DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: My brother is 25. He’s always been moody and used to have a bad temper. Now he’s sometimes manic, sometimes drowsy. He started smoking pot at 12. Later came Oxycotin, Xanax, Vicodin, Methadone, anything pharmaceutical to get high. As far as I know he doesn’t do drugs anymore (save his prescriptions), but he’s still whacked-out. I don’t understand if his behavior is from leftover effects of long-term drug use, or he is lying to us and still abusing? Or was he simply born with a mental disorder? His psychiatrist just gives him more drugs which seem to make things worse. My parents can’t bear to turn him out and see him fail. What do you think is wrong with him and how can we help? — Concerned brother, Sacramento
Editor’s Note: Like Gabe says below, some kids can drink like fish with no hangover, others are puking from three beers. By the same token, some kids can smoke pot and be high-functioning between stones, while others are affected mentally in a very negative way — which can spiral downward. The younger the user, the more likely this scenario. For any middle school or high school kid who seems weird all of a sudden, “not right” behind the eyes, displaying odd behaviors, changing friends, or worsening in school, I would immediately suspect pot and/or pills. Rapid intervention is important via drug testing and help from outpatient rehab. Even though marijuana today is 10 to 25 percent stronger than the stuff from the ’70s and ’80s, some rehab counselors will tell you pot is okay — even when you can see that your kid is NOT okay. If that happens, trust yourself and go elsewhere. — Lauren Forcella
Comments
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My sister and I sure know what it’s like to live with someone like this. We have a 19 year old stepsister who’s been through drug rehab 3 times now. After the last time, her mom refused to put up with her anymore and had the right to kick her out since she’s legally an adult, so our stepdad agreed to take her in. The worst part is that we have no extra space, so my sister and I have to share our room with her, and it isn’t a very big room for 2 to share much less 3. She’s supposedly “cured” this time, but it doesn’t look like it to us. Sometimes she seems fine, but other times she exhibits totally bizarro behavior, and sometimes she’ll wake us up in the middle of the night screaming and yelling in her sleep at someone named “Ethan” even though she claims that she doesn’t know anyone by that name. Our stepdad says that she just needs time to completely recover and believes that she’s drug free now, but it sure doesn’t look like it to us, and he doesn’t have to share a room with her. If we dare to act anything but overjoyed at having to share our room with her, he gets furious and says we can complain and call it “our room” the day we start paying the rent. We really think it’s time for what they call “tough love” but he has blinders on when it comes to her.
Stepsister
