Speakers warn parents about teen drug use
You probably think your kid is drug-free. But parent speakers for the drug prevention organization, notMykid, shake their heads.
Think again, they warn.
They know. They've been through the struggle of realizing it IS their kid and looking for help somewhere, anywhere - rehabilitation centers, clinics, psychologists, psychiatrists, camps.
NotMykid leaders and parent speakers told their stories and offered tips for parents to prevent drug use Tuesday at an informational breakfast and luncheon.
More than 40 Southeast Valley community members, business leaders and school representatives attended the breakfast at the Mesa Country Club, and notMykid estimates nearly 80 women came to the luncheon.
Former Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent Brad Barrett and his wife, Elizabeth , said they have been through this struggle. It started nearly eight years ago.
A son, their fourth child, began using drugs in his teens. Neither parent is sure when specifically. They guess that he was 16.
Even after several rounds of counseling, psychiatric care and rehabilitation, their roller-coaster ride continues today as they try to help him stay clean.
Elizabeth Barrett recalls that at one point, her son woke her up suddenly one night, asking her to comfort him.
"He said he had just had 'shrooms. That he was going crazy," she said.
He graduated from pot and mushrooms to OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller, and began using its relative, heroin.
Elizabeth Barrett said she and her husband have spent thousands of dollars and exhausted themselves emotionally while trying to help their son get clean.
They've bounced from counselors and rehab programs to, most recently, sending their son on a trip to an African village for what they called a "meditative" recovery.
Now, even though their son is 24, the couple tests him regularly for drugs.
Brad Barrett, who is now the executive director of notMykid, believes every parent should begin drug-testing their children as part of a prevention program, not just when they suspect drug use. He recommends it as part of a notMykid basic, family drug prevention plan.
Lisa Garcia, a Scottsdale mother who spoke at the meeting, agrees. Her own son, an athletic boy, got hooked on drugs in high school a few years ago.
It has taken years to get him "clean and sober," she said.
"I now drug test both my kids. Some might say I test them too often. But they haven't been to hell and back. I have. And I can answer: I will not be going back," Garcia said.
Experiences like the ones recounted by Garcia are warnings for other families, Brad Barrett said.
"'Not my kid' is a syndrome," Barrett said, explaining that parents tend to deny such a problem exists in their families until it's gotten out of hand.
NotMykid is working with several school districts, including Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa unified schools, to hold quarterly drug-prevention sessions. NotMykid officials say if a district is struggling financially, some of the program costs can be handled by the group.
But to host the program at a discount, notMykid raises donations to cover the cost of its speakers, literature and other educational tools.Barrett said NotMykid is trying to expand its reach in the Valley to train parents, teachers and others about the dangers of drug use and the importance of routine drug testing.
It hopes to soon have an office in the Southeast Valley to work more closely with the communities in this region.
http://http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2008/10/28/20081028gr-notmykid1029.html