Month: September 2009

Sometimes being clean is painful. I got clean really young in an adolescent drug treatment program, and have stayed clean since. My life has grown and I have a wonderful existence thanks to being sober. I have all kinds of opportunities that I never had when I was using, like going to college or keeping a job. It gets painful when you stay clean and other people don’t. It gets really painful when some people don’t make it.
My friend died of an overdose this week. When I got sent away to treatment, I had to cut myself off from my using friends. It was really hard, and they didn’t understand why I couldn’t talk to them anymore. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t be around people when they were using. It was too hard for me. After I had been clean awhile, some of my friends checked out some AA or NA meetings with me. I got really excited that we would all be clean together and have fun. A few of my friends stayed clean for a bit, and then would go back to using. I had had such a strong foundation in teen drug treatment that I knew I couldn’t “dabble” in using again. I think that if I use again, I will die.
My friend died this week. She overdosed and died. She was 18. Sometimes I wonder why I stay clean and others don’t. I wonder how I didn’t die when I was using and why others do. I wonder what I could have done to help my friend and I know that I did what I could. I just feel really sad. I feel really angry with drug addiction. I know that I don’t have to use over the feelings I’m having, and that the only thing I can do is to stay clean and try to help other teens see that they can stay clean too. I’m really going to miss my friend. She was an amazing person who really struggled with addiction. I know her death was an accident, and that she didn’t believe she might die from this. I wish addiction didn’t exist, and that this wouldn’t happen to people, but it does. So I just stay clean, and stay close to my support group in Hartford Connecticut like I learned in treatment. I just feel really sad today. Please contact us for teen drug and alcohol rehab if you or a loved one needs help.

In a recent survey, forty percent of teens report that they can find marijuana within a day, and over two-thirds of those adolescents surveyed said that drugs are sold, kept, and used at their school. One in five teens say that they can get prescription drugs within an hour and that their own homes and friends are how they get them.
When I was abusing prescription drugs, I regularly went into my friend’s parents bathrooms and went through their medicine cabinets in Corpus Christi. I usually found something I wanted to abuse, like sedatives or painkillers. Medicine cabinets in the suburbs were like candy stores to me. No one seemed to suspect what my friends and I were up to until it was too late.
Prescription drug abuse is rapidly becoming the number one drug of choice for teens because of their widespread availability, lack of social stigma, and the misperception that pill forms of drugs aren’t as dangerous or addictive. One expert recommends having your child’s physician do a drug test at their yearly physical in order to determine drug abuse that may be going undetected. If you find that your teen is indeed abusing prescription drugs, teen drug rehab is an effective way of helping teens find ways to live clean and sober.
Because teens adapt so easily and become addicted so quickly, it is important to address the issue in a big way. I had to be removed from my old life in order to see just how bad it had actually become. Teen drug rehab gave me the space, time, and safety to deal with the issues that led me to use, and to find new ways to live free of drug use. It was hard admitting I was a drug addict at 16, but doing so has given me a whole life to be free, and I can be anything I want. I certainly didn’t have a future when I was using. Get a future contact teen drug and alcohol rehab.

When a group of California pre-school teachers came down with nausea and tingly limbs after consuming some street bought brownies, Los Angeles health officials launched a full investigation. The cause? The brownies were laced with weed, leading the CDC to caution the nation that weed must now be considered “a potential contaminant during foodborne illness investigations.”
Yep, CDC, people put marijuana in food. It’s one of those ways people get high without a whole lot of evidence. There are entire cookbooks devoted to the cause of how to make marijuana brownies. I especially think teenagers are enticed by this novelty. With all of the talks about the legalization of marijuana, it’s important to remember that weed isn’t necessarily harmless. Like alcohol, marijuana can still be a devastating force in certain people’s lives- especially teenagers’. Getting clean at a young age sometimes made me question my drug use. Was it bad enough? I often thought that because I “just smoked weed,” that I wasn’t a real addict. The reality was that marijuana made my life truly unmanageable, and I couldn’t stop even when I wanted to. I truly felt like I would rather die than have to keep being a slave to using drugs. In teen drug treatment, I began to see that my addiction wasn’t about the substance, it was about the feelings behind my drug use. Today, I am free from using. I don’t have to use drugs and I certainly don’t have to worry about my brownies poisoning anyone. If you think your teen may be struggling with marijuana abuse, contact us today.

ABC News in Phoenix released a revealing report on what kids are up to in their hometown. The report indicated that teens in Phoenix have taken to snorting vodka shots, taking anal beer bong hits, and soaking tampons in vodka for faster absorption (which also severely damages reproductive systems). Teens hide drugs in water bottles and energy drink cans that unscrew to reveal secret hiding places, and highlighters and lipstick cases that turn into pipes and also hide drugs. The reporter warned that kids that consume a lot of energy drinks at 12 may be heading for harder drug use at 15. She advised that many signs of drug use look like allergy symptoms, including a runny nose, red and watery eyes, and drowsiness. The report also reminds parents that teen drug use triples between 6th grade and 8th grade.
No one wants to think that their teen is abusing dangerous drugs, but it is never too early to be aware of suspicious behavior. Unfortunately, if your teen is acting like they are on drugs, they are probably on drugs. Early intervention and treatment can give teens a second chance at life before their developing bodies and lives receive permanent damage. Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center recognizes that teen drug abuse is a serious matter, and a difficult thing for families to face. No one has to do it alone though. There is help, and there are answers. If you suspect your teen is abusing drugs and alcohol, contact us today.

I just ran into my friend this week after not seeing her for three years. She got sent to teen rehab, too- in the Domincan Republic. We met up for coffee and she filled me in on the horrors of “treatment” in a third world country. Since her passport was taken by the directors, she had to stay- not like she was going to try and get past the guards with sawed-off shotguns posted at the gates. The walls were solid cactus, not fencing, so there was no way over or through. Each day they were forced to go to school and then change into work clothes to do hard labor, which included digging trenches and cutting sugar cane in the fields with machetes. When she misbehaved, she was whipped. None of her issues were directly dealt with, and the only counselors she saw were volunteers with no recovery experience, only religion. When she acted out and self injured with a machete, she was beaten rather than treated. She turned 18 at the facility but couldn’t leave because her passport was gone.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Since then, her drug problem naturally resurfaced as she tried to deal with the traumas she faced living in that environment. Treatment outside of the United States is a bad idea. Tough love programs in third world countries don’t hold the same human rights standards as American facilities, and teen safety is never guaranteed. Therapeutic environments have to be facilitated in the proper ways in order to achieve maximum success. Beating and breaking teens doesn’t provide them with any tools for recovery. I used to complain about having to do writing or chores at Visions. I hated having to go to group and whined about what movies we saw on our recreational outings. Now that I realize what a really bad experience my friend had, I am so grateful to my parents for ensuring my safety when I was sent to adolescent drug treatment. I had therapy, group sessions, and as good a time as you can have in rehab. I am so glad that my friend managed to make it out and I hope she finds the help she needs to repair the damage done. Please contact us for adolescent treatment alternatives.