Young people die using/abusing drugs

Dr. Richard Keller

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Young people use/abuse drugs. Young people die from using/abusing drugs. We need to stop young people from dying from drug use/abuse. (The same goes for older people, but it always seems more shocking when it is young people who die. Is more potential lost?)

I was reading an interview with Dr Drew Pinsky (currently rehab doctor to the stars) recently and he sure makes it sound tough. Although he wasn’t talking about young people in particular, he laid out the 3 events that motivate change in his experience, i.e. motivate folks to quit abusing drugs:

Near death experience (i.e. the drug abuser nearly dying)
Looking in the mirror and feeling genuine disgust
Loss of your children, having them taken away (particularly true of women)

I feel there must be other ways to motivate the desire to make the life change involved in quitting the abuse of the drugs, particularly in young people. Or do we work at instilling self-disgust, if his motivating events are all-inclusive. The younger the person is when we begin to intervene the less entrenched the drug abuse behavior is. That should make available more intervention options. Of course, prevention is an even better goal to drug abuse prevention.

“Just say no” isn’t working, as evidenced by multiple studies. We need real, evidence-based intervention strategies. Scaring them straight doesn’t work. Their minds are still developing, but their intellect is there. Interventions need to use that fact.

There has to be something that we can do.
The 24 year-old young lady didn’t need to die today.

A place for children to learn

I am finding more and more parents on the Internet that are in much need of information in order to handle such tragedy's that their own children experience outside of their home.

Children in my opinion as well as young adults in college ~ do not want to talk to authoritative people. They feel alone - I have found a place for parents to gather information, listen to stories to gain some tools to help our youth.

Margaret Ann's Place is targeted for children ages 5 - 18 ~

With JdMacHope ~ my goal is to help the young adults that have moved out into this world and have a place to speak openly of grief gain the tools to survive tragedy without violence, or harming themselves.