Every parent must prepare for the reality of kids and drugs. The following pages contain general information on popular narcotics and the effects produced by these illicit drugs. The National Center on addiction and substance abused produced a 2001 report stating that 60% of high school students and 30% of middle school students said that drugs were used, sold, or kept at their schools. Despite the prevalence of drugs in the schools, drug use was most frequently reported to occur on weekends and in the afternoons after school. 

RAVE parties are teenage hotspots for illicit drug use. They are high energy all night dance parties commonly held in dance clubs, abandoned warehouses and in open fields. Rave parties can be as small as 30 individuals and as large as tens of thousands in stadiums or open fields. Rave parties are exemplified by techno music, laser light shows and drugs such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), Rohypnol, ketamine, GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethaphetamine. Rave parties are ususually advertised for by word of mouth, via e-mail, and flyers posted in areas frequented by teens.

Though declining, the rates of drug use among adolescents are still high. We must stay on top of emerging drugs, such as MDMA. Only through consistent education through parents, teachers and other positive influences can adolescent drug use be reduced.

For more information on drugs, please visit: http://www.streetdrugs.org/ (Note: this link will take you out of WPD website)

Sources: D.A.R.E.

       U.S. Department of Justice