set boundaries around health and safety, and be very clear about them.”
- Increase your relational time: “Make more efforts to spend more quality time with your child. Go out to dinner, do things together, even when they don’t want to spend time with you. And command it. Your child may say they’re not interested. But you’re the parent—you need to assert your authority and command that they interact with the family.”
- “If you feel you can’t connect with your child, seek help. Get help to get the conversation started. Staying connected is the most important ingredient to preventing substance abuse.”
In the end, “The greatest prevention is a good, healthy relationship,” said Andrew. “It doesn’t mean kids won’t ever use. It means when they get in trouble, they’ll find a way out faster.”
Resources:
www.hetimaine.org
http://family.samhsa.gov/monitor/whosusing.aspx
http://www.nida.nih.gov/
http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/marijuana.htm
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/du.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html
http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/teen_marijuana.asp
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I have a duaghter age 18 at present that started smoking pot her last two years of high school to deal with ADHD and Aneroxia. It helped her sleep and eat. It spirled out of control she even though she was in therapy every week and seeing doctors who knew that she was smoking. I was told she was cutting back, however that did not happen and she ended up droping out her senior year of high-school and being sent to a treatment program. The pot caused a car wreck in which her car and another car was totaled. Luckly no one was injured. It also led to painkiller abuse such as Xanax and hydrocodiene. All these drugs mellow you out and that was the feeling she was striving for. Presently she completed 60 days of treatment go her GED and has been accepted to college. She was a gifted child in a high school duel enrollment program. Sometimes the smartest ones have the most problems it seems. Now she occasionally smokes pot to sleep and I am not happy about that.... but I am told by her therapist that this is normal and that she no longer is an addict. I worry it will spiral out of control again when she leaves in August to go away to college. I don't know what else to do... at least her weight is healthy now.. At her lowest she was 85 pounds and 5 feet 2 . Now she is a healthy 115 pounds. She thinks pot needs to be legal for sleep as sleeping pills build up a tolerance quickly. She also suffers from Anexity
Concerta for ADHD was a problem for her as it caused her to lose more weight. I also want to point out that girls with ADHD do not always appear hyper as boys do. My daughter was described as dreamy by her teachers when she was young and never a problem. Girls just zone out with ADHD and the symptoms are often overlooked.
Comment By : Anonymous
I wish this article came out sooner! My son was arrested for drug paraphernalia (a pipe) and having a beer in the car. Blood alcohol was zero since he had slept it off.
We took away his cell phone, car keys, internet access, and grounded him for the summer (he broke curfew and took our car without permission). Talk about a confrontation! He has his cell phone after behaving for a month, but he is not allowed to "hang out or chill" with his former friends.
We also purchased a drug kit from the local drug store. Once we did the test he came clean about his usuage. My son has a 3.2 GPA. His confrontational attitude was better and we attributed it to maturity...
He also squealed about my daughter, and we applied the test to her as well. My daughter is an overachiever with a 4.3 GPA.
The only difference that I noticed with both of my kids is that they have both put on some weight.
Comment By : katy
Can anyone give me advice on drug tests? I've taken my daughter to the local testing facility several times and she's tested clean each time, when not only her friends claim she she was smoking pot within the detectable time frame, but she herself confessed (eventually). Home tests have occasionally come out positive, but the lab results after mailing it in are always negative. I was telling this to a friend of mine whose son has done such large quantities of meth for so long he's suffered permanent brain damage. She said he has never failed a drug test.
Comment By : Anonymous
This is one of the most helpful articles I have ever read. I am raising my ten-year-old grandson
and need to know what signs to look
for. Thank you!
Comment By : Katy
I have lost total control of my daughter. She was 18 in her senior year and barely graduated..she did not get to participate in grad ceremonies but got her diploma. She has paid many consequences but still denies the problem. I have searched high and low for help to no avail. Any ideas? I most appreciate it. thanks and bless you!
Comment By : Trish
My almost 20 year old son does pot. We found out when he was 18 that he started when he was 16. It's so important to him that he left home to live on his own because he knew we would not allow it. He is very intelligent and nobody has shown him that it's harmful. He says that if it were harmful to his brain he would stop. I can't find any conclusive studies that show the harm. Do they exist?
Comment By : Lisa
Yes, there's such conflicting information out there. I think pot should be decriminalized, but not legalized. My 25 year old thinks it's no big deal (will she feel the same way when her daughter turns 13 and is smoking it?) but I've heard of the "amotivational syndrome" and think my boys have it. What IS the truth about pot?
Comment By : Weary Mom
i am in the process of adopting my 6 year old grandson. he has fas, severe adhd, high functioning autism, and behavior disorder. i need all the advice i can get my hands on to help me try to prevent drug use with this child.
Comment By : nancy
I am 40 yrs. old and grew up in a home with a severly ADHD brother.Our whole family revolved around his moods and behavior. Spend most of my childhood spending in doctors waiting rooms and triing to avoid his rage fits with his beating me. He is a very unproductive adult. Will not hold a job, is still very physically and emotionally abusive. Spends most of his time working odd jobs, that doesnt support his kids(our mother does that) and partying. Drinks like a fish and lives to smoke his pot. Would spend his pay check on his pot before he buys his kids winter coats. Thats usually my responsibility. Anyways, when I found out my oldest son is ADHD, we took action. Medications have made this behavior worse. We have found out keeping him very active in sports has been a god send. His choice sport is ice hockey. Usually kids that have ADHD have better hand eye coordination and with all thier energy, they excel.He is now 13. At this point he plays a very high level travel team, which has gave him great confidence, great self esteem, good peers to hang out with and he also has to keep up his grades or the coaches make them sit the bench. The best part is he burns his excess energy and most of all it has taught him better discision making skills and self discipline.Yes, this is pretty expensive and it is a definite life change, but way your options. I know if my son wasnt heavily involved in something, he would be in trouble. Believe me we have our moments and he has a mouth, but I have seen how my parents and brother handled his ADHD and as a parent I feel you have to step up to the plate and make some life choices for your child. After all, They did not ask to Be born with ADHD. Most childern and adults with this,feel worse when they are acting out than the people on the recieving end.
Comment By : Theres hope
I have a 6 year old boy diagnosed through his school psychologist as having ADHD. We'd always known our usually happy little boy did things and learned things differently. Some things he couldn't learn. How to behave appropriately; don't grab, don't bump, hit, push, run or walk into anyone whether on the playground or in the mall, how to recognize anger, pain, surprise in others... It's nearly impossible to teach those things, most of us just get it at some point while we're toddlers. It's insanely difficult to parent a kid like this and we spend a lot of time researching ways to help our son "get" his life. The first thing suggested by the school was medication. Go to the doctor and get him medicated so he won't get suspended from school and will be too stoned to get angry. If we're trying to keep kids off drugs, especially the ADHD kids that are likely more susceptible to addiction, should we be teaching them how to take drugs at 5 years old? We started at age 4 to really look hard at his nutrition and to instill in him a "health first" approach to what he ate and drank. 95 percent of the junk food was chucked out of the house permanently (cookies and small treats once in awhile are now rewards he enjoys). He quickly understood how bad food made him feel. We went through a few sessions where he was emotionally out of control. It's terrifying to watch your child suffer through those times; we got professional help, but not much changed in his behaviour. I've known others with classic ADHD symptoms and chronic pot and alcohol problems, so we can only hope teaching our son to respect himself by being extra careful about what he eats and drinks will help pave the way to a drug-free future. It's a never ending struggle for all parents. There is hope. Our son is physically healthy, smart and friendly, but is sometimes just not present in the moment. For the past 5 months we've added DHA and increased his vitamin intake with good results. We supplement with a teaspoon of high potency EPA/DHA mixed into a morning smoothie of yogurt and fruit juice. Pharmaceutical grade, dioxin and heavy metal tested fish oil. His anger is under control most of the time, no school suspensions for over 2 months, no notes from teachers about ANY inappropriate behaviour for the last 3 weeks. He's finally improving. Granted, we and his teachers have learned how to help and deal with his issues, but I'm sure the fish oil is responsible for the improvement. Nothing else caused this kind of improvement in such a short period. I've spent quite a bit of time researching this stuff, and I'm glad I did. So are my son's teachers. NONE of them knew much about this. They knew the names of all the medications though, and could even educate us about dosages. Learn about EPA/DHA and teach the teachers, too. It's been a good start for us.
Comment By : Mark
I grew up in a pot smoking house. I never even tried it until I was 20 however my brother (2 years younger) had already been doing it, not sure for how long. When our mother found out she smoked with us. I beleive my brother was an untreated child of severe ADHD, they didn't even know what that was in the early 80's. He dropped out of school, never had a long term job or girlfriend, he had even been in trouble with the law for many years. He took his own life at the young age of 29. I now have an 11 year old ADHD boy and a 7 year old girl, how do I teach them not to do drugs when I had smoked pot when I was young? I only smoked it for less than a year off and on, now I don't smoke or even drink, I made a commetment when I had kids to give them a better life than I did.
Comment By : Paige
This comment is for Lisa and Weary Mom. Call your local bookstore or order online ($10 or less on Amazon) the book "Marijuana: What's a Parent to Believe?" by Dr. Tim Cermak.
It contains the latest scientific research about this "drug" and its severe effects on the developing brains of teenagers. I am a baby boomer and experimented in college but the pot we used had 3-5% THC levels. The stuff that our kids use now has 20-30% THC levels!
You owe it to yourself to read this book and show it to your kids as well. Pot is a serious drug these days!!! Also, with relatively heavy sustained use can cause psychotic episodes in kids with a high sensitivity. I know because it happened to my son more than once. Good luck.
Comment By : Irvin
This comment is for Lisa and Weary Mom. Call your local bookstore or order online ($10 or less on Amazon) the book "Marijuana: What's a Parent to Believe?" by Dr. Tim Cermak.
It contains the latest scientific research about this "drug" and its severe effects on the developing brains of teenagers. I am a baby boomer and experimented in college but the pot we used had 3-5% THC levels. The stuff that our kids use now has 20-30% THC levels!
You owe it to yourself to read this book and show it to your kids as well. Pot is a serious drug these days!!! Also, with relatively heavy sustained use can cause psychotic episodes in kids with a high sensitivity. I know because it happened to my son more than once. Good luck.
Comment By : Irvin
The truth about marijuana:
- it is not a depressant
- it has many different effects on different people
- many prominent minds of our time have found peace and inspiration with marijuana, including one of the foremost astrophysicists of our time, Carl Sagan. He certainly didn't "spiral" out of control
- modern delivery techniques, such as vaporizers, eliminate the "100s of bad chemicals" and do away with smoking entirely
To those who are so concerned with developmental issues, you should also examine the "legal" drugs that are touted as solutions to ADHD. These stimulants pose a far greater threat to child and adolescent health.
Marijuana is not for everyone. Neither is alcohol. As an adult approaching my 30th year, I have struggled with ADHD and depression for most of my life. I believed I had things under control but there was always some sort of disaster around the next bend. Self-medicating marijuana at regular intervals has had a tremendous positive effect. I finish things I start, am able to focus at work and don't get overly excited and angry. I have an appetite (biggest complaint after trying Concerta and Adderall) and can easily sleep at night. I don't experience any "amotivational" (that is not an english word) symptoms, quite the opposite. I am now able to motivate myself and see the meaning of long-term rewards.
Caveat emptor. There is no "right" or "wrong" with marijuana.
Comment By : cms
This article covers the issue, but doesn't offer advice on what to do after you've tried confrontation, setting family no tolerance rules, out-patient drug treatment, family therapy, individual therapy, private schools with smaller class rooms, supporting sports, conventional meds,supporting musical interests, declaring consequences (no phone, no car, no house keys-since he was missing curfew, no allowance, etc. etc. etc.). He's still using,angry, verbally abusive, not taking care of his health and very unhappy. Our society is not dealing with this problem. I thought I could fix this with good parenting skills, positive role-modeling and positive support but I've lost my way. All the research, the drug programs, our extended family's support hasn't helped my son. My husband said he'll just have to go out in the world and fail, not like his life and make the changes himself. I dont think he'll make it since he can't problem solve. He just gets stuck and gives up on everything. It's just heart breaking for parents to see this and feel so helpless. John Lehman's program is helping. I pray it works because my son's survival depends on us helping him confront his problems, teaching him he can slove them and find a way to be happy with his life.
Comment By : csl
We have been struggling over how to get our 16 year old boy from
doing "dip" and "pot". He is ADHD, barely makes passing grades and
thinks that doing dip and smoking occasionally is "no big deal".
I have taken the stance that it is a big deal when he uses the money we provide for school lunch and his allowance to purchase substances
that are illegal. He tested positive for Pot so I have taken away his driving "permit" and told him that he will not get it back until
he tests negative and then we will do random tests on him to make sure he stays clean. As for the dip that one is more difficult to enforse so I thought that pre-paying his school lunches so he is not able to siphon off lunch money for the purchase of the dip could be an approach.... but I need someway to create an incentive for him to
stay off of it himself. He does not seem to get it about how addictive nicatine is and the long term health risks. He has been after us for braces , which we were prepared to do this summer but told him we would only go forward with braces if he stopped "dipping tobacco" ... so far he has not stopped. Does anyone have any
suggesstions on how to intervene?
Comment By : Sue D.
