Tips on finding clues of substance abuse

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

CHAMPION

Longtime narcotics investigators Shawn Bain and Michael Powell of Columbus told an audience Friday at the 2019 drug summit at Kent State Trumbull that when they visit families who have lost someone to drug addiction, they see “a lot of enabling.”

Powell said the trouble is when word gets around that a young person is using alcohol or drugs, the attitude is too often, “Jimmy is drinking a little bit, smoking a bit of weed. Well that’s what young people do in our country. It’s just a little bit of marijuana. It’s just a little bit of alcohol.”

Some years later, if Jimmy is in danger of dying from drugs, we take it more seriously. “But I think it’s a little late to show we care.”

When someone dies of a drug overdose, loved ones will say, “Should I have done more? Should I have known more?”

Powell and Bain have given their presentation across the country because people want to better understand the terminology of drug abuse, “especially where it comes to the young people,” Powell said.

Parents can frequently tell if their kids are lying and can detect smells suggesting drug use. One way Powell and Bain have learned about drug use is to visit drug paraphernalia shops.

Over about 30 minutes, they discussed dozens of items that can be purchased at paraphernalia shops, gas stations and other places.

Powell showed a lipstick with a hole in it used for smoking drugs. They showed an ordinary beverage can, a wet-wipe container, snack container, eye drop bottle that all hold drugs or alcohol. They mentioned gummy treats that have been soaked in vodka, alcohol-infused ice cream and powdered alcohol.

Powell said he compares drug abuse to the stages of cancer. When we learn someone has cancer, we “pray that it’s stage 1.” But when it’s a drug addiction, “we fail to realize that when he’s using a drug, he’s already in trouble. This is about standing up and speaking out. Changing, saving that life.”

Smoking pipes typically use a metal water-faucet screen, so it’s important to notice when one of these shows up in someone’s belongings. One mom who attended their presentation later sent them a photo of several water-faucet screens she found among her child’s things.

“We had to tell that mom, ‘Those are burnt water-faucet screens. Your kid is smoking marijuana,’” Bain said. “If Mom would have just let that go, what happens a year, two years from now when that marijuana use — stage 1 — is now stage 2, stage 3, stage 4 — pills, heroin or fentanyl?

“We’ve got to get to this early. We’ve got to know what the paraphernalia is and be able to associate that paraphernalia with what drug it is.”

Powell said parents and schools with suspicions should check the trash, the car floor board, the purse, pockets. “They will leave little things behind,” Powell said.