Plano Star-courier > News
Drug problems still haunt Collin County
By Lynn Proctor Windle, Staff Writer
Parents know so little about their children’s secret life until something bad happens.
“There’s so much parents don’t know,” Jim Savage, a licensed chemical dependency counselor, told a gathering of parents, teens and mental health professionals at a community awareness seminar Tuesday night.
Savage is owner and executive director of Imagine Programs, which hosted the program in conjunction with the support group Parents of Recovering Teen.
“Death is part of substance abuse,” Savage said.
So far this year, seven heroin-related deaths have been reported in Collin County. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 58, and in each case, the person died of a drug cocktail, a lethal mixture of depressants, said Sabine Stern, director of the Collin County Substance Abuse program.
None of the deaths have been from the dreaded “cheese heroine,” she said. The type of heroin showing up in Collin County is much stronger, she said.
Still, alcohol is the top drug of choice for Collin County teens followed by marijuana and then prescription drugs, she said.
And contrary to popular belief, marijuana does kill, she said. “Nobody, especially at 16 or 17, think driving after smoking marijuana is as bad as driving drunk,”
Four men who died in motorcycle accidents during May and June had marijuana in their systems.
Savage had his own tale of death and denial, a tale of a young girl who’s family didn’t believe she needed help. The girl was court ordered to seek a drug assessment, but her family rescheduled the appointment.
“My reception said she could tell the family didn’t feel it was necessary,” Savage said.
The appointment was never kept. Within a week, the girl was dead, he said.
Drug deaths need to be talked about, he said.
Speaker after speaker offered examples where parents ignored their children’s drug problem, denying its existence almost as vehemently as the child.
Judge John Payton, justice of the peace for Precinct 3-2 deals with these families more than most judges. Payton hears all of Collin County’s truancy cases. This year, he expects to hear 5,000 cases, many of them related to drugs.
In one recent case, a grandmother brought her granddaughter to court. She had a note from the girl’s mother saying she couldn’t make it because of work. The absence of the mother signaled a problem, and a $100 fine later, Payton said the mother discovered he wasn’t amused with her excuse.
That was only the beginning.
Once a student is in truancy court, “the Code of Criminal Procedures allows a judge to address all the issues that encompass school attendance,” Payton said. Those issues can range from self-esteem, to friends and family, and to drugs.
Payton said the first question is about drug use. Following a script Payton has heard too many times, the girl denied any drug use.
“Grandma was feeling pretty confident,” he said.
A quick denial “leads to questions two, three, four and five,” questions about their friends’ drug habits.
Payton said he tells his young defendants up front that he can and will drug test them and that if they lie and the drug test comes back positive, he will charge them with aggravated perjury.
Through repeated questioning, the girl slowly admitted that she had used drugs, “but not very often.” Payton pointed out that ‘not very often to a teen means 10 or 12 times and still that’s not very bad to them.”
“By now grandma is in tears, sobbing,” he said.
About 20 minutes after taking the test, “which is about typical,” the girl came back to confess not only was she smoking marijuana, but also using other drugs as well.
“The drug test hit on all the popular drugs in big numbers,” he said.
Payton order the girl to undergo an assessment, which together with the test showed she needed serious help. “This was bad news,” the judge said.
He ordered the girl to 30 to 45 days of inpatient treatment, but she never made it. She did make it to a party at her boyfriend’s house. The very boyfriend Payton had ordered her to stay away from. Through the grapevine, Payton heard about her antics and hauled her back to court.
Again the grandmother brought her in. “At this point, I’ve yet to meet the mother,” he said. The grandmother admitted they hadn’t followed through, but promised to get the girl in outpatient treatment. “I said ‘No, I ordered her to inpatient,’ and gave her seven days to do it.”
By day six, the girl was dead. She died in bed beside the boyfriend, who didn’t die and whose father didn’t care what his son did.
If drug and alcohol problems aren’t weighing on the minds of some parents, they’re certainly weighing on the minds of teens, Stern said. Recently released research shows that the No. 1 issue that worries teens today, she said.
And it should. Many kids who use drugs start as young as 12 or 13.
“They’re making decisions that affect the rest of their lives,” Stern said. “No one has ever said to me that my life so much better because of drugs and alcohol.”
Contact Lynn Proctor Windle at lwindle@acnpapers.com
“There’s so much parents don’t know,” Jim Savage, a licensed chemical dependency counselor, told a gathering of parents, teens and mental health professionals at a community awareness seminar Tuesday night.
Savage is owner and executive director of Imagine Programs, which hosted the program in conjunction with the support group Parents of Recovering Teen.
“Death is part of substance abuse,” Savage said.
So far this year, seven heroin-related deaths have been reported in Collin County. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 58, and in each case, the person died of a drug cocktail, a lethal mixture of depressants, said Sabine Stern, director of the Collin County Substance Abuse program.
None of the deaths have been from the dreaded “cheese heroine,” she said. The type of heroin showing up in Collin County is much stronger, she said.
Still, alcohol is the top drug of choice for Collin County teens followed by marijuana and then prescription drugs, she said.
And contrary to popular belief, marijuana does kill, she said. “Nobody, especially at 16 or 17, think driving after smoking marijuana is as bad as driving drunk,”
Four men who died in motorcycle accidents during May and June had marijuana in their systems.
Savage had his own tale of death and denial, a tale of a young girl who’s family didn’t believe she needed help. The girl was court ordered to seek a drug assessment, but her family rescheduled the appointment.
“My reception said she could tell the family didn’t feel it was necessary,” Savage said.
The appointment was never kept. Within a week, the girl was dead, he said.
Drug deaths need to be talked about, he said.
Speaker after speaker offered examples where parents ignored their children’s drug problem, denying its existence almost as vehemently as the child.
Judge John Payton, justice of the peace for Precinct 3-2 deals with these families more than most judges. Payton hears all of Collin County’s truancy cases. This year, he expects to hear 5,000 cases, many of them related to drugs.
In one recent case, a grandmother brought her granddaughter to court. She had a note from the girl’s mother saying she couldn’t make it because of work. The absence of the mother signaled a problem, and a $100 fine later, Payton said the mother discovered he wasn’t amused with her excuse.
That was only the beginning.
Once a student is in truancy court, “the Code of Criminal Procedures allows a judge to address all the issues that encompass school attendance,” Payton said. Those issues can range from self-esteem, to friends and family, and to drugs.
Payton said the first question is about drug use. Following a script Payton has heard too many times, the girl denied any drug use.
“Grandma was feeling pretty confident,” he said.
A quick denial “leads to questions two, three, four and five,” questions about their friends’ drug habits.
Payton said he tells his young defendants up front that he can and will drug test them and that if they lie and the drug test comes back positive, he will charge them with aggravated perjury.
Through repeated questioning, the girl slowly admitted that she had used drugs, “but not very often.” Payton pointed out that ‘not very often to a teen means 10 or 12 times and still that’s not very bad to them.”
“By now grandma is in tears, sobbing,” he said.
About 20 minutes after taking the test, “which is about typical,” the girl came back to confess not only was she smoking marijuana, but also using other drugs as well.
“The drug test hit on all the popular drugs in big numbers,” he said.
Payton order the girl to undergo an assessment, which together with the test showed she needed serious help. “This was bad news,” the judge said.
He ordered the girl to 30 to 45 days of inpatient treatment, but she never made it. She did make it to a party at her boyfriend’s house. The very boyfriend Payton had ordered her to stay away from. Through the grapevine, Payton heard about her antics and hauled her back to court.
Again the grandmother brought her in. “At this point, I’ve yet to meet the mother,” he said. The grandmother admitted they hadn’t followed through, but promised to get the girl in outpatient treatment. “I said ‘No, I ordered her to inpatient,’ and gave her seven days to do it.”
By day six, the girl was dead. She died in bed beside the boyfriend, who didn’t die and whose father didn’t care what his son did.
If drug and alcohol problems aren’t weighing on the minds of some parents, they’re certainly weighing on the minds of teens, Stern said. Recently released research shows that the No. 1 issue that worries teens today, she said.
And it should. Many kids who use drugs start as young as 12 or 13.
“They’re making decisions that affect the rest of their lives,” Stern said. “No one has ever said to me that my life so much better because of drugs and alcohol.”
Contact Lynn Proctor Windle at lwindle@acnpapers.com
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