Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

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.

• Reclaiming Futures-Rowan County Makes a Difference for Teens
  In 2008, law enforcement agencies in the United States arrested more than 2 million people under the age of 18, according to the FBI. The best way to address youth crime, experts say, is to get to the heart of the problem — be it substance abuse, family issues or mental health problems. In the Salisbury Times, Shavonne Potts tells the story of Reclaiming Futures showing teens they care in Rowan County, North Carolina.
• Texas’ Progress on Juvenile Justice
  A New York Times editorial celebrates a state juvenile justice system that is making impressive strides, when it was in chaos just a few years ago. How? Troubled children receive guidance and rehabilitation services in or near their communities, where they have support from families, churches and other local organizations. (Hat tip to Youth Transition Funders Group.)

 
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).

Medical experts are warning of a potentially lethal new designer drug exploding in popularity across the United States this year. The stimulant is sold as “bath salts” and in many states it is perfectly legal. [It's also sometimes sold as "plant food." --Ed.]
The substance, sold as powder or crystals, is a man-made synthetic and often contains chemicals such as mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV, according to The New York Times. Despite a warning on the label indicating the product is “not for human consumption,” the drug is often snorted, smoked or injected, leading to dangerous side effects with severe psychological effects. In fact, emergency rooms and poison control centers are reporting a sharp increase in bath salt cases.
The Washington Post reported in January the chemicals might cause hallucinations, paranoia and an elevated heart rate. According to the stories, authorities say bath salts have been responsible for a number of suicides and that some people under the influence of the substance  have committed murder.

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.
 
 

• SAMHSA Recovery Month Hosting Twitter Chat July 27 at 3:30 (EDT)
  The July RecoveryChat will focus on youth and recovery, and will be co-hosted by Danielle Tarino, board member for the Association of Recovery Schools and current SAMHSA team member. Can't attend? Tweet your questions to @RecoveryMonth in advance, using the hashtag #RecoveryChat. If you aren’t on Twitter, but are interested in asking a question, feel free to post questions on the Recovery Month Facebook Page or send questions in an e-mail to recoverymonthfan@samhsa.hhs.gov.
• How Much is Your State Spending on Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice and Youth?
  Youth Today is on a mission to capture state-by-state information as about youth-related spending decisions the effect on programs and services providers. Follow the link to check out figures for your state -- and let Youth Today if you have information that's missing.

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."]

• New York Times: Rethinking Addiction’s Roots, and Treatment
  Increasingly, the medical establishment is putting its weight behind the physical diagnosis.
• Letter to the Editor Asking for Mentors in Rowan County
  Reclaiming Futures' call to action that works.
• Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Releases 2011 National Drug Control Strategy
  Criminal justice continues to be a focus area.

[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.

Back in 1974, sociologist Robert Martinson reviewed the research and concluded that "nothing worked" when it came to rehabilitating offenders. Then, in the mid-1990s, when fears about rising juvenile crime rates were at their peak, John DiIulio of Princeton predicted an onslaught of teens in trouble with the law, whom he dubbed "super-predators," creating a toxic political environment for those who knew from experience that youth in the justice system were overwhelmingly capable of positive change and rehabilitation. 
Martinson and DiIulio were wrong. Most importantly, Martinson's research was flawed, and he admitted his errors in print. [For this history and much more, see "Juvenile Justice: Lessons for a New Era."]
But the myths remain -- and they get in the way of our ability to take advantage of new, evidence-based treatments that are exceptionally effective.
So argues Dr. Howard Liddle, of the Center for Treatment Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse (CTRADA) at the University of Miami, in the brief video below: