Teens Speak Out About Drugs on ‘SIRIUS XM’S Doctor Radio Reports’

SIRIUS XM Radio today announced that it will broadcast Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High? — Teens Speak Out, a one-hour show on which a group of teens speak frankly about their experiences with drug addiction, peer pressure, communicating with their families, recovery and more.

Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High?– Teens Speak Out will air February 12 at 10:00 pm ET on Doctor Radio, SIRIUS channel 114 and XM channel 119. It will replay February 13 at 10:00 am, and 4:00 pm and February 14 at 11:00 am and 6:00 pm (all times ET).

Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High? — Teens Speak Out features a panel of teens who speak frankly about their personal experiences, answering questions such as who are they getting the drugs from? Where are they hiding them? How are they paying for them? They also offer advice and inspiration for their peers — and for parents and families — on issues related to recovery, communication, social pressures and more.

In addition, Elizabeth Urquhart, M.Ed., Senior Director, Phoenix House San Diego, and Naveed Etemadipour, Counselor, Phoenix House San Diego, join the discussion to offer parents tips and warning signs they should watch for that might indicate drug use, as well as advice on how to ask for help and where to go to get information.

Naveed, the counselor from Phoenix House San Diego, is himself a recovering teen drug addict and he reveals some startling methods and common household items kids might be using to abuse drugs.

His advice:

• If you are concerned your kid might be doing drugs, go into their rooms and open their drawers when they are not there — it’s ok to cross that boundary.
• Pens are sometimes used to smoke marijuana and other drugs. Check to see if the pen smells burnt. You can take a pen apart and make a pipe out of it and then put it back together so that nobody knows that you’ve smoked out it.
• Broken glass could indicate methamphetamine use because glass pipes are commonly used to smoke meth.
• Crumbled tin foil is a possible indication of drug use.
• Marijuana can be smoked out of almost anything.
• Light bulbs can be used to do drugs.

Elizabeth Urquhart, M.Ed., Senior Director, Phoenix House San Diego, offers these warning signs and changes to look out for in your child’s behavior and personality:

• Staying awake all night or sleeping all day.
• Suddenly not eating with the family or not eating very much.
• Eating lots more than they normally do.
• Suddenly doing poorly in school.
• Dropping out of once cherished activities.

Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High? — Teens Speak Out is an all-new follow up show to Doctor Radio Reports: Is Your Kid High?, a recent broadcast special hosted by Perri Peltz that featured tips and advice for parents about kids and drugs — how to spot the signs that their kids might be using, and practical advice on what to do — from experts including Deni Carise, Ph.D, Chief Clinical Officer, Phoenix House, NYU Langone Medical Center psychiatrist Dolores Malaspina, MD, and DEA Special Agent John Gilbride.

On this show Carise shared an inventive method dealers and kids use to hide purchases from parents:

• Electronic drug dealers, aka “e-dealers,” will bill [the drugs] they sell kids as ringtones on the parent’s credit card. The word “pharmacy” does not appear on the bill, but “ringtone” will so most parents never question the charge.

Doctor Radio features live, call-in shows hosted by leading NYU Langone Medical Center doctors from a vast array of fields including: child psychology; sexual health; plastic surgery; emergency room medicine; cancer; heart health; women’s health; dermatology; pediatrics; men’s health; diet and nutrition; sports medicine; psychiatry; and more. For sample audio clips and a complete programming lineup visit www.sirius.com/doctorradio.

Perri Peltz is a television news journalist and public health advocate.