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Maggie McKay (Host): Welcome to Conversations Like No Other presented by Valley Health System in Paramus, New Jersey. Our podcast goes beyond broad everyday health topics to discuss very real and very specific subjects impacting men, women, and children. We think you'll enjoy our fresh take. Thanks for listening. As a parent, how much do you know about street drugs? Like everything, the options are changing quickly. And today we'll find out what we need to know to keep our children safe with Substance Abuse Coordinator, Brian Gamarello. Brian, thank you so much for being here today.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Thank you Maggie. I'm happy to be doing this and happy to kind of get the information out there to parents. Like, you had mentioned, you know, things are quite a bit different than when our generation or the generation of parents, they were teenagers themselves, so it's really important to be able to share this information.

Host: Right. Now, and again in conversation or in a movie, I'll hear some drug name and I'm like, what's that?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: I do the same thing. I have to ask my children, what is that?

Host: Yes. Yeah, you gotta ask the kids. So what are popular street drugs that parents of teens especially should be aware of?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Okay. Certainly, the marijuana and it's not the marijuana of 25, 30 years ago, whereas, the THC percentage in marijuana was 4 to 6%. Now, for traditional grass, flour, they call it, we're looking at 20 to 30% potency. Okay. And, add to that, the concentrates and the wax and things like that, that are made with cannabis.

Some of those THC concentrates have potency levels of in excess of 85%. Okay. So that is certainly something to be aware of. Cocaine, we are all familiar with cocaine in the eighties. In nineties was considered a kind of a rich man's Wall Street drug. It's very popular amongst teens now, it's back, it's popular again. We're seeing an increase in the amount of pills that kids are using. And we'll talk about that in a little while, I'm sure. The accessibility of prescription medications and then a new one, and I just heard of this the other day.

Galaxy Gas. And basically, it is a rechargeable, thing for cool whip containers. So in essence, it's nitrous oxide. They were called whippets 20, 30 years ago. Little more potent now. And that's becoming a trend with teenagers.

Host: Oh boy. How do they get their hands on all of this Brian?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: It is a very good question. Again, when we think about, what drug dealers look like, they look like everybody now. Okay. Teenage kids, a lot of times get their drugs from other teenage kids. Kids in school, kids on Instagram, kids on any of the social media platforms.

There's a new social media platform out there, that is called Telegram. And Telegram is used primarily for illegal purposes. So there's a whole new social media out there that when people join, they know they're joining for things like drug deals and dangerous activity.

Host: I know that kids in high school can get at least cannabis products delivered to them at school. It happened to somebody I know. And they got expelled. But can you imagine that? You know how you can have cannabis delivered, but they delivered it to a school.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: I want to say I'm surprised, but when I really think about it, I'm not, especially in New Jersey where marijuana became legalized in New Jersey for adults, I think, that mindset has permeated to the kids also. Like, it's okay for us to do as well. Well, no, it's not, it's illegal and there are a lot of other factors at play when we try and convince kids that they really shouldn't be smoking marijuana.

Host: So how should I talk to my teens about the dangers of street drugs while keeping open lines of communication with them?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's keeping that open line of communication, making them aware of the dangers of drugs, really talking to them and observing the behaviors you're seeing and maybe addressing those behaviors. But even more importantly, and before you start to see the behaviors, having those open lines of communication.

As a parent of three teenage kids, I have found this to be vitally important. Sometimes my daughters tell me too much, but I would rather have it be that way than the opposite end of the spectrum. So really, I don't think there's a magic answer to that other than keeping those lines of communication open.

Host: And don't judge.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: And don't judge in a very nonjudgmental way. I'm happy you brought that up. Very nonjudgmental.

Host: Brian, what are some common warning signs we should look for?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Well certainly, the mood swings. I would look for, really drastic mood swings. You know, we know that teenagers are prone to mood swings to begin with, but if they become pretty significant where they kind of stand out more than usual. A telltale sign for teens is a decrease in their academic performance.

 You may have an AB student and all of a sudden they're like C's, D's, and F's. Well, something may be going on there. A decrease in their athletic performance. We may see that. Your child all of a sudden prefers to be alone, right? You're used to having your kid up and about and in the kitchen a hundred times a day, and now you can't get them outta their room.

And always look at the friends that your kid keeps. If we hang out in a barbershop long enough, eventually we're going to get a haircut. So if we're hanging out with kids that are doing things that we shouldn't be doing, eventually we're going to start doing them as well. So really being mindful of who your kids are with, where they're going.

Host: Right and know their parents. That's what I always did.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Know the parents. Know the parents.

Host: Because, then you can compare notes. So we talked about this a little, you touched on it, but let's just go through the most common places teens are getting their drugs, accessing them, other students. Where else?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Friends, friends from other kind of areas. Unfortunately, gas stations, local smoke shops, not the dispensaries but local little, like, smoke shops who don't really advertise certain things. And certainly they're making the connections, via Snapchat, this new app Telegram. But back to the gas stations, I mean, there are, I don't know how many different synthetic marijuana products that you can buy at a gas station, and you can go into the gas station and, there's a lot of problems with those. They're not really regulated.

You don't really know what's in them. And, it makes it super easy accessible for a kid. They can just walk into a gas station and buy some, almost fake THC products.

Host: Wow. So what's the most dangerous drug trend among teens right now that parents may not even know about?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: So that's an interesting question. In my opinion, the most dangerous drug trend for teens is the one that your teen is using. But aside from all that, fentanyl scares the daylights outta me. We've all heard of the fentanyl epidemic. It is real, right? It is not blown outta proportion on TV.

It is not anything like that. It is a very real problem and what's happening, especially with our younger teens and our younger kids is that they're unknowingly buying, a lot of times a cannabis product or a cocaine or an ecstasy and there is fentanyl mixed in with that. And for some kids, the consequences are fatal.

And that's pretty scary that you can think about a kid who bought a bag of marijuana off of Instagram and met with a person at a 7-11 to pick it up, went home, rolled a joint, smoked it, and never woke up because it was laced with fentanyl.

And that is a very real thing. That's not like a scared straight promo it's happening every day in our community.

Host: What is the most common misconception that parents have about street drugs and their kids?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: You know, I think the most common misconception is that it's not going to happen to your kid, okay? That it's not going to be your son or your daughter because they came from good stock and they have good family and they have good pedigree. Drug use and addiction does not discriminate.

It's really important to keep those lines of communication open with your children because it very well could be your child.

Host: Easily. And when you say, because you're from a good family and this and that, sometimes, I mean, we've seen it in the movies, but it's true in real life too. The private schools, they have unlimited funds and they can get whatever they want and they're not really being monitored by their parents maybe, in some situations, you know?

So it doesn't matter what your background is, like you said, it could be your kid. So at what age should I start talking to my kids about drugs?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: I think that's up for debate. There was a lot of work done and a lot of resources, put into things like the DARE program, when kids were in elementary school. I tend to think that the school does a good job of that in elementary school.

I think by the time your child hits high school. I think that's when the parents really need to hone in on having those conversations. But with my own kids, obviously what I do for a living, we had those conversations very early because it was important to kind of establish that level of communication.

Listen, this is what's out there. This is what you're going to be facing and this is why you need to make better decisions.

Host: And how do you handle it? Let's say one of your kids became friendly with another kid who was a known pot smoker, for example, or drug user. How do you steer them away from elements like that?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Well, I don't think any parent will ever be truly successful steering their child away from something. The child has to make that choice. You know, kids want to rebel. They have that fear of missing out. Like, well, if my parents are telling me not to do this, well then I better do it because it's probably a good idea.

I think you take a wait and see approach. And, share your expectations, communicate them, set the boundaries very clearly as a parent, share your concern. It's my concern that, I know, or I suspect that your friend is smoking marijuana and when you hang out with him, I share the same concern about you. So just communicating what the expectations are, that it's not okay for you to smoke marijuana at 17 years old.

Host: Yeah. If you had one final message for parents, what would it be?

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Just be involved, be involved in your kids' life, talk to your children. Nonjudgmental approach I believe works best and take the blinders off. Lots of kids from really good families do a lot of really boneheaded things and get involved with drugs, right? It's not just the kids from broken homes or the kids who have parents with issues.

It's any child. And just taking the blinders off and realizing that I can be proactive and, communicate things like boundaries and expectations and things like that with my child will go a long way.

Host: Very good. Yes. Thank you Brian, for sharing your expertise today. We really appreciate it. And one last thing, don't ignore the signs. Don't think it's going to go away. Right? Address it.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: Yeah, agreed.

Host: Well thank you again so much. This has been very informational and educational and we appreciate it.

Brian Gamarello, MA, LCADC, CCS, ICCS: I appreciate you and thank you for taking the time.

Host: Of course. For more information about recovery and wellness at Valley, please visit valleyhealth.com/recovery. And again, that is Brian Gamarello. I'm Maggie McKay. Thanks for listening to Conversations Like No Other presented by Valley Health System in Paramus, New Jersey. For more information on today's topic, or to be connected with today's guest, please call 201-612-4949 or email Valley podcast@valleyhealth.com.