But prescription drugs aren’t the only problem. Most parents are so unfamiliar with these new highs, they might not immediately recognize the signs and symptoms of abuse in their children.

For instance, most parents are familiar with marijuana because they might have smoked it themselves. But a parent on the lookout for signs of marijuana use is probably clueless when it comes to salvia divinorum (“ska pastora”, “Sally-D”), a leaf that can be smoked like pot or chewed like chewing tobacco. The high comes quickly when smoked, generally with just a few tokes, eliciting euphoria and temporary loss of motor skills. But a bad trip will bring on intense paranoia and panic attacks. Users don’t have to find a shady drug dealer to buy salvia divinorum. It’s legal and commonly found in head shops and stores that sell herbal remedies. Dozens of vendors can be found on EBay where it’s sold as ”incense.”

The Internet can be a supermarket for teens looking for prescription drugs. Painkillers, antidepressants, and stimulants are readily available to anyone with a credit card, and many parents feel it’s useful for teens to have their own cards. For drug novices, there are Web sites that provide how-to advice, personal testimonies from experienced drug users, and tips on how to obtain and prepare drugs. One of the most popular of these sites is the encyclopedic Erowid, which presents hundreds of pages of illegal drug information.

Parents in Denial

Some parents minimize the problem, saying that they survived their own experimentation with drugs when they were young. “But the drugs of the 1970s are not the drugs of today,” says Iris Koonin, Student Assistance Counselor at Hackensack High School in New Jersey, pointing out that the level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is much higher today than it was in the past.

Inhalants—a category that includes glues, spray paints, nail-polish remover, cleaning fluids, Freon, and cooking sprays—are used mainly by younger teens and tweens. While parents are checking the levels in their liquor bottles for surreptitious alcohol consumption, they should also check their supplies in the basement, garage, kitchen, and under the sinks. Teens are using products as innocuous as Wite-Out® to get high.

Thanks to the Internet, teens can exchange drug information with anyone around the world, so the drug scene today is constantly changing. Teens are very adaptable and can be inventive in their methods of concealment. Girls in one middle school were saturating their hair scrunchies in nail-polish remover and taking them off periodically throughout the day for a deep sniff to maintain their high.

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Issue: January 2008