Your Home

Making Your Home Safe
As a parent, you’ve always made it your goal to safeguard your children from things in your home that could harm them—when they were toddlers, it may have been something as simple as installing electrical outlet covers to keep curious fingers from getting shocked—as they've grown up, asking them to clear a pathway in their room from their bed to the door (in case of fire) may be about the best you can do! But even though you think you have every danger covered, you may inadvertently be ignoring the dangers of drug abuse in your own home.

Drug Risks in Every Room of Your Home
Here's something that may shock you: Every American house is filled with items that, if misused, can actually put your children at risk of drug abuse. Think about it—everything from the prescription and nonprescription items in your medicine cabinet, to the aerosol spray cans and cleaning liquids in the kitchen, to the paint cans in the garage—can all be a potential threat.

By learning how to identify these types of products or paraphernalia, you may be helping to end potential drug use before it even starts. Take a tour of our interactive house and let the DEA help you identify items and places in your home that may be putting your children at risk of drug abuse.

Mouse over Marker OR the list of items below to identify household products and areas for potential signs of drug use. Click on each item to learn more.

Kitchen
Under Sink
Cabinet (General)
Cabinet (Cough Syrup and Other OTC Products)

Family Rooom
Computer

Bathroom
Medicine Cabinet

Bedroom
Computer
Back Pack
Dresser
Wall
Bed

Bathroom - Medicine Cabinet



Powerful painkillers are the most abused drug after marijuana. One in ten teens has used a medication to get high.

Kitchen - Under Sink



Common household products such as solvents, glues, paints and aerosols can be used to get high.

Kitchen Cabinet - (General)



Teens report that most of the medications they use to get high are taken from the home

Kitchen Cabinet - (Cough Syrup and Other OTC Products)



Cough Syrup and Other Over the Counter Drugs

Family Room - Computer



Having a computer in the family room makes it easier to monitor teens online activities. But do you speak the same language as your teens?

Bedroom - Computer



The internet is a major source of information on drugs. It also brings drug dealers- such as pill pushers disguised as pharmacies- right into a teens computer.

Bedroom - Back Pack



In school, teens can be exposed to drug dealing and use. Drugs are easy to hide, and access to medications such as methylphenidate, i.e., Concerta™ and Ritalin™, makes it easier to share pills with friends.

Bedroom - Dresser



Ordinary objects- pens, lipstick cores, candy dispensers, soda cans, can be used to conceal drug use.

Bedroom - Wall



Poster of athlete(s) for girls and boys: Many teens feel pressured to change their bodies. Sometimes they turn to steroids to build muscle mass or lose weight.

Bedroom - Under Bed



Secrecy and other behavioral changes can indicate that a teen is using drugs.