Troubled Teens Resources

“That is an astronomical number. If it were measles deaths, there would be an uproar.”

The above remark was made by a member of a community that has had to bury 70 young people under 25.

“While parents and the community at large bask in denial, teens are overdosing, dying in car crashes caused by drunken drinking and committing suicide in alarming numbers, say coalition officials.”

“bask in denial…” That is a potent phrase. If you are a parent of an at-risk teen, or if teen age drug abuse has already become resident in your house, it is infuriating to realize that there are parents in your community who overlook what their teen is doing when hanging out with yours. There are parents who will lie for their kid’s friends. There are parents who, having gone through the sixties, imagine that one day these troubled teens are going to “snap out of it”, come to their senses.

“For the baby boomers - many of them parents of today’s teens - it was pot and LSD, along with cheap wine and beer. And most of them eventually straightened out and became productive citizens, didn’t they?

Perhaps this been-there, done-that attitude contributes to the lack of concern about the substance abuse of today’s youth. But coalition leaders say 21st century society has created a “perfect storm” of a drug-abuse fad with one tragic consequence: teens are dying.”

The factors contributing to the very toxic world our teenagers must swim in are as numerous as they are perverse. The author of this report enumerates them thus;permissive societal mores, ease of obtaining drugs, indifferent or contributing parents,a media fueled culture that glamorizes the drug culture.

The piece is unusual reporting. The writer is obviously angry and well she should be, because apparently too many parents are not.