Marijuana 420 Poster
420, 4:20 and 4/20 are code for marijuana or a time to get high. April 20th has become a “counter culture” holiday where participants come together and celebrate cannabis use. Posters, t-shirts, hats, stickers and other items are designed with 420 included. Those owning these items consider marijuana a big part of their life and identify themselves as part of the “420 community.”
Custom Containers
Numerous containers are on the market with false bottoms/middles that can be used to store and hide drugs. They are marketed as diversion safes and can easily be purchased on numerous online sites.
Aerosol Cans
Many household items, such as spray paint, contain chemicals that produce a mind-altering experience when inhaled. Abusers of inhalants breathe them through their nose or mouth, and new users are typically 12-15 years old. Inhalants can cause “sudden sniffing death” and can also cause permanent brain damage.
Sploof
A “sploof” is a homemade filter used to mask the smell of marijuana smoke. They are frequently made out of an empty paper towel or toilet paper roll and dryer sheets. There are more than 1,900 YouTube videos demonstrating how to make these homemade devices.
Homemade Smoking Pipe
Homemade smoking pipes for marijuana, and other drugs, can be easily made out of many objects like this soda can. There are numerous “how-to” videos and guides circulating on the internet. Other common materials used to make these pipes include aluminum foil, water bottles, and fruits or vegetables.
Pro-Drug Apparel
According to Urban Dictionary, dank is “an expression frequently used by stoners and hippies for something of high quality,” such as marijuana. The slang term “Nailed It” refers to using the head of a nail as a heating element to smoke hash oil or “dabbing.” Pay attention to what your teens are wearing as they are clues into activities that interest them.
Pure Flavored Extracts
Pure extracts contain high levels of alcohol (35%-45%), and when consumed alone or mixed with soda can get a person drunk.
Flasks
Flasks to hide alcohol come in all shapes and sizes, including this “tampon booze tube.” Other items seen are flip flops with little flasks that fit into the bottom sole, lotion bottles, hairbrushes, and bangle bracelets.
Air Fresheners
Air fresheners are sometimes used to mask the smell of tobacco or marijuana smoke. These alone do not necessarily mean a teen is using tobacco or marijuana, but combined with other warning signs may indicate usage.
Eye Drops
Artificial tears, or eye drops, are frequently used to mask marijuana usage. THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, lowers blood pressure causing the blood vessels to dilate to increase blood flow around the body. This is visibly noticeable in the eyes, and users try to combat that with the use of eye drops.
Chore Boy Scrubs
Chore Boy, or Brillo pad, scrubs can be used along with glass pipes for cocaine or heroin use. The scrubs act as a homemade filter, to filter out any particles that a drug user wouldn’t want to ingest.
Hand Sanitizer
Teens have been known to drink hand sanitizer as a means of getting drunk, as hand sanitizers do have a high concentration of alcohol. To make drinking the hand sanitizer easier, people often mix the sanitizer with salt to separate out the alcoholic liquid.
Plastic Baggies
Plastic baggies are sign of either drug use or drug dealing. The corners of plastic baggies, typically coated in a small amount of white powder, indicate that a person is using a powdered form of a drug; commonly seen are cocaine and heroin.
Plastic baggies found with the corners cut off is an indication that a person is dealing drugs. Drug dealers measure out the powder, tie off and cut the corners, to package the drug for sale.
Blunt Wraps & E-Cigs
Electronic Cigarettes and Blunt Wraps can be used to smoke both tobacco/nicotine products and also marijuana/hash oil. Often available in youth-friendly flavors like blueberry, bubblegum, or cotton candy, these products make smoking more appealing to teens.
JUUL
JUUL is an e-cigarette vapor device that has become increasingly popular among teens. The JUUL device looks quite similar to a USB flash drive, and in fact can be charged in the USB port of a computer. Because of its sleek and discreet design, youth are finding it easy to hide their JUUL use from parents and teachers.