But U.S. "Drug Czar" John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, recently warned, "The pusher has moved to the PC. With one click of the mouse, teens can enter a virtual world of drugs. The Internet can teach teens how to buy or make drugs, how to use different drugs and other products to get high, and how to beat drug tests."

Carol Falkowski, director of Research Communications at Hazelden Foundation, agrees. "What young people once discovered by trial and error on street corners, they can now learn on cyber street corners," she said. "Recipes for making methamphetamine reside on numerous Web sites--about 54,000, according to a recent Web search. A similar search yielded 28,000 sites for making crack cocaine. Directions for concocting other mood-altering drugs are widespread as well."

Falkowski added there are also a number of "rogue" and illegitimate Web sites that sell numerous prescription medications to people who have never seen a doctor.

There is no doubt that young people are technologically savvy. Teenage Research Unlimited says that 90 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds use the Internet, and of that number, half use it daily. In addition, they say that about 19 million teens instant message, and 60 percent of our nation's teens have their own cell phone.

In July, Walters hosted a roundtable discussion with adolescents in drug treatment to talk about the role technology played in their own substance abuse. Teens told Walters about ordering "legal marijuana" on the Internet and also finding out how to grow marijuana themselves, how to make it more potent, and how to crush pills to get high. One young man told of searching online to find ways to detoxify so his drug tests would show up clean when his parents insisted on drug testing him. Cell phones have also become handy tools in getting drugs because dealers' names can be hidden in the phone's address book, and calls can be made in secret. Text messaging allows a further way to communicate discreetly without being overheard or seen using a phone.

In 2005, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 64 percent of online teens say that most of them do things on the Internet they would not want their parents to know about. They have even developed a secret language to warn friends of parental monitoring. POS, for example, means "parent over shoulder." PIR means "parent in room." KPC reassures a friend that the sender is "keeping parents clueless."

"Emoticons" are acronyms or character symbols that enable teens to communicate with each other on the Internet in shorthand that might look like Sanskrit to unknowing parents. Symbols like %\ tell a friend the sender is hung over, and #-) means they're "wiped out" because they partied all night. Likewise, there are a host of secret phrases and symbols to connote something about drugs or sex.

To help keep their teens safe, Walters suggests that parents:

Learn about the digital devices their teens use. Visit their Web pages or blogs to know who is in their cell phone contact list.
Limit the time teens spend online and put computers in a common area of the house so parents can more easily monitor their use.
Set limits on which Web sites, chat rooms, games or blogs teens can and cannot visit, and discuss the consequences for breaking these rules.
Falkowski, a drug trend expert, advises parents to steer their teens to reputable Web sites that provide up-to-date, science-based information about drugs and alcohol. She recommends the National Institute on Drug Abuse at www.drugabuse.gov, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at www.niaaa.nih.gov, and the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information at www.ncadi.samhsa.gov.

In addition, parents can visit www.TheAntiDrug.com for a complete, easy-to-understand tutorial about modern technology, tips on decoding online lingo, and specific tools parents can use to monitor their teens' use of technology. The Web site also offers a parenting tips newsletter.

"Drug dealers lurk in chat rooms just like pedophiles, targeting teens with offers of drugs," said Walters. "To protect your teens in the digital world, go where they go. Do not let new technologies and innovations get in the way of good parenting."

--Published January 8, 2007