Preventing every parent's worst fear
THE KNOCK CAME in the middle of the night. It was the knock that is every parent's fear, the knock that tells you that you will never be with your child again.
They were young, 16 and 17, and were drinking at a friend's house. They got into a pickup truck and spun out on their way home, driving into the woods, flipping the car. When emergency personnel arrived, the high school athlete sitting in the passenger's seat was already dead.
The driver was rushed to the hospital with severe spinal cord injuries. Now in a wheelchair, where he will remain for the balance of his life, this 18-year-old faces criminal charges for motor vehicle homicide.
That knock has recently been heard on the South Shore, in the southeastern part of the state, and in the suburbs of Boston. How quickly the innocence of youth is lost. Drugs and alcohol are no less forgiving because of a person's age. Nor is it limited by race, sex, economic background, or educational level.
On my desk is a letter I received from a grieving family. The court had attempted to help their daughter, a recovering heroin addict, with an extension of a domestic violence restraining order, but she had resumed a relationship with her abusive boyfriend, who was also addicted to heroin. She relapsed, overdosed, and became another fatality.
At a local high school, an honor roll student began experimenting with Percocet, and then OxyContin, eventually progressing to the cheaper and readily accessible heroin. Her grades dropped, and her plans of attending college all but disappeared. Her family succeeded in getting her into treatment, but she eventually relapsed and overdosed on methadone. She was brought back from an early death at the hospital.
What is the common thread between these tragedies or those of the young women from Plainville and Wellesley who apparently drank with their friends, wandered off, and were later found dead?
They are all tragedies that may have been prevented through early intervention and sustained involvement. But the solution will require a consistent, coordinated response from the entire community.
First, adolescents must learn personal responsibility. They must accept that they are not invisible and be aware of the consequences of their actions. Young men and women must be willing to stand firm against peer pressure and reject behaviors that put them at risk.
This concept of personal responsibility must be taught and nurtured by caring families. Parents must not only be willing to talk to their children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but must be firm in asking where their teenagers are going and with whom. They need to insist that their children not attend parties without parents present. And every parent should lock away all prescription drugs.
Schools also have a role. They cannot replace the home environment but should support a consistent message and do what they do best - educate their students about the consequences of substance abuse. They must communicate, impose, and enforce defined standards of behavior, whether it be after school, at athletic events, or at the prom.
Government and the private sector must also fulfill critical roles in preventing future deaths. Treatment for substance abuse works but requires a full array of services - detoxification, outpatient counseling, short-term and long-term residential treatment. These services must be specifically directed to a young population. An 18-year-old may not best be served in a detox with a 50-year-old alcoholic or a 38-year-old heroin addict.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently lost $5 million from its budget that was to be used to establish long-term residential treatment programs for adolescents. Such a program is particularly needed for teenagers whose home environments put them at risk of continued substance abuse.
The private sector, too, must be part of the response. As we move toward universal health coverage, all insurers should cover mental health and substance abuse services without the imposition of deductibles and co-payments for people without adequate resources.
These deaths are the tragedies of youth. As a society, we must not turn a blind eye and pretend that these are not our children or our concern. They are.
Mark S. Coven is the first justice of the Quincy District Court. 