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Detecting Marijuana Use

The key to detecting any form of drug use is understanding how to detect and draw inferences from a wide range of indications. Drug use is private and illegal. It is very unlikely that you will catch a person in the act. It is equally unlikely that you will find drugs on your child or in their room. Your focus should be on detecting evidence that drug use is occurring.

It is relatively easy to detect Marijuana use. It is usually smoked, which produces a strong odor. The odor permeates a user’s hair and belongings, and stays there for hours. Marijuana paraphernalia, and anything that contacts marijuana, tends to smell conspicuously as well.

Do The Laundry

Some parents have been very successful in monitoring their children’s marijuana use by sorting through the laundry. Smelling the collar area of shirts and the insides of pockets is one way of discretely searching for evidence. Turning pockets inside out has always been a treasure trove for suspicious parents, as paraphernalia is often left behind.

While greeting your child, its also important to get close enough to pick up on these odors. But be smart about it, kids know about the odor too. They try to hide it. If you welcome your son/daughter home and they have a fresh coat of body spray or perfume on, you should wonder why. If they’ve begun burning incense in their room/car or started wearing “pechuli oil”, you better step up your suspicions. These are commonly used as masking agents, because they smell like marijuana.

Red eyes and dilated pupils are another common symptom of marijuana use. Just like the odor, this conspicuous symptom is well known and prepared for. Most regular marijuana smokers will carry a bottle of eye drops to “get the red out”. Just remember to think one step ahead of them. If the direct symptom isn’t there, be sure to look for a cover-up before resting easy.

Do Your Homework

Education and vigilance are essential component of your home protective strategy. Study the “Identifying Marijuana Page” and the “Marijuana Paraphernalia Page” so you’ll know the basics. Constantly scan your child’s surroundings for these items.

Study the “Effects of Marijuana Pages“, so you’ll know how to clearly distinguish between teen moodiness and drug use. Every parent should also visit the main “Detecting Drug Use” page, to learn how to properly evaluate a child for signs of drug use. Study the “Marijuana Culture Page” to learn what subtle signs should be dead giveaways that your child is enamored with marijuana. Finally, equip yourself to eliminate all doubts. Home drug tests kits are now readily available. When in doubt, test.

Also be aware that an entire industry has grown around the production of products that conceal marijuana use. Pipes are available which look like cigarettes, for example. Soda cans, water bottles, magic markers, shoes etc are all available with hollowed out cavities, designed to hold drugs. It is also common for smokers to make their own concealment devices. They hollow out tobacco products, such as cigarettes or cigars, and replace the contents with marijuana. The result is something which has an appearance and smell which is virtually indistinguishable from a tobacco product.

Marijuana Tutorial: Page 18 of 21