If teens turn to substance abuse to cope with trauma, how can we ensure they receive the help they need, if the programs and resources are there?
Deborah Scott’s 13-year-old daughter had been receiving hospital treatment for heroin addiction for 20 days when a representative from her insurance company called to say they would no longer cover the treatment.
Scott’s daughter had eight more days to go, and she was nowhere near ready to return home, her doctors said. Scott gathered medical practitioners on the phone and tried to dispute the claim. It was no use. Her daughter needed to be picked up from the hospital right away.
Like many parents who have children with an addiction, the Scotts had run out of options. “There is no other disorder or disease that is as undertreated in adolescents as substance use disorders,” says Samuel Ball, president and CEO of CASAColumbia, an organization that researches addiction and treatments. “These can turn into life-or-death situations.”
Within the last five years, drug overdoses have become one of the top three killers of 15 to 19 year olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even so, the resources for addiction treatment are hard to locate, expensive and rarely meet patients’ needs. Most children’s hospitals do not have psychiatry departments, let alone offer substance abuse treatment. And at the same time, addiction services are stifled by stigma within the medical industry and at the public policy level.
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