TEENS ON DRUGS -- WHAT TO DO

Experts On Addiction Question Whether Therapy Is Always The Right Way To Go.

"Tyler" is a 17-year-old father with temper-control problems that sometimes
get him kicked out of drug-reform school. He and his 14-year-old sister,
"Haley," started using drugs heavily over the past couple of years as their
mother began slowly succumbing to cancer.

"Jamie" is a 16-year-old methamphetamine addict with huge blue eyes and a
healthy fear of her mother's abusive boyfriend, who was recently released
from prison.

Obviously, these children have more to worry about in their lives than
their arrests and the court's pronouncement that they are drug addicts -- a
fact that has not escaped Placer County Juvenile Court Administrator John
Ross, who agreed to allow the teens to be interviewed if their real names
were not used.

Ross and judges in juvenile drug courts across the country are trying to
find the right approach to turn around teenagers who also are substance
abusers.

Diverting troubled teens into drug courts is a growing trend, spawned by
the huge success of adult drug courts, which force addicts to choose
between staying clean and in treatment, or losing their freedom or their
children.

Yet experts who have studied addiction know that focusing exclusively on
drug therapy is not always the answer for teenagers, because adolescents
often use drugs for reasons that are very different from adults'.

"Whether drugs are the cause or the effect of their lack of self-esteem and
lack of success, I'm not prepared to say," said Kenneth G. Peterson,
Sacramento County's presiding Juvenile Court judge. Drug use "is definitely
present in a high number of (criminal) cases."

In Sacramento, a task force headed by Peterson and Juvenile Court
Administrator Carol Chrisman is in the midst of deciding whether to launch
a delinquency drug court, and if so, which children to target and what
strategy to use to help them.

Sacramento, one of 40 jurisdictions tapped by federal officials to study
the feasibility of juvenile drug courts, is expected to formalize its plan
in August.

In the adult version, judges encourage addicts to stop using by offering
them intensive treatment instead of jail. Participants are tested
frequently, with the threat of going to jail hanging over them if they
relapse. Especially effective have been drug courts for adults whose
children have been taken into protective custody.

But researchers say that type of approach doesn't work well with juveniles,
who are more rebellious by nature and may not have enough life perspective
to respond to any reward. Beyond that, researchers aren't even sure
children who use drugs frequently can be classified as addicts.

"We need a lot more research about how to diagnose adolescents who are
voluntarily using drugs versus those who have lost control over the use of
the drug," said Carlton K. Erickson, director of the Addiction Science
Research and Education Center at the University of Texas, Austin. "We can't
tell the difference. So we tend to take any kid who refuses to stop using
drugs, and we assume they're dependent."

For that reason, some researchers say forcing juveniles into punitive
programs that emphasize drug "treatment" could backfire.

"A lot of their drug use may be behavioral acting out rather than
dependency," said Caroline Cooper, a researcher at American University,
which has a federal grant to collect data on the nation's drug courts. "So
you can do more harm than good by putting them into treatment programs
instead of trying to deal with their problems."

Because young drug users haven't had enough years to develop entrenched
patterns of drug behavior, some researchers believe it is wrong to use the
label "addict" on any adolescent.

"No matter how you cut it, even an adolescent who has been using for quite
a while can all of a sudden at 25 turn and go another direction," said Guy
Howard Klopp, who oversees drug addiction programs for Sacramento County's
alcohol and drug services agency.

"They haven't bottomed out yet," said Dan Macallair, executive director of
the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a national advocacy group.
"Even though kids may be using heavily, it generally is not the extreme
situation that you see with adults."

Experts have found that most teens entering drug court need help with
behavioral and mental health issues. Cooper said that is why programs with
strict and punitive designs, for example those that force teens to spend
long sessions several times a week in group therapy, are less likely to work.

Those that do appear to have success, she said, are designed to help
children fit in with their peers. For example, Juvenile Court Judge Carolyn
Williams requires wards of her court in Kalamazoo, Mich., to go to the
local YMCA for two hours a week. The goal is twofold: to get children to
learn to work together in team sports activities, and to give them the
opportunity to have physical victories.

In Missoula, Mont., the Juvenile Court has forged a relationship with the
recreation department, creating an Outward-Bound type program that forces
teenagers to work together to succeed.

"The idea is that every child should feel they can accomplish," Cooper said.

Placer County officials use a combination of mental health therapists and
other professionals to help teens in drug court straighten out their lives.

Counselors say Tyler and Haley are making good progress in the program.
Tyler recently quit smoking, and he's talking to counselors about the
difficulty he has in controlling his temper.

His sister is staying clean and trying to keep her brother on the right
path. Counselors have been updating Ross on their mother's worsening
medical condition.

But Tyler still has issues to work through. As he sits in a row of chairs
reserved for Juvenile Hall wards, Ross reads through his file.

"I know there's a lot going on in your life right now," the court
administrator tells Tyler, after a brief lecture about his indiscretions.
"So if there's anything we can do to help, let us know."