KMBC 9 Investigates asked Clay County, Missouri, drug detectives to set up signs of drug use to show parents.

KMBC 9 Investigates asked Clay County, Missouri, drug detectives to set up signs of drug use to show parents.

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KMBC 9 Investigates asked Clay County, Missouri, drug detectives to set up signs of drug use to show parents.

Inside a teenager's bedroom in the Northland, KMBC 9 Investigates asked members of the Clay County Drug Task Force to set up signs of what parents might need to look for if their teenager is using pain pills that could be laced with fentanyl.

“I see definite signs of usage here,” said Sgt. Gary Blackwell with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office drug task force, as he walked into the bedroom.

He first showed KMBC strips of aluminum foil with burn marks.

“What we have here is 100% indicative of smoking tablets,” he said.

Blackwell says kids and young adults are often snorting or smoking pain pills instead of swallowing them, to get a quicker high.

Blackwell then pointed out pills that look exactly like Xanax.

“Once you find pills in a room, if it were me, you can call your local law enforcement and say 'I found something,'” he said.

Blackwell said teenagers can hide drugs inside their shoes, in the grooves of a ceiling fan, even inside their clothing hanging in the closet.

Members of the Clay County drug task force say they've recovered fake prescription pills looking like Xanax from teenagers laced with deadly doses of Fentanyl.

Fake Adderall, Oxycodone or “M30” pills are another common source, too.

Quite often, investigators find kids are buying those drugs on social media.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration recently released a drug emoji decoder to help parents know common emoji codes used to buy or talk about drugs.

[To learn more about the DEA’s One Pill Can Kill Initiative, click here.]

“Grab their cellphone,” Blackwell said. “Say ‘Hey. Oh, that was a Snapchat? You're going to open that Snapchat in front of me.'” Blackwell said it is important to search inside cellphones and bedrooms with the expectation of finding something. “We've interviewed preachers’ kids, teachers’ kids, law enforcement officers' kids,” he said. “Anyone is prone to this.”

As for why we should all be looking for those signs of concern, Blackwell said it’s vital.

“We're going to lose a large portion of an entire generation of Americans.”

It's a pain one Shawnee, Kansas family feels every day.

Cooper Davis was just 16 years old when he died last year of fentanyl poisoning. He only took half a pill. And that was all it took to kill him.

His family is now using his story to advocate for mental health support and awareness.

"We wanted them to remember his story always," said mom Libby Davis.

Click here to hear Cooper's story.

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