Blog: Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Many of you have undoubtedly seen news about synthetic drugs that are marketed -- legally, in many places around the country -- as "bath salts" or "plant food." These "synthetic cathinones" are stimulants that usually come in powder or crystal form, and can be smoked, injected, or snorted.  Emergency rooms and poison control centers have seen enough serious negative health effects that legislatures in a number of states have attempted to ban these drugs, and the constituent ingredients.  
Use varies by locale. In Maine, police and hospitals have reported "a surge of people becoming delusional and violent after injecting, snorting or smoking so-called bath salts."
The National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) recently issued a situation report on bath salts (non-prescription synthetic cathinones), calling them an "emerging domestic threat." Users include teens.
Note to Juvenile Courts (and Juvenile Drug Courts in Particular):
Teens and others find bath salts attractive because:

• They are often sold legally in gas stations, head shops, skateboard shops, and on the internet; and
• Most routine drug screens will not detect the use of bath salts. (Though specialized drug screens will.)

The good news is, the Drug Enforcement Administration is considering scheduling them as a controlled substance under the Federal Controlled Substances Act.
The bad news? The NDIC expects that abuse will grow over time, and that manufacturers will adjust the chemical make-up of their products when needed to keep them legal.
Related Post:

• Bath Salts Still Legal Despite Dangers

"Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) is an evidence-based intervention for children and families whose level of conflict, coercion, and aggression have resulted in or placed them at-risk for physical abuse or related safety concerns," writes Paul Savery.
He also forwarded the following: 

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network is pleased to release the 2011–2012 Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) Learning Collaborative Information and Application Packet. AF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment designed to improve the relationships between children and their caregivers. AF-CBT addresses concerns such as harsh physical discipline/punishment as well as child/family aggression and family interactions characterized by hostile interactions and conflict.  
 
The Information packet contains critical information to help you and your organization understand the benefits of participating in the 2011-20112 AF_CBT Learning Collaborative. All interested in participating should thoroughly read the attached Information Packet and follow the directions included for submitting the Notification of Interest (by Monday, August 22, 2011) and the Online Application (by Friday, September 2, 2011).

You can learn more on the NCTSN website. If you have further questions, please contact Lauren Simone at lauren.simone@duke.edu.
 
Hurry! Note that deadline for the NOI: Monday, August 22, 2011!

via JUVJUST:
On July 29, 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Attorney General Eric Holder signed a memorandum of agreement to combat alcohol and substance abuse among American Indian/Alaska Native tribes by establishing a office within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The new Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse, created as a result of the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, will coordinate the efforts of American Indian and Alaskan Native communities and federal agencies to address alcohol and substance abuse.
 
As part of its substance abuse efforts, the Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse will emphasize programs geared toward reaching youth and offering alternatives to incarceration.
 
 
 Photo: ~Sage~ under Creative Commons license.

Amy Winehouse died of addiction. Though toxicology reports are so far inconclusive, we can look at her life and know the cause of her death. Many of us know what addiction looks like up close and personal and most, if not all of us know what addiction looks like from the gripping images of famous people struggling in front of us.
Hopefully, we can convert this recent casualty into an opportunity for learning, and strive to create a better way to prevent this treatable chronic health condition called addiction. We know that people can and do recover!
Those who do not survive addiction leave behind grieving families, friends and communities who may question what they could have done differently. To this tremendously agonizing question there is no single or simple answer. We can, however, start to look at addiction differently and recognize that with support, awareness, allies and hope — recovery is possible and it benefits everyone.
We know from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and others that:

Eliminating the revolving door of the criminal and juvenile justice systems is one of the Nation’s biggest challenges in reducing the devastating consequences of drug use. It deprives our youngest generations of their chance to lead healthy, safe and productive lives, and often fosters intergenerational violence. That’s why the Obama Administration is taking steps to prevent young people from becoming involved in drug use and crime, and providing intervention, treatment, alternatives to incarceration, and reentry support for those that do.
Last year, the Administration released its inaugural strategy for coordinating national drug control activities and reducing the effects of drug use and its consequences and stressed the need for effective substance abuse treatment for adolescents. The week before last, the 2011 National Drug Control Strategy built upon that foundation and expanded support for these efforts. Evidence-based, early interventions are critical tools to keep young people from cycling in and out of the juvenile justice system, or worse, entering and cycling through the adult system. Youth should not only be screened and treated for substance use problems, but also for unmet emotional, behavioral, or academic needs.

 
As we’ve previously discussed, Recovery Month is celebrated each September to help promote the societal benefits of treatment for mental and substance use disorders, celebrate people in recovery, laud the contributions of treatment providers, and promote the message that prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.
 
As part of Recovery Month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) develops a toolkit every year with educational materials and tools to help individuals and organizations plan events to celebrate Recovery Month. The toolkit is broken down into sections by audience and types of resources.
 
The 2011 theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Recovery Benefits Everyone,” showcases how public awareness will increase access to those in need of essential substance use and mental health services and how legislative changes will improve the overall health and well-being of people in the United States.
 
The toolkit also covers mental health problems and substance use disorders of adolescent and young adults. According to SAMHSA’s 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, almost 2 million 12 through 17-year-olds needed treatment for a substance use disorder in 2009. A survey conducted by the National Health and Nutritional Examination found that 13 percent of children ages 8 to 15 had at least one mental health problem, a rate comparable to diabetes, asthma, and other diseases. As a result, the toolkit has useful information, such as warning signs of a developing substance use disorder and symptoms of mental health problems -- it also provides a wide range of resources, which can be narrowed to only show youth programs.
 
If you are interested in more information, the SAMHSA Recovery Month toolkit is available online and in hard copy. For other information about Recovery Month, please visit our website and become a fan of the Facebook Page, or follow us on Twitter.
 

Michele Monroe is a Public Health Analyst for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The next Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) -- the only national conference solely devoted to adolescent substance abuse treatment -- has been scheduled for April 10-12, 2012, in Washington, D.C. 
Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the nearly-annual conference is a fantastic opportunity to see top-notch presentations on ... well, you can check out the 2010 JMATE agenda here to get an idea.
There's no agenda yet for the 2012 event, but take it from me, you don't want to miss it. 
Want to be notified when you can register? Send your email to JMATE-info@jbsinternational.com.
Want to participate in the 2012 JMATE planning committees? Contact JMATE-info@jbsinternational.com.
 
 

The Reclaiming Futures model encourages participating communities to identify, screen, and track youth with alcohol and drug issues. And when you talk with people who work in juvenile court and in the juvenile justice system about doing a better job of identifying teens with alcohol and drug abuse issues -- and mental health issues -- they'll almost always say it's a good idea. Why? Because they genuinely want to turn these kids' lives around. 
But if you've got community representatives at the table -- for example, a parent advocate whose own child has been through the system, or a community organizer who sees kids in his or her neighborhood swept into the system on a regular basis -- they'll likely raise a critical question: "Why do these kids have to commit a crime to get treatment?"
That's a great question. In fact, it's a question everyone should be asking. The fact is, although the juvenile justice system has its victories, researchers say it often makes things worse for kids who get involved with it.  A recent 20-year Canadian study showed that involvement in the juvenile justice system made boys seven times more likely to commit crimes as adults.
On top of that, youth of color are disproportionately sucked into the juvenile justice system and sanctioned more frequently and more harshly while there.
[Brief video interview with Yolanda Perez-Logan below - click "read more."]

[For a brief interview with the author on prosecutors and adolescent substance abuse in the juvenle justice system, watch the video below the section break. -Ed.]
Adolescent substance abuse is currently the biggest public health problem facing our country, according to a study released in June by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.1 The report explains that efforts in the past decade that curbed underage drinking and drug usage may be losing their effect; the authors caution: “we can no longer write off adolescent substance use as bad behavior, as a rite of passage or as kids just being kids. The science is too clear, the facts are too compelling, the consequences are too devastating and the costs are simply too high.”2
 
What the Research Says
Alarming news, yet not surprising to those of us working in the field of juvenile justice (JJ). A 2004 study found that nearly 80% of juvenile offenders between the ages of 10-17, in juvenile justice systems are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs while committing their crimes, test positive for drugs, are arrested for an alcohol or drug offense, admit having a substance use or addiction problem, or share some combination of these characteristics.3 Therefore, most juvenile court prosecutors are confronted with issues relating to substance use on a regular basis.