Need help with my teenage son addicted to Xanax age 17

[chrissy479]

If you could give some advice with my son.  I dont know what to do with him, He is taking Zanax again and is taking at least 10-16 of them a day.  He is sluring his words and popping them all the time.  My husband says we just have to support him and he will stop taking them, it has been months and I dont know what to do.  Any advice would be appreciated.  
He sleeps all day and parties all night until 4-5 in the morning and my husband says better if he is here then out on the street.
I think he needs some tough love, but my husband thinks I am too negative and need to just hang out with him and he will stop on his own.  He stopped for a couple of weeks after getting 2 OWI ( driving under the influence of xanex)  Know he is back to using everyday until his court date on August 5.  I told my husband want our son to get a job, but he always goes against me and My son thinks he can do whatever he wants.  
I am at my wits ends and think my husband way which is doing nothing is going to kill my son.  PLEASE HELP!
CHrissy

[my_mayberry]

if he's taking 10 to 16 xanax a day, no matter what their strength is, thats a very large dose. the tablets come in 0.25mg all the way up to 4mg tablets...so thats a potential for a daily dose of 4mg to 64mg daily dending on what strength they are. you should try to find out, because it's rather important for treatment. he needs to detox with the help of a doctor....and NO you aren't being to harsh. abusing xanax is very dangerous....especially if there are other drugs involved. a lot of stars have died recently from mixing fairly low levels of benzodiazepines with other drugs that ended with fatal results. this can easily happen.

it's very hard to overdose on xanax alone...but if you add any other drug or alcohol to the mix, it becomes VERY easy to overdose.

[newfoundmercy]

I am an addict myself and have been in recovery since the beginning of May 2010.  A good way to get him started with serious and forced help is unfortunately through our legal system.  They can make him drug test and they will know for sure how much he is taking and will have it recorded and can put him in rehab from those results.  If you get in contact with a probation officer in your county they can be more clear with you how the process goes.  I know the probation officer that I'm working with does drug testing on the spot so it's supervised and not fabricated.  It is illegal to get prescriptions off the street, so if he tests positive for even one pill every week or two they can get him in trouble.  It will save his life; you are doing the right thing.  I would also recommend calling The Lighthouse Network, they have an awesome care guide(s) who can talk to your husband about the situation firmly as well.  They got me on my feet quickly, they got to the bottom of things with one phone call with me, then I just called for follow ups after that until I had a system set up.  I hope this helps

[chrissy479]

He gets them off the streets from kids from school,  He says he can get anything .  He does not really drink as his friend went into a coma from missing, so he at least doesnt do that.   But I had him call the help lines and tried to get him some rehab and he lied to them and say only 1 every other week.  SO they said they could not put him in there,  I tried to make him stay around, but he pulls the Im 18 and you cant make me stay here.  I know I need help to help my husband understand this is not working, but he says Im not helping, but I try to punish him and my husband says Im being too hard.

[ImGettingClean]

Hi and welcome to the forum...

I'm sorry to say, but it seems like you want to save your son's life and your husband doesnt....you are not in the wrong for questioning this...

how does he get these meds (street or a doctor)? also, does he drink alcohol? mixing the 2 is also not good....

Also, Xanax is very dangerous to quit cold turkey, so this is something that needs to be controlled when he gets off....