TEENAGE DANGERS

We, as parents, have much to fear. Our teenagers are in danger all the time. Unless you have a child who spends his hours indoors pouring over newspapers and books, he will be out there – exposed to all the dangers that the millenium child may come into contact with.

The news is constantly full of stories about date rape. Quite a scary thought, isn’t it? Whether you worry about your daughter (or son) becoming a victim, or heaven help us if he commits this heinous crime, it makes you shudder. As soon as you manage to get your brain wrapped around one drug, another pops up. Now they speak about a new Russian sleeping potion which could be used to spike the drinks of unsuspecting women.

This possibility was raised by a Swedish Professor who is an expert on recreational drugs. The drug is phenazepam. It was not registered as a pharmaceutical in the West, so control of it is very difficult. It is imported from Russia and Ukraine in powder form and has to be weighed very carefully into individual doses. People who had taken doses ‘a hundredfold’ higher than they should have, have ended up unconscious for days.

This is one of the drugs possibly used for ‘spiking’. How do we keep up with them all?

Constantly talking to your child and informing them to never leave a drink unattended may save them. Order a drink in a can and make sure it has not been opened. If it is a drink that must be poured, be vigilant and watch them pouring it.

How about Ecstacy? Harmless party drug? Think again. A grim warning from the same Swedish Professor. “It turns you into a reptile, then you die.”

Ecstacy disrupts the part of the brain that regulates body temperature. “You take on the temperature of your surroundings. Heat stroke is a common problem. If you are dancing, your temperature rises and becomes uncontrollable,” says Dr Kai Knudsen. Doctors treating patients have to sedate them and cool them down as their temperatures can reach 41 or 42 degrees.

Then there are kids who don’t use designer drugs, they simply eat mushrooms. Hospitals in Sweden treat hundreds of people who had eaten suspect mushrooms to get high. “They go mad,” he says. “One man had been struck by “hunger hallucinations” and had burst into MacDonalds and in a frenzy, ate 20 Big Macs, after which he was still hungry.

Coke-snorting. We have the likes of Kate Moss who sets a bad example with her careless drug habits. Did you know that according to a recent UN report, an estimated 25 percent of cocaine enters Europe via Africa?

Facebook and MySpace. A wonderful platform for communicating and exchanging ideas and information but becoming all-consuming for an ever increasing number of users. And it’s not just teens using this virtual social environment.

Counsellors are now concerned about this obsession as many kids come home from school and before even considering lunch or homework, find themselves in front of the screen and sometimes tap away until the early hours of the morning. This cannot be healthy. Parents should introduce strict rules around access and usage. It has gone so far that the user now has ‘withdrawal symptoms’ if unable to access the site for some reason. There is also the danger of placing too much personal information for access by unknown persons.

Cyber bullying has also been reported where unknown persons post malicious comments. Because Facebook and similar sites are here to stay, we are forced to ensure a stricter control over our children. For the younger child who perhaps is just starting to mention that he would like to join the site, it would be an ideal time to lay down rules and STICK with them. Now is also a good time to sit with your child and log onto a very good, recently launched British site to review the dangers and tips about this subject. www.thinkuknow.co.uk/cybercafe

MXit. It's been around for a while now, hasn't it. Most of the kids have MXit and how do we stop it, anyway? If used for it's innocent purpose, it's a great way to connect with friends. The problem comes in when cases like the recently publised 'self-taken nude photos' circulate via MXit in exchange for money in the bank.

The latest sexcapades follow reports that teens have been misled on MXit into accepting offers of loans and 'free' airtime. Youngters have found themselves in debt to dealers who, bypassing parental consent, later demand repayment in cash or kind - including sex or drugs.

These unscrupulous dealers pose as teens themselves, breaking through the defences of unsuspecting children. Once friendships are formed, predators make their move.

Alarm bells rang recently in South Africa as a mother of a 13-year old girl made the discovery when she investigated calls made on her daughters cellphone. The young girl had sent naked photos in return for a cash payment deposited into her bank account (a step away from finding out where she lives).

Police officers have been warned that organised gangs of sex traders, paedophiles, drug dealers and criminals were getting ready to take advantage of the 2010 World Cup in SA where teenagers would easily be 'lost in the crowds' as tourists decend in their thousands.

So what can we, as parents, do about it? An idea would be to keep a sharp watch on your children's telephone transactions.Is that being intrusive? Yes. Should you do it anyway? Yes. Should cellphones go with the kids to school-camps? Probably not a good idea. A lot of mischieveousness happens at school camps. If there's an emergency, the teachers will be in touch. You will survive not being in contact for a few days.

Hubbly Bubbly (Or Hookah, Shisha, Nargile, Peacepipe)

Now I know this is not a new invention. It has been around for a long, long time but has now become a huge ‘fad’. It is gaining an enormous popularity amongst teenagers at parties and homes. Many well-educated parents are willingly allowing their children to take up this fad and are even buying them for their children. My own son has attended many parties where the parents have happily put these out with all the relevant flavoured tobacco. “It’s perfectly safe!” they say. Is it? This IS smoking, contrary to the popular perception that the two are not related. But you will have a hard time telling your child this when so many other parents are telling them that it is fine. “But,” says my son “the smoke is filtered through the water which makes the smoke perfectly safe.”

This is a myth. The water is not a filter. It simply cools the heat of the smoke down which makes hubby bubbly's risk as great as, and perhaps even greater than cigarette smoking. The smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer causing elements.

Flavoured tobacco is harmless, the teenagers say. How so? It is a tobacco. Is this a way for the tobacco industry to get their favourite customers, very often young people, hooked into an addictive and deadly habit?

How easy is it to add dagga(cannabis) to this? Very easy. Does it happen? Of course it does. To spice things up a bit, they smoke hubbly through vodka instead of water.

An advantage(?)- if I can call it that, of Hubbly: When measured against normal cigarette smoking - it is more time consuming to get the whole procedure going, so probably not likely to happen as often and quickly as lighting up a cigarette.

A disadvantage(?): it's been shown to produce more smoke than a regular cigarette and therefore delivers a greater number of carcinogens to the smoker. The hubbly smoker may therefore inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale smoking 100 cigarettes.

I've received numerous requests to broaden this subject a bit. Questions asked:

"Is it illegal for under 18's to smoke Hubbly?" - it's illegal for under 18's to smoke - at least in countries like South Africa. I'm not certain about the age limit in different countries.

What exactly are the dangers? The tobacco used does contain nicotine and tar, just as cigarettes do and is a factor to lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases. CANSA (Cancer Association of South Africa) say it is more dangerous than cigarettes.

Can it cause addiction? Yes, of course it can. It's nicotine!

So parents - Should you not rather buy a few packets of cigarettes for your teens house-party and let them help themselves to a ‘smoke’? Cringing? Then cringe at the idea of a hubbly-bubbly as well!

EMO. So what’s this, you say? You’ll hear a number of teenagers who classify themselves as such. Generally ones who are searching for a quest or an identity. This is one of many subcultures for such a searching person. It’s a wide-ranging term for a certain type of music (punk-type); a certain style of fashion and a certain personality, generally one who feels misunderstood, lonely or introspective. Sometimes aligned to Goth or Punk, it involves wearing tight black clothing (jeans, jerseys, scarves). Unlike Goth, make up does not have to be pale with black accentuation. Counsellors advise that this does not necessarily need to be a cause for concern as it could just be a normal adolescent stage, unless the behaviour becomes aggressive or destructive.

GONZO PORN. Well, I have a 16-year old and I have not come across this one until now. So what is it? It appears that South Africa is the ‘dumping ground’ for the worst kinds of pornography. I learn that there are two versions of the Hustler magazine. One is the soft-core version for markets overseas and then we have the hard-core ‘Gold’ version for distribution within South Africa.

“Pornography that is beyond the generally-accepted community level of tolerance in other countries is promptly shipped off to SA.” Apparently, since 1998, in excess of 30 000 hard-core pornography DVDs and Video Cassettes have made their way into the country. (Approved by the Film and Publication Board) Amongst this is a genre of pornography known as Gonzo.

Gonzo movies are simply a filmed series of incredibly degrading sex-acts, including oral, viginal and anal penetration, and these often performed while the men call the women by foul, demeaning and degrading names, all the while expecting the women to react by saying how much they are enjoying the specific act. As this pornography is becoming increasingly normalised, pornographers are pushing for younger and younger ‘porn-stars’

This all in light of the reported statistics of 2007 that 150 children are raped every day in South Africa. The levels of violence that men use against children and women in these cases point to a very dangerous sadistic undertone.

Which drugs are teenagers using? The list is long – but here are some: dagga, mandrax, ecstasy, LSD, cat, cocaine, heroin, crack, liquid ecstasy, poppers, magic mushrooms, malpitte.

And where do the teenagers get hold of these drugs? Remember that it is not always the stranger that offers your child drugs. It is more often than not, kids that sell to kids. Your child’s circle of friends. Their siblings. Kids very seldom have to ‘look’ for drugs. They are right there – pharmacies; clubs; bars; your medicine cabinet; garages.

But my child has no money to buy drugs, you say. Surely it’s only the kids with money? Wrong. Drugs have become cheaper. Kids use their allowances; birthday money; steal from parents; they can become involved in criminal activity. There are many ways!

ALCHOHOL - This is a very tricky problem and not easily solved. Most adults drink at home, don't they? "If my parents can drink, so can I," not so? Sometimes I would share a beer-shandy with my son when he was 16 - "that's all you're allowed to drink," I would tell him.

Off he would go on a Friday night to meet his mates at a place like the local Pizzeria, where all the 15, 16 & 17 year-olds seemed to hang out. They were legally too young to get into night clubs. But this is how it went: they would order a Smirnoff from the waiter (who willingly obliged) and share one pizza amongst 3 or 4 youngsters. Having done that, they ventured off to a different restuarant and once again, were served as much alchohol as they wanted. At the end of the evening, my son would often have had 2 or 3 drinks, (because he didn't have much money with him) and some of his friends who carried a lot more money would have perhaps had 6-10 drinks.

How much will these kids drink when they are 18? The usage of alchohol is not strictly controlled in South Africa - anything for a quick buck. Yes, the legal drinking age is 18 but no one seems to enforce it.

England however seems to have a problem as well. Pubs will not serve alchohol to under 18's unless the child is accompanied by an adult and a meal to go with the drink. But, here lies the danger, the kids are drinking like crazy. Somehow, they always have alchohol on a weekend and for some bizarre reason, the girls seem to drink more than the boys. A dangerous situation indeed.

It is very difficult to control what your teenager does when he is not at home. The problem is, when he is out with his friends and they are all doing it - he will more likely than not, do the same. I often feel I am fighting a losing battle. At this point in time, I feel almost helpless as I continuously lecture my son about the dangers and deliberately give him a nominal amount of money when he goes out with his friends.

Parents, watch your kids. Talk to them. Listen to them. All the time. Be aware of any changes. A problem is easier to address in it’s initial stages. Even good kids can become involved in bad things. Your child is not excluded.

Some excerpts taken from the dailymail.co.uk ...

"Statistics show that half the people who become addicted to alcohol are afflicted within ten years of their first drink. In other words, start drinking at 13 and by 23 there's a chance you'll be addicted and at risk from liver failure. (Last year there was a 40 per cent rise in under-18s in alcoholic treatment programmes.)

It is something Natasha Farnham exemplifies perfectly. At the age of just 18, her liver is so seriously damaged she has been warned that another drink could kill her.

She had her first drink at 12 and two years later was downing up to six bottles of wine a day as well as a litre of vodka.

'I didn't think my drinking was a problem because all my friends were getting wasted every weekend as well,' she says.

'I thought I looked grown-up and would drink as much as possible - sometimes even passing out. I never questioned what I was doing and my mum didn't know because I would say I was staying at a friend's house.

'I saved my dinner money and spent it on booze. It was never hard to get our hands on alcohol. But now I have no short-term memory and doctors warn me that if I drink any more, I will die.'

While Natasha's case is extreme and will shock many youngsters who think the most they risk from binge-drinking is a hangover. But there is growing concern that teenage drinking may be inflicting harm on the brain that will become apparent only in years to come.

'I think the concerns about possible brain damage are real,' says Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians.

'Brain development isn't finished until people reach their 20s, and so it is possible that heavy binge-drinking may impinge on brain development of young people.' "

GBL - Know firstly that GBL + ALCHOHOL = DEATH

Is this the latest 'party drug'? Also known as 'Coma in a bottle'. Following the recent death of her teenage daughter, British mother questions why this drug is not banned in Britain. Taken with alchohol, this drug is lethal. GBL (gamma-butyrolactone) is a colourless liquid which turns into GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) in the stomach. A small amount of GBL mixed with alchohol can be lethal.

GBL, a chemical compound, used in paint stripper and nail-varnish remover, yet peddled as a "natural high". Can be taken orally, perfectly legal, despite its ability to kill in very small doses if mixed with alcohol. GBL is a synthetic drug which can pose a major threat to the lives of young people.

You can buy GBL – which is odourless, colourless and therefore ideal for spiking drinks – online.

At a price of £35 a bottle and taken in 2ml doses, it's 50p a hit – or just 8p a hit if you buy a bigger bottle. Mother of the late teenager says 'Imagine that: you are a student, you are strapped for cash, and along comes this stuff, billed as natural and legal, that can give you a high for less than the cost of alcohol.'

'What the sellers don't tell their young customers is the potential physical and psychological cost of GBL. Users have suffered paranoid episodes and respiratory failure. Mrs Stewart, took up the fight against GBL following her daughter's death on April 26, has since met a girl who had was confined to a wheelchair after taking it'.

"People need to know that GBL plus alcohol equals death," says Mrs Stewart, the author of 25 books on lifestyle and nutrition, who presents a satellite television programme. "Drug abuse was not my area, but when I looked into this I realised it was the tip of the iceberg. There are so many so-called 'natural highs' on the market."

'GBL is banned for personal use in North America and in some European countries, but the British government has dragged its feet, promising action but insisting on consultations with industry'.