Just a few years ago in Red Lake, Jeff Weiss committed multiple murders and then killed himself after months on poorly proscribed Prozac & genuinely reaching out to his community for mental health help and not finding any. Jeff’s mother had told him that she wished he’s never been born. Jeff had a website openly discussing homicide/suicide.
In Red Lake and other communities that have suffered such mayhem, much money has been spent after a tragedy to put in place services that should stop the next Virginia Tech, Red Lake, Columbine.
Mental health is the cornerstone of a healthy life. We all have our ups and downs. Some of us start lower than others and sink lower than others. Throw in alcohol or drugs (proscribed or not) & bad things begin to happen.
Programs that help youth understand these issues and how to cope with them are one of the best investments that we can make in our youth and our community.
Not having programs is expensive. Just ask the people that lost family and friends in Red Lake, Columbine, & at Virginia Tech.
The following articles are an expansion on the topic of money and teen substance abuse (thanks Jamie);
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A new report finds that more kids say they are using alcohol and other drugs, but many parents are unable or unwilling to deal with the issue — a bad combination when declining support for prevention and cultural apathy about the issue leave parents as the last and sometimes only line of defense against adolescent drug use.
http://www.jointogether.org/news/features/2010/new-survey-again-raises-alarm.html
Cuts of substance will hurt teen drug, alcohol programs
BY PHILIP FEROLITO
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/03/01/cuts-of-substance-will-hurt-teen-drug-alcohol-programs
Latest Youth Substance Abuse Research Encourages Parents to Take Action Early
Mar 16, 2010 by Kim Manlove | Categories Addiction, Alcohol, Ecstasy, Teenagers, intervene
The recent release of the Partnership/MetLife Foundation Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) of teen drug use, and parent and teen attitudes toward substance use, shows both encouraging and alarming trends. The data point to notable increases in teen use of alcohol, marijuana and Ecstasy, marking an end to a decade of long declines in drug and alcohol use among young people. This coupled with the decline in “perceptions of harm,” among both teens and parents is a strong indication that American society may be in for a perfect storm of increased adolescent drug and alcohol abuse not experienced in the United States since the 1990s.
This storm is fed by a growing climate of parental denial, which sees teens agreeing that “being high feels good” and parents of teens who have drug and alcohol problems either waiting to act or taking no action at all to address the problem…….
http://decoder.drugfree.org/2010/03/16/latest-youth-substance-abuse-research-encourages-parents-to-take-action-early/
Reclaiming lives;
http://blog.reclaimingfutures.org/?q=adolescent-substance-abuse-treatment-SAMHSA-CASPAR
Plain talk on gang intervention;
http://www.washoe.k12.nv.us/schools/safe-and-drug-free-schools/gang-resistance-intervention-program
Many good real world articles;
http://www.addiction-intervention.com/
A new national survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report finds that 12-year-olds are using inhalants more than marijuana, hallucinogens, and cocaine combined.;
http://www.addiction-intervention.com/addiction/inhalant-abuse-increasing-among-12-year-olds/
The Growing Problem of Prescription Drug Abuse;
http://www.addiction-intervention.com/addiction/prescriptiondrugabuse/prescription-drug-abuse-still-a-growing-problem/
Trends of Alcohols and Drugs Abuse 1997 to 2007;
Breaking addiction; feeling the pinch
http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20100321/NEWS01/3210304/Drug-addiction-on-the-rise-funding-for-treatment-declining
Safety first: Parents, Teens and Drugs;http://drugpolicy.org/safetyfirst/
Drug policy state by state; http://drugpolicy.org/statebystate/
Drugs, Police & the Law; http://drugpolicy.org/law/
Affected Communities; http://drugpolicy.org/communities/
Reducing Harm; http://drugpolicy.org/reducingharm/
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