{"id":29343,"date":"2023-09-05T14:57:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/my-son-is-a-druggie\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T14:57:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:57:11","slug":"my-son-is-a-druggie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/my-son-is-a-druggie\/","title":{"rendered":"My Son is a Druggie"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>

Drugs are a major issue today. The so-called \u201cwar on drugs\u201d that has been underway around the world for many decades, has achieved very little indeed. Drug use has never been higher. The costs are huge. For users, addicts, friends, family, employers, business, the economy, the justice system, and more. We often come across people we think may be on drugs. This might be a son or a friend or a colleague or anyone. It could be your partner even.<\/p>\n

Let us consider some of the warning signs that a person may be using drugs.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Change in behaviour. You may see a change in routine, topics of discussion, travel plans, etc. Unexpected or sudden or bizarre changes may be red flags.<\/li>\n
  • New friends. Addicts like the company of other addicts so you are likely to see a change in the social circle of an addict.<\/li>\n
  • Many (not all) drugs involve a smell, especially when smoked. You may smell something on clothing or hair or perhaps in a room.<\/li>\n
  • Red eyes or wide pupils or constricted pupils can all be signs of drug use.<\/li>\n
  • Drugs are expensive so you may see changes in spending or other signs of financial distress. This can even go as far as theft in some instances.<\/li>\n
  • Addicts need privacy and secrecy and you may notice this in some ways.<\/li>\n
  • Reduced or increased appetite can both be signs of drug addiction.<\/li>\n
  • Sleep changes. More or less sleeping. Disturbed sleeping. Any form of significant change in sleeping patterns may be a sign of drug use.<\/li>\n
  • Productivity decline. With very few exceptions, drugs and productivity do not go together. Many addicts have trouble at work as a result.<\/li>\n
  • Weight changes. Some drugs lead to weight loss while others are associated with weight gain. Any sudden or unexpected change may be a red flag.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Please be sensitive and please be careful: these might be signs of drug usage, but there are many other possibilities. Try not to jump to conclusions. If you are close to the person and genuinely concerned, by all means consider raising your concerns. But please try to be respectful, gentle, and , well, concerned. Not judgemental or critical. This is crucial. Please think it through. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Written by Dr Colin Burns<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coping-with-life","category-feature-articles"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-01 00:50:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29346,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29343\/revisions\/29346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workcarewellness.co.za\/healthwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}