They look like everyday items — alarm clocks, cans of soda, shaving cream canisters — but they could be places where teens hooked on drugs could be hiding their supplies.
Two social workers with Shawano Community Middle School gave a presentation Feb. 25 titled “Hiding in Plain Sight” on the issue of drugs and the great lengths teens go to to conceal pills, vaping supplies, marijuana, fentanyl and other drugs. It is similar to another presentation given a year ago by the Addiction Resource Council that includes the ability to create a basic facsimile of a teen’s bedroom for parents to see for themselves where drugs can be hidden. The council made the materials available through a Wisconsin Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse grant.
“People don’t realize that with technology and everything, things have really progressed,” said Elizabeth Basten, one of the social workers. “People don’t realize that drugs are hidden in so many different places and look like common objects, so they can be easily dismissed.”
Fentanyl abuse is on the rise, and one of the hiding places teen uses is so close that some might never guess, according to Jodi Guenther, another social worker. Because it’s a synthetic opioid and a small amount can kill, it’s especially concerning that the drug can be inserted under fake fingernails.
“A few years ago, girls with those press-on nails that they have, they found that they would be slipped under those nails so they would sit in school and chew on their nails,” Guenther said.
Basten noted that the school is also seeing an increase in cough medicine abuse, as the ingredient dextromethorphan can be extracted and made into a powder or capsule of the pure version.
Even if drugs aren’t hidden on a person, there are plenty of other places for pills and other items to go, as Basten and Guenther showed. A stuffed animal had marijuana stashed in it. A can of Arizona tea could be altered to hide a syringe. Another aluminum can, this time with soda, had been changed to hide pills. A fake cell phone became a flask. Vape pens have been developed to look like USB drives, iPad styluses and even highlighters. Even an ordinary wristwatch can have the timepiece hiding a pill grinder inside.
“The alarm clock has pills in the battery case,” Basten said. “There are a lot of things they can be sneaky about. A sploof I had to look up, but typically they do it to mask the methamphetamine smell, and they use dryer sheets.”
A lot of the drug abuse is caused through social media, according to Basten, which generates a lot of peer pressure to try them. This is especially true for vaping, she said.
“It’s easily accessible and convenient, and students desire to fit in with the crowd,” Basten said. “There’s celebrity endorsements of it, and marketing is specifically targeted to young crowds. The tobacco industry wants to hook younger audiences. They’re going to want to be targeting specific kids. There’s also common fallacies promoted on social media like it relieves pain and anxiety and is considered a safer and healthier alternative to regular cigarette smoking.”
There were only three people present Feb. 25 to learn about hiding drugs, which happened during the middle school’s parent-teacher conferences, but the social workers plan to hold additional presentations in the future to make parents aware.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Drugs can easily be hidden at home
