There is a new generation of addicts in this country and it is getting worse everyday. They include our children…kids that are between the ages of 13-19. With the boom in technology and the Internet over the past two decades, our children are learning new methods, different kinds of drugs, and where to get them. The increase in the designer drug class (Molly, ecstasy, bath salts, and spice) have hit all-time highs. All drugs are dangerous but the use of synthetic marijuana and products marketed as bath salts are producing long term effects that are sometimes irreversible. Many of these children and young adults are dying.
Young minds that are experimenting with and abusing these substances are not thinking of the detrimental consequences of their use. They do not think that they are going to die, but they do. They do not understand that when they get arrested it can affect their lives forever. They don’t understand that stealing from their parents can affect their whole family and their futures. This is going on in both the major cities and small towns of America.
The drug that is destroying more of our teenagers lives in heroin. Heroin rehabs in Pennsylvania are full of our young people that are from “Park Ave to park bench”. Heroin abuse used to be confined mostly to our inner cities with people in poverty. Today, the Long Island heroin epidemic, for example, knows no bounds. These kids are chasing down dealers like they used to chase down the ice cream truck.
You may ask yourself why? You may ask, “Why don’t they get treatment?” There are some that do seek and get treatment. Then there are the people that believe that extended maintenance programs are the answer. The methadone and Suboxone extended care programs are being relied on heavily as the answer. In these instances, the abstinence model of addiction isn’t used, and doctors are simply replacing one drug for another and nothing else. These individuals are taking a drug that mirrors the disease they are trying to recover from.
Clearbrook believes in the 12-step model for treating addiction. The use of opioid medications, like Suboxone, work well when they are used for short-term detox. We utilize individual and group therapy dynamics to help our patients identify the causes and conditions that led them to use drugs in the first place. We educate on the disease of addiction, coping skills, and the use of 12-step fellowships to achieve lasting abstinance and recovery. This has worked for us for over 40 years. We have seen countless people turn their lives around and go on to live happy and purposeful lives.
