Want to help my brother
 

Hi, I'm new here and please forgive me if this thread doesn't belong here and should be moved elsewhere. I have very little knowledge about substance abuse. My mother alerted me that she found something in my brother's room. We found a lot of empty vials, some with liquid in them, syringes (some sterile, some with liquid in them), a bottle of 9 mg/ml NaCl solution, and a heavy yellow glass container containing one of the vials with liquid inside. It's hard to describe because I have no idea what this is. I don't understand why he would be injecting saline solution, or whether this is used to dilute something else? Do you have any ideas what he could be injecting? We hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary until now and we really don't know how to approach him about this. Thank you very much for any help.

drj- stressful I cannot offer any advice on what the vials contain. I guess you know your options. Ask bro about it, call the police or ignore it. Tread carefully and stay safe. If it is addiction- behaviour can not bely the true emotional content of the addicted. The only person who can answer these questions is your bro. You can offer support- but he has to do the work. Be careful not to fall into the emotional guilt thing.
Support to you, empathy for your bro.

I wonder, how old is your brother? Because if he's under 18 it's a different scenario than if he's an adult.

Syringes and vials seem pretty suspicious. Could you take one of the vials to a lab to find out what it is? I suppose if I were his mother, I'd ask him about it - and - verify what was in the vials. There are so many possibilities for this discovery, it would be hard to know what to do unless you know what your are dealing with. Good luck!

I wouldn't take it to a lab - I used to work in a lab. That's not a good idea. If it's illegal, just having it in your possession is grounds for a criminal charge.

All you can do is ask him. I think if I was the homeowner/parent, I would dispose of it first and ask questions later. I would want it out of my house. He could have a medical condition, and if that is it and he hasn't told you, he'll have a prescription he can show.