The days of zip-close baggies carrying drugs seem to be over, as police and school professionals are finding everyday items that have been transformed by teens to conceal drugs, alcohol and paraphernalia.
One Pennsylvania school resource officer has set out to alert parents of this new trend.
Lower Gwynedd Township Police Officer Beth Sanborn put together an interactive program that recently debuted at Wissahickon High School to show parents how drugs and other contraband can be hiding in plain sight.
"I'm not trying to make anyone paranoid," Sanborn said. "It's just that this is what's out there now."
Sanborn's program is a simulation of a teenage bedroom that includes more than 100 items such as soda cans, dental floss, hair brushes, deodorant and even Chapstick tubes that can be used to hide drugs.
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These objects look and feel normal but can be opened to reveal hidden compartments for stashing drugs, alcohol or paraphernalia.
Some of the stash items have also been manipulated to mask the smell of drugs, and some are used not only to conceal drugs but to use them as well.
"I don't want you to be suspicious of every can of soda or bottle of water, but kids are getting sneaky," Sanborn said.
Police are even struggling to identify all items that teens have been using to conceal drugs.
The Mock Teen Room was set up by the Center for Humanistic Change, a not-for-profit organization based out of Allentown, and paid for by the Kiwanis Club of Ambler.
