Teen Support
Centerstone provides answers to a lot of common questions that teens and parents might have about mental health, drugs, alcohol, relationships, social media, bullying and much more.
It can be tempting to turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with heightened emotions but these substances can actually worsen symptoms and make you feel less like yourself.
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You may feel tempted to drink when it seems harmless, all your friends are doing it or you’re feeling stressed. But if you’re under age 21, drinking alcohol isn’t safe.
While alcohol can make a person feel relaxed and happy at first, it can also cause harmful side effects. Teens who drink are more like to experience:
In the short term, drinking alcohol can make it harder for you to make good decisions, increase your risk of injury, make you less aware of unsafe or inappropriate behavior, and make you less aware of danger.
Long-term, research suggests that drinking during your teen years can disrupt normal brain development, negatively affect your ability to learn and process information, and increase your risk of having alcohol use disorder later in life.
Consuming a lot of alcohol can also lead to overdose and death. Drinking too much can cause a person to pass out, vomit and choke, or stop breathing.
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Heroin is a drug that is made from a poppy plant and is very dangerous to use.
Contact us to learn more about the dangers of heroin and how we can help. If you feel like you need immediate help, call the Centerstone Crisis Line nearest you.
Once someone becomes addicted to heroin, it is very hard to stop using it.
This is especially dangerous because, if someone uses too much heroin, they can overdose. Heroin overdoses can cause vomiting, lack of oxygen to the brain, and even death.
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Marijuana is a drug that comes from a cannabis plant. Other terms for marijuana include:
According to the Monitoring the Future survey, in 2022, 30.7% of 12th graders reported using marijuana in the past year and 6.3% reported using marijuana daily.
In addition, many young people also use vaping devices to consume cannabis products. In 2022, nearly 20.6% of 12th graders reported that they vaped marijuana in the past year and 2.1% reported that they did so daily.
Contact us to learn more about the dangers of drugs and how we can help. If you feel like you need immediate help, call the Centerstone Crisis Line nearest you.
Marijuana is a psychoactive drug which means it impacts the way your brain functions while using it. This results in:
Yes, marijuana is legal for adults to use in some places in the United States. However, just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s healthy to use.
Medical marijuana refers to marijuana being used to treat an illness or medical condition. Smoking marijuana has not been approved as a treatment for any medical condition.
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Meth is another name for methamphetamine, a highly addictive and dangerous drug.
Meth is a stimulant to the central nervous system. When the drug enters the brain, it causes a large release of dopamine causing intense feelings of pleasure for the user.
Some long-term effects of meth include:
If you, or someone you know, has a problem, talk to a trusted adult. Seek out local substance abuse treatment centers in your area for further help.
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Prescription drugs are any medicine that is prescribed by a doctor to treat a medical condition.
Some people misuse prescription drugs by taking too much of them, by taking them when they’re not supposed to or by using someone else’s prescription drugs.
Contact us to learn more about the dangers of prescription drugs and how we can help. If you feel like you need immediate help, call the Centerstone Crisis Line nearest you.
The most common type of prescription drug misuse is with painkillers, stimulants, and depressants.
Painkillers are any type of medicine that are used to reduce pain, including:
Stimulants are used to stimulate brain activity and treat disorders like ADHD and depression, including:
Depressants are used to reduce brain activity and treat disorders like anxiety and sleep disorders, including:
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Synthetic drugs are manufactured using chemical compounds created in a laboratory. Synthetic drugs often fall into one of two categories: stimulants and cannabinoids.
Synthetic stimulants contain ingredients that mimic the effects of methamphetamine, cocaine or LSD. Street names include bath salts, Bliss, Blue Silk, Pure Ivory, Purple Wave, White Lightning and more.
Side effects of synthetic stimulants include:
Synthetic cannabinoids mimic the effects of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Common names include fake weed, Spice, Black Mamba, K2, AK-47, Kronic, Kush, Mr. Happy and Scooby Snax.
Side effects of synthetic cannabinoids include:
The strength and contents of each package can vary greatly. Even if you used them before with no serious side effects, the next batch could be much stronger or contain different ingredients, leading to severe illness or death.
Withdrawal symptoms can include breathing problems, chest pain, extreme anxiety, headache, seizures and vomiting.
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Tobacco is a type of plant used in making cigarettes, cigars, chewing or dipping tobacco and hookah. While tobacco products are legal to purchase for adults, they are highly addictive and have many negative effects.
Contact us to learn more about the dangers of tobacco products and how we can help. If you feel like you need immediate help, call the Centerstone Crisis Line nearest you.
Tobacco contains a stimulant called nicotine which causes feelings of pleasure for the person using it. However, using tobacco products has many dangerous side effects, including:
Tobacco products are highly addictive, meaning that once you start using them, it’s very hard to stop.
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Vaping is the use of electronic cigarettes. E-cigarettes use a battery to heat up a special liquid that users inhale. This liquid usually contains nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
There are many health risks associated with the use of e-cigarettes. These include:
There are several ways a person can quit vaping. Consider one or more of the following:
Make sure to check out our Spark comic book series. For more information on vaping and e-cigarette use in teens, check out Spark Demystified.
Being a teenager is hard. That’s why we have answers to a lot of common questions that teens might have about mental health, drugs and alcohol, relationships, social media, internet safety, bullying and more.
Spark Demystified, a Centerstone comic book, covers teen vaping and how the use of e-cigarettes is unsafe for kids and teens, and can lead to substance use disorders. In this issue, Spark, a teen superhero whose real name is Amber, helps classmate Dylan and his friends make better decisions about the use of e-cigarettes. The comic also addresses peer pressure.
Read DemystifiedSobering Truth is part of the Spark comic series and focuses on alcohol, decision-making and peer pressure when substances are part of the situation.
Read Sobering Truth
