According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opiate addiction is a growing problem in today’s society. While addiction is sometimes fairly obvious, many people go to great pains to hide their opiate use. These ways fall into two primary categories ways people hide their addiction and ways people hide their opiates.

A List of Commonly Hidden Opiates

People with legitimate prescriptions from one doctor do not hide them. They have them in their medicine cabinet or in another obvious place. They are open and honest about their use and why they use it. They do not go over the prescribed amount and see a doctor regularly. Those that try to hide their opiates are usually the ones that are addicted. Some of the most commonly hidden opiates are:

• prescription painkillers,
• heroin,
• morphine,
• Fentanyl,
• opium, and
• Dilaudid,

These are all very easily abused and very easy to hide.

Ways to Hide Opiate Use

Many people do not want others to know they are using or possibly abusing an opiate. They will do almost anything to hide their addiction. Some of the more common things that they do are:

• working late – working late is a cover for a lot of things, drug use is one of them. Although most people who are working late are actually working, if you know someone has an opiate problem, it does not hurt to check.
• visiting multiple doctors – this is mostly to hide the opiate use from both the legal system and their doctor but it does hide it from friends and family members as well. They might have a doctor they see regularly and then several others on the side.
• hiding money – drugs are expensive, so are doctors visits, many users try to hide money they receive as bonuses or gifts. Many drug users will also steal money when they are desperate.

These seem relatively simple but they are very difficult to discover when you are not looking for them.

Places that People Hide the Opiates

Over the years, people have gotten very creative about where they put their drugs. There are a lot of hiding places people use. A few of the more interesting hiding places are:

• in the car – there are many places that people hide opiates in their cars. Some of these are:

o in your car,

o under the dashboard,

o in between the seats,

o under the floor mats,

o in the engine compartment,

o taped to the body of the car engine compartment or trunk,

o in the tail lights or headlights,

o under the ashtray,

• in and around the house – there are literally thousands of places people hide drugs in and out of their homes. Some of these are:
  

  There are countless places an opiate user can hide drugs.

o in bookcases or books,

o in a room other than their own,

o taped under a toilet tank or inside one,

o inside hairbrushes, lipstick, or pen,

o inside pillows or bedding,

o in birdhouses, fish tanks, or under pet food bowels,

o under rocks and

o in a drain pipe.

These are all common places that people hide their opiates but no place should be discounted. It is always good to look for places that the person using frequents, such as the garden, closet, or bathroom. For more information on where people usually hide their opiates or for help with an opiate addiction give us a call at 800-442-6158 Who Answers? .