What's the Big Deal?

Life happens. Sure, sometimes it can even be boring or a drag. So, you experiment with a drug that everyone is taking like Meth, cocaine, Ritalin, Ecstasy, Adderall or start drinking a lot of something really "cool" like vodka or beer… You feel good, it reduces stress, you're relaxed. You fit in and you feel older. You think you have it under control… Recently, you have had a few close calls… so what?

You really believe it can't happen to you...

Kate Moss, Jim Morrison, River Phoenix, Chris Farley, Boy George, Charlie Sheen, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix… the list goes on… what do they have in common? It did happen to them. Some are addicts. The others died young from substance abuse overdoses.

There is an old saying that a drug is a drug is a drug. To some degree, any drug that changes the way you think or feel is abuse-able. One can see the obvious negative effects of alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, steroids and the newer drugs like ecstasy, GHB and Ketamine.

According to the National Clearing House for Drug and Alcohol Information, more teens are turning to a different kind of drug abuse — taking prescription drugs to enhance mental performance or just for fun. They may not be street drugs but if they aren't used in the correct way, they can be just as harmful.Plain and simple, illicit drugs and alcohol are addictive. And both are illegal for teens.

Still don't believe it can't happen to you?

Well, read on. (more)

Talking to Teens

Being a teenager and raising a teenager are individually and collectively enormous challenges. For many teens, illicit substance use and abuse become part of the landscape of their teenage years. Although most adolescents who use drugs do not progress to become drug abusers, or drug addicts in adulthood, drug use in adolescence is a very risky proposition. (more)

Featured Program

Twelve Oaks is a free-standing alcohol and drug treatment center located in the Florida panhandle. The five-acre campus borders a sandy beach and provides a serene setting. We incorporate a multi-disciplinry approach, and individual treatment plans are designed based on the specific needs of each patient. (more)

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Important Facts

According to a survey by the National PTA:

Each year, kids and teens see more than 1,000 alcoholic beverage commercials on TV.
40% of boys surveyed rate expensively produced, creatively designed alcoholic beverage commercials as the most memorable and entertaining ads on TV.
88% of surveyed young people could correctly link Spuds MacKenzie with the advertised beer product, Budweiser.

Consider the following statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services survey in 1999:

More than half of U.S. people age 12 and older report they drink alcohol.
Roughly 20 % of 12- to 17-year-olds drank alcohol at least once last month.
7.8 % of this age group engaged in binge drinking (consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a row).
3.6 % reported heavy alcohol use in the month before the survey.