Troubled Teens Resources

So many factors come into play when dealing with the topic of teenage drug addiction. So much depends on the resources at hand. The larger the city, the more likely that teenage drug treatment programs are available through the school or county. But what happens when you fear for a troubled teen and you live in a small town that not only is without drug intervention program but doesn’t offer much in the way of work or positive entertainment either?

The parents in this short piece face that situation, a situation where it would appear that a troubled teen’s only viable alternative would be to be sent to a teen boarding school or brat camp where an entirely new perspective can be gained.

“In a town of just 1,500 people, the death of a popular student, the only child of a mother who had grown up in Darrington and a father who had been a logger and builder there for 20 years, by itself would have touched off sorrow. But Griffiths’ death was followed in quick succession by two others.

Marty Lenker, 28, died July 22 after diving about 100 feet from a cliff on the Columbia Gorge. The Darrington native had spent the afternoon before a Pearl Jam concert Jet Skiing with friends, swimming and drinking beer.

He struck the water at an angle and never regained consciousness.

Among the mourners at Lenker’s funeral in Darrington the next Friday were three Weidman brothers. All three had grown up with Lenker. All three had struggled with methamphetamine addiction and had criminal convictions related to their drug use. Two years earlier, Nathan Weidman, 22, had moved from Darrington to Alaska to get clean.

At the funeral, his brother said, Nathan ran into his former drug dealer.

The next morning, he was found behind the couch in his parents’ house, dead from an overdose of methamphetamine.

For a group of mothers in the community, the deaths of the three young people, all linked to alcohol or drugs, set off alarm bells. Last month, they presented a petition with about 300 signatures to the Darrington City Council. Under the headline “Take Back Our Town,” the petition said residents were tired of the drugs, alcohol and an increased number of thefts in town. The following night, the mothers spoke to the School Board, asking for its help as well.
[…]
She said the town needs healthy alternatives for its young people. The nearest movie theater is 45 minutes away in Arlington. There is no video arcade, no shopping mall. The town’s Youth Center — an old storefront with two pool tables and a Foosball table — doesn’t operate because of a lack of staffing and funds.

“Every night, our kids leave town,” Brooks said. “They … score their beer, their tobacco, their drugs. I know it happens in other places, but in a small town the effects can be devastating.”
(Source)