Suspicious??

[mgala]

My 15 year old son is currently taking Adderal for ADD which is doing wonders for him...and the whole family!! He has been on meds since first grade and has seen the benefit that he personally receives by being on the drug...meaning, I think he has respect for the meds.

About 1 1/2 months ago we noticed about 9 pills missing from the Px bottle. We did what we thought to be a thorough investigation and really thought that the pharmasist simply made a mistake. This morning my wife noticed that several more were missing so she calculated the pills and determined that 33 were missing. We confronted our son again and he swears that he doesn't know anything about their missing. We have suspicions about a couple of other kids that occasionally come to our house but they are really never left alone. I am convinced that none of these friends had a decent opportunity to help themselves, but I do recognize the possibility.

I keep coming back to my son (in my mind) and really think he MAY have something to do with their disappearance. What do I do? Where do I go next? These are mind altering drugs, so do I need to call the police? Do I call his doc? What other actions should I be doing? I want to trust him but dont know where to turn. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[CHERYL]

Your concern sounds validated to me. However I have no idea what you should do to resolve the situation.
Try this annoying habit. Try to find the good in your teenagers bad decisions as you work through this issue. Possible good reasons for this bad behavior.......It just strikes me that if your son is sharing or selling his meds he may think that since his medication helps him it will help his friends. And since it hasn't hurt him it won't be harmful to friends. It may also give him the status he wants in his peer group by being able to provide them with something they can not obtain themselves. All not to bad reasons if you view the situation with impaired mental judgement as Dr. Bradley points out teenagers do.
A word of caution as you dialogue with your son. I really don't think kids buy into the fact that drugs can harm their friends especially if it is a prescription drug. Hopefully Dr. Bradley will have some insights on making this issue more clear to you and your son.

[leliav]

I too have a 15 year old on Adderal. I recently found 5 pills missing. This was the remainder of the script for the month. The best thing to do is to document --daily--when the medicine is taken. Know that he has actually swallowed it. Write down when start day is of the new script, and what the date is the last pill will be taken. My husband or I sign-off on the calendar who gives it on what day. That way, you know FOR SURE if some are missing, BEFORE too many can't be accounted for. We also hide or lock up the Adderal. My husband accidently left it out one day and my son took them (first time my son ever did this). I suspect he sold them because, in the process of looking for the Adderall, we found the container--without the label--with pot in it. (a newly encounterd issue) As you probably already know, ADD meds are highly regulated and we as parents are held accountable by the doctors office (who are held accountable by the Feds) for every pill taken. Now we know why. These meds are very closely monitored and we told our son that Adderal IS a regulated substance and we as his parents are held accountable for the every pill. If we are held responsible then, if someone steals them, they too will be held accountable under the law. We will have to follow through if necessary. However, since we lock it up (and keep it off premises), the chances are minimal we will ever leave a "window of opportunity" again for him to be tempted to do this.
NPR did a report on ADD drugs and abuse of these meds. Because other kids learn that ADHD kids have these meds, they are persuaded into selling them some. ADD meds are what the report called a "gateway drug" for the middle and high school kids. They think of it as a "legal" amphedamine and therefore "safe" (Not!). Best stradegy is to monitor the medication CLOSELY and keep it where it can only be accessed by a responsible adult.