Just how prevalent is this oxy addiction thing among our young adults in top privates?

[Anonymous]

That you somehow think that UMC and "top privates" are good insulators from drugs and drug addiction is part of the growing problem. If, as one PP apparently does, you believe that it is a "wrong side of the tracks problem seeping into our pristine universe", you are woefully misguided.

Drug and alcohol addition does not care one wit of your SES. Not one.

Stop looking at this as a poor people's problem and start noting that Muffin and Chad may well be heroin snorting addicts and that half the people at CC country club and Congressional are 3 sheets to the wind always.

[Anonymous]

OP, how did your family discover your nephew's drug addiction? I wonder if his friends (who don't use) knew. It sounds like his parents are handling it as well as one could.

This thread is eye opening. The PP"s posts about signs of addicition and how their kids got into is very interesting. Let's not drive those who may offer insight away with our squabbles.

[Anonymous]

It's happening at our public HS in a very wealthy area of N. VA.

[Anonymous]

In our kids school an elite private, it is well know that this is becoming prevalent, mostly pills but then some who are predisposed to addiction are turning to heroin.

ANYONE who thinks this is for the poor or those on welfare in dire straits is terribly misguided. We attended a conference on this subject and they said particularly in the. northeast, this type of addiction is MOST prevalent among st affluent, educated white males 18-24 years of age. Do not kid yourself. Chances are that you know someone suffering or know someone with a relative who is.

There was a young boy only 19 who shocked everyone when it came out that he was addicted, he has been in rehab in California for the last several months and apparently doing really well. His parents have been super open about it and I commend them, they even came to speak the night of this conference to shed some light and give all of us a reality check and let me tell it was indeed sobering.

Everyone one on that panel, both the kids and adults could have easily been me or my children. Healthy, from good families, good schools, the "right" neighborhoods, you get it.....this epidemic does not discriminate and seems to target a certain young adult white male of a specific age group.

No amount of good parenting will prevent this from happening. It is just important to be vigilant and aggressive if and when it does happen.

[Anonymous]

The government is a. big part of this. There is no degree of harshness that can be too much when it comes to drugs.

The mafia aka the prescription biggies who push these deadly drugs into the doctors offices are as guilty as a drug dealer in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our kids school an elite private, it is well know that this is becoming prevalent, mostly pills but then some who are predisposed to addiction are turning to heroin.

ANYONE who thinks this is for the poor or those on welfare in dire straits is terribly misguided. We attended a conference on this subject and they said particularly in the. northeast, this type of addiction is MOST prevalent among st affluent, educated white males 18-24 years of age. Do not kid yourself. Chances are that you know someone suffering or know someone with a relative who is.

There was a young boy only 19 who shocked everyone when it came out that he was addicted, he has been in rehab in California for the last several months and apparently doing really well. His parents have been super open about it and I commend them, they even came to speak the night of this conference to shed some light and give all of us a reality check and let me tell it was indeed sobering.

Everyone one on that panel, both the kids and adults could have easily been me or my children. Healthy, from good families, good schools, the "right" neighborhoods, you get it.....this epidemic does not discriminate and seems to target a certain young adult white male of a specific age group.

No amount of good parenting will prevent this from happening. It is just important to be vigilant and aggressive if and when it does happen.

And it's not new. I grew up in an affluent suburb, and knew many high schoolers in the 1990s who were using drugs. My brother had several friends who died from overdoses.

[Anonymous]

PPs who scoff that addiction is just someone's personal problem should have a special section of hell reserved for them. Yeah, it's a problem -- but a whole lot bigger than the individual person caught up in it, especially when it comes to kids. Seriously - this is an epidemic -- supported by a lot of big business interests, including the pharmaceutical industry.

[Anonymous]

I think it's not uncommon for UMC kids. My little brother (who is now in his mid-30s) became addicted to painkillers in college. He dropped out of college and never graduated. He then became addicted to heroin. He has bounced from one $8-10/hr retail job since his early 20s. He has drained my parents' retirement fund (I now support my parents-- they live in my home and use social security -- they still send my brother checks when they can). I don't speak to him any longer.

[Anonymous]

Regarding pain, I think people have to be careful to realize that avoiding or taking care with the use of opioids for pain isn't going to make you immune from this problem. It doesn't take much for some people to get addicted and people take opioids for the high rather than for pain. So responsible use of meds or total avoidance aren't going to make you immune.

Like others, my family has been touched by addiction - brother overdosed and died but not before wrecking his life and causing havoc in his relationships, close friend has battled for so long that I can't be around her and I am always worried she's dead if I don't hear from her for awhile. I declined all post operative pain medication three times after surgery because I couldn't be sure that it wouldn't have been stolen by family. I've used only OTC pain meds for injuries.

I am sorry for everyone who has gone through the tragedy of addiction in your families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That you somehow think that UMC and "top privates" are good insulators from drugs and drug addiction is part of the growing problem. If, as one PP apparently does, you believe that it is a "wrong side of the tracks problem seeping into our pristine universe", you are woefully misguided.

Drug and alcohol addition does not care one wit of your SES. Not one.

Stop looking at this as a poor people's problem and start noting that Muffin and Chad may well be heroin snorting addicts and that half the people at CC country club and Congressional are 3 sheets to the wind always.

This has always gone on in the UMC, it just wasn't talked about like it is now. I credit Betty Ford with starting the discussion on addiction and the UMC/rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's happening at our public HS in a very wealthy area of N. VA.

+100

It's much more common than people realize and the wealthy don't talk about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of former heroin addict here. Completely normal, upper middle class family with lots of parental involvement. Child went private but preferred public for HS.

Along our awful journey were two of her friends from a highly competitive private. Different stories. One worked in a dental office and had all too easy access to painkillers. Another's mother died and father wasn't up to the task of raising a child alone.

Child's problem ironically was doctors not taking pain seriously. Refused to refer to PT for over a year. When finally doctor relented and PT therapist recommended a TENS machine, doctor denied prescription. That would be feeding into psychological problem according to him. (Turned out after scores of doctors child had autoimmune condition known to be painful; previous doctors even recommended against Advil when that actually would have helped.)

As no doctor was taking child seriously, child then took matters upon themselves. Didn't even drink and was on to heroin. We are dealing here with under-developed frontal cortexes. For God's sake, doctors need to really, really understand just how dangerous physical teen pain can be. Be sympathetic. Shut your mouth about "psychogenic" causes even if you think that is what it is. Prescribe PT. Give away TENS machines scripts for free. And, honestly, would it really hurt to try to figure out if there actually could be a medical cause for the pain instead of dismissing it as unworthy of investigation?

Yes--I totally lay this at the feet of doctors (many, many of them) who were callous and way over-wedded to the idea that teen pain without injury must be psychological. And they still refused to do a thing for it--like maybe just try to find out what was wrong and try to explain way off blood tests from even before drug use--once they knew about heroin because in the medical world once you do drugs that is your only problem and all medical complaints (and all psychological complaints like anxiety) get attributed to drug use.

We reached a point when there was no one in my child's corner but me. Fortunately, that proved enough and I now have a successful child who is healthy as possible considering the significant medical issues.

PP while I fortunately did not end up on painkillers, I can reallllllly identify with this. I had serious, chronic, unexplained pain as a teenager (...well, and still), and I cannot tell you how many different doctors I went to seeking answers - without fail and with varying degrees of rudeness, they all basically told me it was all in my head and I was being dramatic. They didn't take me seriously, at all. It sucked, and still mkes me really mad to think about

Yes--but you are adult whose brain has developed enough to figure out that there are long-term consequences to certain actions that may not make things worse than your current state.

Imagine if you are a teen. Is anyone surprised that a teen feeling pretty hopeless from unexplained pain for which there seems to be no hope and whom doctors have shut out turns to do it yourself drug therapy off the street? So easy to forget they know way better than we how to connect with an illegal source.

Being undiagnosed is a special sort of hell I wouldn't wish on my own enemy. Please keep persisting. I went through scores of doctors with my child until I found one who diagnosed on the spot. Not coincidentally, he was the first doctor to spend something more than two minutes on a physical exam.

...what? I specifically said I went through this experience as a teen

[Anonymous]

+1 to whoever told off the "personal responsibility" jerk. The manufacturers of Oxycontin told physicians over and over that Oxy was NOT addictive because of the time release. They lied and lied and covered up evidence for years. And there were plenty of criminal physicians who were happy to prescribe tsunamis of pills for patients who had become addicted. It's a horrible, sad story and we are going to be stuck sorting out the fallout for years while people die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. So much sympathy now that the victims are white.

Drug addicts are drug addicts.

How do you know the victims are white? Are POC not permitted at top private schools? I don't think so!

[Anonymous]

My kids don't go to a private, but many of their friends on their travel sports teams do, and several have attended rehab over the last few years. Or had siblings that attended rehab for Oxy or heroin addictions.

However, I know it's not just at privates. A few teens at my kid's public school have been busted for selling or using and gone to rehab.

What I found interesting in several cases of their sports team friends is that they got addicted after being prescribed Oxy or some other Opiate when rehabbing from an injury. My kid just had her wisdom teeth out two weeks ago and I kept her pain pills in my possession. It was always in the back of my mind how several friends got addicted from misusing them and I just felt more comfortable that way. I trust my kid, but I'm pretty sure those parents trusted their kids as well, you know?

A good friend of our family accidentally OD'd on Excedrin Migraine recently. He found them in his mom's medicine cabinet and took 3 without reading the dosage instructions, thinking it was like taking Tylenol or Motrin. He took a nap and when he woke up 4 hours later, he took 3 more without realizing that 2 capsules is all you should have in a whole day. His heart started racing and he got very dizzy. He called his mom to let her know he wasn't feeling well and when she found out what he'd taken, she had a co-worker call 911 and she rushed home. The EMTs had found him passed out and tachycardic. He got his stomach pumped and had to be admitted to the hospital, plus undergo a psych eval even though it was an accidental OD. I mean, we think that 16 and 17 year olds should know better and READ before taking drugs, but at the end of the day, they're still just teens who often act before all else.