cannabisnews.com: Court: Cure Teen Addict, Cut Crime





Court: Cure Teen Addict, Cut Crime
Posted by FoM on September 25, 2000 at 11:20:55 PT
By Paul A. Long, Post Staff Reporter
Source: Kentucky Post
The pregnant 14-year-old was so hooked on marijuana that she would arrive early at her anti-drug counseling sessions - so she could meet up with a friend to sneak outside and smoke a joint.The 17-year-old high school athlete loved playing his sport - but not enough to give up drinking, which eventually led to his being kicked off the team after he was arrested Labor Day on a charge of drunken driving.
The 16-year-old girl started drinking at age 9 and smoking pot when she was 11 - but saw nothing unusual about her behavior and fought with anyone who suggested otherwise.These are the children of Juvenile Drug Court, a 10-month-old program in Campbell County designed to help addicted, crime-oriented teen-agers before they become addicted, crime-oriented adults.It's part of a national trend that began more than 10 years ago with Drug Courts for adults and based on the theory that if you cure a person's addiction to drugs or alcohol, you cure the tendency to commit crimes.After that, someone brought up the idea that if it works for adults, it should work for children, who often wind up on the wrong side of the law because of problems at home that include drug and alcohol addictions.''My experience is that it's working,'' said Campbell District Judge D. Michael ''Mickey'' Foellger. ''Some of the kids have been clean for months. And we're helping the families. Some of the parents have cut back on their drinking or quit entirely.''With the Juvenile Drug Court up and running in Campbell County, Kenton County officials are taking a look at starting one. Kenton District Judge Doug Grothaus, juvenile prosecutor Ken Easterling and other juvenile workers from Kenton County sat in on a session of the Campbell County Drug Court earlier this month.Like any other juvenile court session, the Drug Court is confidential and closed to the public. But Foellger allowed a Post reporter to observe the session on the condition that none of the youths or their parents be identified.Juveniles who enter the court system for anything other than a violent or sex-related crime are eligible. Not all agree to take part, however. In many cases, the time and effort on their part amount to more than if the teen simply served whatever sentence a judge handed down.In Drug Court, the teens must come to court every two weeks for an indeterminate period. They must agree to random drug testings, a curfew, and counseling sessions, both with and without their parents.Juvenile Drug Court not only attempts to cure the teen of drug abuse, it also brings in parents or other family members who - knowingly or unknowingly - contribute to or even encourage their child's troubles. The parents also must agree to participate in the bi-weekly court appearances and counseling sessions.Frequently, the child's drug or alcohol abuse is part of a family pattern.'What we're supposed to do is try to help them turn their lives around - help them deal with the fact they may have parents who use drugs and alcohol on a regular basis, and we work with that family,'' said C. Houston ''Hoot'' Ebert, the Drug Court coordinator for Northern Kentucky.Turning around addicted teen-agers is not easy. They rarely recognize their problems and see little reason to stop. They can be manipulative, full of explanations and excuses for every aspect of their behavior. They have conned parents, teachers, employers and social workers.Once in the program, they find their lives are constantly monitored. They start by attending up to three counseling sessions a week. They must either work or go to school - if not both.Sanctions for any failures - a positive drug test, a missed session, an arrest - are, in the words of Foellger, ''swift, immediate and severe.''Some call for a fine, an earlier curfew or several hours of community services.Some failures are punished by a weekend in jail - and the teen will leave the Thursday afternoon court session and head directly across the parking lot to the Regional Juvenile Detention Center.''That gets their attention,'' Foellger said.Foellger oversees the sessions in his role as judge, but he often steps outside his black robes.He plays the role of paternal nag, stern disciplinarian and encouraging coach. He lectured one teen about hanging around with the same crowd he used to get into trouble with.''We're trying to create an environment of non-using friends,'' Foellger told the youth.''If you're hanging out with friends who are smoking marijuana or drinking, you are more likely to be tempted.''One teen who missed an appointment with a counselor was fined $50 and warned not to let it happen again.Another had a questionable drug test - his urine was diluted, raising the question of whether he drank vast quantities of water to hide drug use - and was ordered to perform eight hours of community service on a Saturday, his one day off from work.''If they don't work, we have to occupy their time,'' Foellger said. ''One of the philosophies of this program is no idle time.''Side Note: Teen Drug Use: After rising throughout most of the 1990s, drug use by teen-agers fell both locally and nationally in 1998 and 1999.A 1998 survey of 47,000 students in grades seven to 12 at schools in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky showed that fewer young people report using drugs such as hallucinogens, cocaine and heroin.But marijuana use remained constant at 16 percent, and alcohol use increased to 30 percent.A national survey in 1998 showed that 9.9 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds had used some sort of drug in the previous year, down from 11.4 percent in 1997.That same survey showed that 8.3 percent of teens reported using marijuana.Source: Kentucky Post (KY) Published: September 25, 2000Author: Paul A. Long, Post Staff ReporterCopyright: 2000 Kentucky Post Contact: kyedits cincypost.com Address: 421 Madison Avenue, Coviington, Ky. 41011 Website: http://www.kypost.com/  Related Articles: Programs Introduced To Reduce Teen MJ Addiction http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7069.shtml 20% Say They Used Drugs With a Parenthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6807.shtmlDrug Use Back Up for Youth http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6146.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by EdC on September 25, 2000 at 18:08:56 PT:
Court: Cure Teen Addict, Cut Crime
One teen who missed an appointment with a counselor was fined $50 and warned not to let it happen again.Another had a questionable drug test - his urine was diluted, raising the question of whether he drank vastquantities of water to hide drug use - and was ordered to perform eight hours of community service on aSaturday, his one day off from work.This is your Constitution on drugs.
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Comment #1 posted by observer on September 25, 2000 at 18:06:23 PT
Scapegoating and Demonizing Cannabis
Notice the demonization of marijuana here. Again, playing on "[Give up More Freedoms for] The Children" propaganda theme, this time playing up (a wholly false) "addiction" to "marijuana."The pregnant 14-year-old was so hooked on marijuana...smoking pot when she was 11...addicted, crime-oriented teen-agers...a person's addiction to drugs...This is a softening-up of Americans, part of a classic indoctrination barrage.Such is the Pavlovian device: repeat mechanically your assumptions and suggestions, diminish the opportunity of communicating dissent and opposition. This is the simple formula for political conditioning of the masses. This is also the actual ideal of some of our public relation machines, who thus hope to manipulate the public into buying a special soap or voting for a special party.The Pavlovian strategy in public relations has people conditioned more and more to ask themselves, "What do other people think?" As a result, a common delusion is created: people are incited to think what other people think, and thus public opinion may mushroom out into a mass prejudice.Expressed in psychoanalytic terms, through daily propagandistic noise backed up by forceful verbal cues, people can more and more be forced to identify with the powerful noisemaker. Big Brother's voice resounds in all the little brothers.News from Red China, as reported by neutral Indian journalists (The New York Times, November 27, 1954) tells us that the Chinese leaders are using this vocal conditioning of the public to strengthen their regime. Throughout the country, radios and loud speakers are broadcasting the official "truths." The sugary voices take possession of people, the cultural tyranny traps their ears with loud speakers, telling them what they may and may not do. This microphone regimentation was foreseen by the French philosopher La Rochefoucauld, who, in the eighteenth century, said: "A man is like a rabbit, you catch him by the ears."(THE RAPE OF THE MIND: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Columbia University, Lecturer in Social Pathology, New School for Social Research, Former Chief, Psychological Department, Netherlands Forces pp.46-47) Is Cannabis Addictive?No matter how many times it is asserted, no matter how many know-it-all judge-prosecutors sentence whatever number of marijuana "addicts" to "treatment" for their "addiction" to cannabis, it won't change the facts. Marijuana isn't "addictive" like heroin or valium or ritalin or thorazine or alcohol, etc., are physically addicting and causes painful and/or dangerous, life-threatening withdrawl symptoms.see:Claim Two: "More Than 120 000 People In The US Seek Treatment Each Year For Their Marijuana Addiction" New Scientist Special Report http://www.marijuananews.com/claim_two_.htmCLAIM #9: MARIJUANA IS AN ADDICTIVE DRUG http://marijuana.com/facts/Exposing_09_1095.htmlit also brings in parents or other family members ... There we go ... Remember "The Child Protection/Alcohol and Drug Partnership Act (S. 2435)" http://www.childrensdefense.org/takeaction/s2435.html , the "Snatch Your Kid Until The Family Tests Clean Act"? See how that works now? 
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