If your kid is using drugs you will see more changes. For instance, his marks will drop probably and his behavior will change from previously nice to irritable or spaced out. Maybe the way he dresses will change from previously decent to now kind of sloppy or seedy. I don't think you have enough to go on with your description. We knew our son was on drugs when all of these changes took place and especially because he developed a terrible temper when he never had one before.

If your kid has developed the habit of bingeing he may have bulimia but he may have been using marijuana - it really makes people hungry. Unless, of course, he is 13 and on a growth spurt or maybe older and into athletics. If the new apetite goes along with the red eyes and changes in behavior, I'd be very suspicious.

Have you checked your son's school bag? If you see weird things in there like cold medicines or other stuff from your medicine cabinet, you're probably looking at creative drug use. If you think he's into something, there might be a trail like stuff missing from your house (kids will use anything to get high - like listerine, cleaning products, spices and other household items). If your son is all of a sudden cleaning his room all the time with your aerosol or liquid cleaners, make sure the room is actually getting cleaner - maybe he is just sniffing all that stuff - the same thing can be done with most things that smell including markers and white-out stuff.  The formal name for inhalant abuse is "huffing." If that is happening, your kid is probably having headaches and nausea and he might be destroying his brain permanently - so don't be polite about it - if you think this is going on do an aggressive investigation. Kids can die from this stuff too. When parents think of drugs in kids they often think of the pot they used when they were teenagers. Things have changed! Kids are doing much worse today and even the pot they use is more lethal. My son has a very stupid friend who has practically fried his brain by sniffing substances in this way - the kid used to be in our house all the time. Now the kid has hearing problems and some sort of brain damage. And he's a lucky one - kids can get heart failure from this stuff. Unfortunately, my son's friend gave us all quite the education on drug abuse. I feel really bad for parents of kids who get into this stuff.

Ever since my kids were in elementary school, I've brought home picture books on drug abuse from our local library. These books show graphically the kind of damage that can happen in pictures and words that young kids can understand and relate to. The books are interesting and not like a parent giving a lecture. I don't think my kids have used drugs (at least, that is what they tell me) but I know that they are all pretty frightened of messing with their brain - their most valuable possession and I know that they have all the information they need to at least make some informed choices. I don't think parents can ensure that their kids won't experiment, but the library is free for all of us and I think the least we can do is educate our kids while they are still young and impressionable.