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Hi there. I have a daughter who substance abused from ages 12-19. Here is my take based on your son based on your post. Remember, I'm a layperson, although I've been through the mill. ODD isn't a very useful diagnosis. It basically means "he is defiant." Well, we know that. There is usually another underlying problem causing the ODD. ODD rarely if ever stands by itself and perhaps the prescription meds aren't even appropriate to what that underlying problem is. If he is also using street drugs, that will make the prescription drugs ineffective. It could even be a dangerous combination.
First of all, my daughter (who is now clean) has told me that drug abusers don't tell their parents the extent of their drug abuse, so don't believe your son. "Never trust a druggie," is my daughter's motto. Whatever he admits to using, assume it is much worse. This isn't to scare you, hun. It's to give you the probable heads up that I *didn't* have. Kids tend to try to tell you it's "mostly pot and once in a while I drink. And I tried (this or that) but don't do it anymore." My daughter told me that. I believed her. In truth, she that been crunching ADHD meds into pillcrushers and snorting it either alone or with cocaine. Then, because t hat made her hyper, she took downers so she could sleep. ADHD drugs have very high street value. There are also many over-the-counter drugs that she used. My daughter also shot heroine twice, and that's when she finally decided that she didn't want to be a junkie. She never asked for help or told us what she was going through.
Your son seems as if he had psychiatric or neurological issues way before he started using drugs. This is common. My daughter was a compulsive liar starting in about fifth grade and had always seemed to be overly sensitive. The drugs your son is taking are making whatever mental health issues he has even worse. But there isn't a whole lot you can do to treat mental health problems (which need updated evaluating) if he is taking recreatioinal drugs. I strongly recommend finding a dual diagnosis facility. I do not know if your son will stop using drugs just because he is there. Nobody stops until they WANT to stop. And even parents can't make them do it, nor a facility. However, it will keep him off the street for a while and teach him HOW to quit when he wants to do it. Or show him there is a safe place to quit. My daughter moved out of state, away from her friends, before she quit. There was too much pressure on her to use drugs or get drugs for others while she was here. She went to live with her brother. Sometimes the friends make it very hard to break away. My daughter tried to quit several times before finally doing it and it was always peer pressure that brought her back. As soon as she was gone from the environment she got on track.
I don't know if this helped, but I hope so. There is hope! My daughter is 24 now and just a normal young adult.
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