Is Your Teen Hiding Drugs in the Bedroom?

The Hanover Mall in Boston, Massachusetts is taking a new approach at teaching parents where their children may be hiding drugs and alcohol in their bedrooms. The mall has staged a typical teenager’s bedroom, minus the usual mess, and has pinpointed key areas to demonstrate where drugs or alcohol could be hiding.

The bedroom is set up in the main area of the mall and allows customers to browse on their own time. It includes a desk with what looks like a regular computer and mouse. However, the mouse opens up as a hiding spot for pills. On the nightstand is a water bottle filled with alcohol, and a bent spoon for cooking drugs is left out in the open. Other drugs could be hidden behind posters, under the mattress or in plain sight, like beer pong balls the teens claim are for ping pong.

The point of the staged bedroom is to not scare parents into running home and ripping apart their child’s bedroom, but to teach them what some key signs may be in early addiction or drug use.