If you want to know about your child's use of alcohol and other drugs, check out their MySpace page or their instant-messenger conversations, where kids are often recklessly open in discussing their drinking and drugging, USA Today reported June 19.

"Kids are really open about it. I see posts from other people describing a night on acid or whatever," said Ashley Duffy, 19, of West Chester, Pa. "I think they think their parents are clueless. And I guess they are."

A new study from the Caron Treatment Centers analyzed more than 10 million online messages written by teens and found a number of conversations about drinking, taking drugs, and having sex. The study was based on a computerized search of blogs, public chat rooms, message boards, and other Internet sites. Research firm Nielsen BuzzMetrics said that about 2 percent of posts specifically mentioned alcohol or other drugs.

Common discussions included trading information about using drugs without getting hurt or caught and debates about legalization and the drinking age. Some teens discussed their partying and sexual activities. Often, newer slang for drugs was used to avoid raising red flags among suspicious parents.

But bad information on drugs abounds online. Lucky O'Donnell, a 19-year-old from New York, landed in a hospital emergency room after getting some poor advice about mixing cocaine with Tylenol PM and alcohol. "One site said it was fine, one site said it wasn't," O'Donnell said. "I wasn't able to differentiate the information. You want to believe everything you read."

Caron officials urged parents to monitor their kids' online activity and keep computers in family rooms.