Adolescent drug and alcohol rehab

It is agreed upon by everyone in the alcohol and other drug prevention and rehabilitation field that any USE of alcohol or other drugs by anyone under the age of 18 is considered abuse since juveniles are under the age of consent.

It hasn’t been but a few years since the time when it was shocking to hear that a significant number of young people in high school had smoked marijuana in the past month and another large number had tried cocaine.  Today it isn’t uncommon to hear that same quote for elementary school children of the ages of 8-10.  The age when learning play and sports are usually associated.

Knowing that your child has a alcohol or drug problem at these early ages is devastating to parents and a point of embarrassment which sometimes keeps parents from acting on their first inclination that their child is using alcohol or other drugs. Parents may be too reasonable when accessing their child’s drug involvement because they also smoked marijuana when they were young. But according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana today is more dangerous than it was in the 60's and 70's . Some reports estimate that today's marijuana is five times the strength than it was in the 1970's while other reports estimate the strength is as high as 25 times that of earlier decades."

Some parents believe that supervised underage drinking is harmless. The idea is that if drinking is done in their home, kids won't drink and drive or get into too much trouble. The problem with this is two-fold. The Anti-Drug Campaign points out that, " People who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who wait until age 21. Each additional year of delayed drinking onset reduces the probability of alcohol dependence by 14 percent."

And kids aren't the only ones who are hurt in this scenario. Parents, too, are harmed. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that, " Adults who serve or supply alcohol to persons under the age of 21 can be held liable, even if they're not home when underage drinking occurs."

Once a parent gets past their resistance to confront this problem, they are faced with finding an adolescent alcohol and drug rehab that is effective and one that won’t make things worse.  Fear tactics that are used in the “disease model” programs to elicit a higher level of personal responsibility in the addict should never be used with an adolecesent.  Children will either ignore the idea that they need to take responsibility for their “disease” or they will be overwhelmed by that depressing prognosis.

Unfortunately, many of the adolescent alcohol and drug rehab program are based on the same “disease model” of the 12-step approach as are the adult programs. If you want a lasting cure and do not relish the thought of subjecting your child to an inhumane or overly harsh ideology, you should be able to find some teen drug rehabs that strike a nice balance.

In looking for the “right” rehab program, one should pay attention to programs that have clinical approaches that actually treat the program and not just change ones ideas about alcohol and drugs.  If the program addresses that drug residues in the body and gives the young person ways that he can better cope with his challenges, then you are looking at a program that is far more effective than those that are modeled after adult 12-step based programs.  Call our counselors and discuss what would be best for your particular situation.