Is my son shooting up?

[Lucky]

My son (17 yrs old) was out cleaning his car this weekend. I noticed QUITE a few raised red curvy lines under his arm pits. I asked him what it was and he said poison ivy? I don't know much about drugs, but I just have this feeling in my gut that something is not right. I don't know what kids do now a days, but I thought they might be shooting it into their armpits to try and hide the marks??? I hope not!!! But it's just been bothering me and I found this link online and was hoping someone might have some insight???

[exjunky]

That would be a new one on me. I've never heard of shooting up in the arm pits.

[exjunky]

I'd also like to add "raised red curvy lines" is not what IV drug abuse normally looks like.

Raised red straight lines, which follow the contour of the veins, is more believable--but even then, unless it's a very fresh injection site its not likely to be red.

If you really want to look for IV drug use: look at the most logical spots, like the crook of the arm, or the back of the hands, and look for VERY TINY spots which may be red but are likely only dark and discolored. These spots tend to cluster together so closely that they look like a single mass of scarry tissue.

Question: how can you tell these marks are from IV drug abuse and not because of the falls and tumbles of teenage living? Answer: the damage follows the contour of the veins like a medical textbook.

Here's another surefire clue that a person is a heroin user: they will have chronic constipation to the point where they probably cannot hide it. If there is a bathroom that they use exclusively, just watch the toilet paper. If they go through about half a roll per month, I'd venture to guess they are either a junky or they have a serious medical condition.

Anyhow in short, I can't tell you if your child uses drugs (the mere fact that you are suspicious is usually not a good sign) -- but in this one case, the poison ivy story sounds as believable as anything to me. Good luck and take care.