These signs can be helpful in identifying an alcohol or other drug abuser.  However, these signs can also apply to a child who is not using drugs.  Be cautious before making accusations.

• Red eyes – the use of eye drops such as Visine or Murine
• A distorted sense of time
• A drop in school performance; not necessarily from A’s to D’s, but from A’s to B’s to C’s
• Caring less about everything: school, sports, music, or hobbies
• Eating extremes – loss of appetite, eating huge amounts of food, or craving sweets
• Withdrawal from family, mood changes, irritability, hostility
• Impaired memory or judgment
• Chronic cough, chest pains
• Depression, feelings of loneliness, paranoia
• Fatigue and loss of vitality
• “Flattened” speech and expression
• Sleep disturbances
• Menstrual irregularities
• Secretiveness, vagueness about social activities
• Less attention paid to cleanliness of body, hair, and clothes
• Disappearance of money or items of value from the home
• Difficulty in fighting off common infections
• Drug-oriented graffiti on school notebooks and/or drug messages in school yearbooks or memory books
• Drug paraphernalia: a pot pipe, polling papers
• Use of incense to hide the sweet burnt odor of pot, breath fresheners, room deodorizers

Be watchful.  Early awareness is the key to early intervention.