Month: November 2007

There is a new wave of designer drugs available to teens today and Guess what? They are completely legal and only a click away. Powerful synthetic psychedelics derived from the same drug families as LSD,Mushrooms and Mescaline. These new drugs do not have common street names. They have Laboratory names like 2C-1, 5-Meo-DMT, etc. Unlike illicit street drugs like Ecstasy, Speed, LSD, GHB thee drugs are not made in bath tubs or street labs. These “research Chemicals” are made in legal labs right here in the United States and are legally available to Teenagers on the Internet, they are easily ordered with a credit card and usually delivered by Fed Ex. These drugs typically appear in a white powder form and can be ingested by eating, smoking, snorting and injecting. While the purity of these drugs is probably hire then their illicit counterparts the same potential for abuse will remain.

In the Classroom of a Drug Treatment Center

How do you motivate an adolescent in a teen drug treatment center who has been removed from their familiar environment, and now faces 45-90 days in an unfamiliar in the treatment setting?
The answer isn’t simple, as every adolescent struggling with substance abuse issues comes in with a different personality, needs, and academic strengths/weaknesses. There is one common denominator, however, which is: Once they see the purpose of school in the treatment setting and experience success, it all seems to make sense. Getting to this point takes hard work on the student’s part. They have to make a conscious decision to change their self-defeating habits. In order to make this transformation, they work with their therapist and counselor on their substance abuse, family and personal issues. Their teacher observes their behavior in the classroom, communicating any concerns with the clinical treatment team. Students are encouraged to make the most of their time in school and are rewarded with privileges and intrinsic rewards. Teens in residential treatment have responsibilities, goals are set, and they learn how to get organized. Layers of self-doubt begin to peel away. The cloudy haze of drug use dissolves into clarity. They realize that they can do things that they never thought possible. Where there was once only hopelessness despair and addiction, there is a future, with a high school diploma, college, a job, and finally, a career of their choice.

Did anybody Notice that yesterday’s Los Angeles Times Sports section had two out five articles on it’s front page with substance abuse and addiction as their subjects.
Andy Ried coach of the Philadelphia Eagles is struggling with two drug addicted sons. Famed tennis player Martina Hingis winner of five Grand Slam singles titles tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon and is retiring as a result.
Ried’s sons have been arrested for possession of Oxycontin, Heroin, Cocaine and weapons charges. There is an extensive history of addiction for these two young men one of whom has been to drug treatment. Leaving the Eagles would probably do his sons no good as they are now adults, the best thing he could do is take a tough approach and cut his sons off financially and let them experience their own consequences.
Hingis has retired from Tennis in protest and claims to be “100% innocent” and plans to fight the allegations. She is a very accompished player and it is sad that she is retiring under such a dark cloud.