info for a friend...What are empty pens

[DammitJanet]

used for?

She has been finding the inside ink portion of her ink pens laying all over the house and her pens missing in action. She has a 15 year old son and a 21 year niece who lives next door to them who has had drug problems in the past. The two of them have been thick as thieves lately so she is worried.

 

[Mikey]

My quick thought is that kids use the pen shells to make pot bongs with. The ones I've found usually involve an empty water bottle with the pen shell stuck in one side. I'm sure there are many variants.

But my first thought is the shells are being used to smoke something.

Mikey

 

[Sunlight]

ant snorted coke or crack with them -I used to find them all the time.

 

[mom_in_training]

Also kiddos use pen caps for smoking their drugs. Police call them one hit wonders. Keep your eyes out for towels or any type of cloth that they may have laying around in their bedroom. I caught on that my difficult child a while back was huffing.

 

[saving grace]

I asked difficult child and he said the majority of the time it is used for Snorting any powdered substance or smoking Crystal Meth.

Grace

 

[DammitJanet]

How do they smoke crystal meth with it? I get the snorting.

 

[mom_in_training]

If referring to the pen caps, What I learned was that they take the metal piece from a pencil eraser and stuff it inside the pen cap. I would think that the pen cap would melt but if it is exactly what they call them "One hit wonder" Then maybe not enough time to melt. I don't know.... Also be aware that meth users also use lightbulbs (Just recently learned that) to aid in ingesting Meth. I would guess they use the metal base of the bulb but could be wrong.

 

[saving grace]

DJ

I dont know how they do it. I will ask difficult child tomorrow when he gets up. Its pretty scary what these kids come up with and the length they go to to get high.

Grace

 

[Ephchap]

Janet,

It must be one of those things that I've pushed into that corner of my brain that I don't want to think about, as I can't recall exactly what they are used for - but they were definitely a sign of drug use. It seems to me that it was used as others said, as a one time pipe of sorts. Finding empty pen tubes is always listed among the things to be looking for when looking for drug use.

We used to have a listing in our archives in Teens, but when I just looked it wasn't there, so I'll keep looking.

Deb

 

[DammitJanet]

Deb I thought it was in the archives too but I searched and couldnt find it...lol. I am a good girl and wouldnt ask a question that I could find the answer for easily... :rofl:

 

[mom_in_training]

I too searched the archives thinking that a list of some kind was there but found nothing. Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the pencils with the missing erasers and metal part. That was a sign for me along with the pen caps and pen shells.

 

[KFld]

My difficult child used them to snort heroin. I couldn't keep a pen in the house. Before I knew about the heroin I couldn't figure out why all my pens went missing. I would buy them by the package and then I would find them taken apart and usually cut in half all over his room.

 

[tryingteacher]

There was an article a couple weeks ago in the paper where I live about pens and markers being used to transport drugs. It said that the ends were easily sealed and that dogs couldn't smell the drugs through the sealed ends.

 

[dreamer]

empty pen tubes and straws are great for snorting thru, as are rolled dollar bills. pen caps can be used to hide drugs in, or can be fashioned into t tool for stirring up ashes in a pipe bowl or to bring powders up close to the face for inhaling.