Troubled Teens Resources

Schools for troubled teens are usually full of those teenagers who have not learned any self-control. They are geared towards instant gratification, have no concern for how their behavior hurts others, are self-absorbed and irresponsible.

Their lack of character and disrespect for the law eventually will land them in jail, get them expelled from school, and in worse case scenarios, struggling in the grip of addiction. These teens eventually pay dearly for every mistake they make.

However, their counterparts in the world of celebrity are equally lacking in character and discipline, but they rarely pay the price their poor and unremarkable fellow troubled teenagers pay.

“Sue Allchurch, director of The Linwood Group, said: “Celebrities pop in and out of treatment as if it were a trip to the shops. It is given extensive media coverage and can glamorise a serious, life-threatening addiction to alcohol or drugs.

“It also makes treatment seem like a short, sharp, shock - a wave of a magic wand, which you can walk away from with the problem gone.

“The truth is that for someone with a genuine addiction, rehab is only the beginning - to be successful, addicts need to make a lifelong commitment to working at the problem through self-help and support groups.

“The Linwood Group believes this gives the green light to young people to binge drink and behave badly just like their celebrity role models.

“It suggests that even if a celebrity has an addiction, a quick trip into rehab will sort it out so it really cannot be that bad.”

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You simply just can’t hide all of the drugs and intoxicants in the world. The blight of meth labs have already forced consumers and pharmacists to jump through hoops just to buy a simple over the counter cold remedy.

When it comes down to it, teenage drug abuse is abetted by drugs but not caused by drugs. Poor decision making skills and emotional immaturity and an expectation of instant gratification telescopes a teens focus to the tiny circle of options that opiates,stimulants, and variations thereof, offer.

All things being even, people generally enjoy their reality too much to think about altering it or avoiding it. They have learned to step up to the challenges in life, not be intimidated by them. Drugs hold little attraction to healthy individuals but for a troubled teen, bound and determined to “get high”, they will find a way no matter what it takes.

Now it appears that the uncontrolled “substance” Coricidin HBP can be abused as well.

“Coricidin HBP is a cough and cold medicine that gets people back on their feet.

It is also sending some local teens to the hospital after they have downed it to get high. They are risking their long-term health as well as their lives, police warn.

“We’ve learned of four different teenagers abusing here over the past month,” said Mattoon Deputy Police Chief Dave Griffith. “At least two have gone to the hospital.”
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The constant stream of pharmaceutical commercials aimed at adults do little to help a parent teach a troubled teen that medication isn’t the first or best answer for solving problems. In a culture and society that emphasizes instant gratification, teaching an at-risk teenager that restraint and discipline are virtues becomes an increasingly uphill battle. A specific problem with prescription pills is the veneer of safety that they offer. A drug abusing teenager is likely to think he is safer taking a pharmaceutical than he is with a street drug.

Just as a parent has to accept the reality of malicious strangers and predatory sex offenders as given threats in their at-risk teen’s everyday life, parents need to be aware of a constant underlying theme in film, in advertising and in music is to “get high” or “feel better”. A combination of peer pressure and society’s unfortunate obsession with the quick fix can cause a teen to conclude that self-medicating is a normal and acceptable way of dealing with upset and pain.

“According to the most comprehensive study on U.S. teenage drug abuse, the intentional abuse of legal medicines continues to be a “pernicious problem”.

“Overall prescription drug abuse has become a more important part of the nation’s drug problem,” said Dr. Lloyd Johnston, who runs the ongoing University of Michigan study.

Last December, the survey found that 9 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds intentionally abused prescription narcotics such as Vicodin in 2006.

“The use of Oxycontin has doubled among 8th graders (12- to 14-year-olds) since 2002,” Johnston said.

Other common household drugs popularly misused included dextromethorphan, found in cough syrups.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a not-for-profit lobby group sponsoring the briefings, said parents are part of the problem.

“The problem in general is the parents’ attitudes (were) as bad as the kids on this subject,” said Steve Pasierb, chief executive of the Partnership.

“The parents think they know all about drugs so they say, ‘At least it’s not heroin’,” he added.

“Kids like it because it’s hot and it’s new, they believe it’s safe and there’s relative ease of access.”

And taking tablets from home medicine cabinets is cheaper than buying drugs from street drug dealers.
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“Kids see prescription drugs differently,” said Dr. Herbert Kleber, a former U.S. drug policy adviser to the White House. “They’re more pure and have a guaranteed potency.”

Kleber said most of the kids get information online on what drugs to take. “There are numerous Web sites they can go to learn the pros and cons,” he said.”
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