SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAM TURNS TEENS' LIVES AROUND

Editor's note: The names of the teenagers in this article have been changed to
protect their identity.

Billy is 17, tall and tanned with a friendly smile. On first impression, he
seems sociable and easy to talk to.

He wasn't always like this. Like other 30 or so teenagers at the Big Island
Substance Abuse Council's adolescent program, he is battling drug addiction.

Bored with school and life in a rural community, he said he began smoking
marijuana and experimenting with ice (crystal methamphetamine) about three
years ago.

"There's nothing to do in Pahoa," he said. "I have to walk four miles to get to
the Wiki Wiki, but it only takes me one mile to get to my dealer."

Soon, he had stopped attending school altogether, spending his days getting
high - until his school reported his absences to the Big Island Family Court.
The court had him undergo a drug assessment and he was consequently ordered to
enroll in the BISAC adolescent program for teenagers between the ages of 14 and
17.

BISAC offers three levels of care, depending on the severity of addiction. Most
start out in the intensive outpatient program that meets three times a week to
discuss addiction and to participate in excursions and group sessions. Upon
completing that level, a teenager graduates to the lower intensity outpatient
program that meets twice a week and then to the outpatient program that meets
once a week. Once the outpatient program is completed, the teenager attends an
aftercare program that meets twice a month.

Last year, 54 percent of the teenagers enrolled successfully completed the
BISAC program, said BISAC Director of Operations Wesley Margheim. The rest of
the teenagers either dropped out of the program or were sent to a higher level
of care off - island. Of the 54 percent who completed the program, he said 66
percent remained sober six months afterwards. The rest admitted to using drugs
again.

At one time, Billy's ice addiction was so serious, he was sent to a residential
treatment center on Oahu - there are no adolescent residential treatment
centers on the Big Island. While on Oahu, Billy said he broke his hand and
wrist while trying to punch through a bullet - proof glass window. He kept
beating at the window until he was physically restrained, he said.

"There were these voices telling me to break the glass," he said. "I don't know
why I thought I could break the window, but I thought I could."

The drugs, he said, had made him hallucinate, caused him to believe he could do
things that he normally wouldn't have.

"You get so caught up in your addiction nothing else matters," he said. "You're
willing to do anything for it, overcome any shortcomings. No regrets, you just
do it."

Billy and 16 other Big Island teenagers gathered on a Wednesday afternoon to
discuss their drug addiction at a group session at the BISAC building in Hilo.
Most of them - like Billy - were ordered to attend by Big Island Family Court.

Had it not been for family court, most would not be there, and most, despite
admitting they had used drugs regularly, said they did not believe they needed
to be there.

(One girl, upon learning that turning 18 may mean a transfer to the adult
program instead of an immediate discharge, exclaimed, "What? I thought once you
turn 18 you're out of here, they discharge you. I never know we had to go to
the adult program." Another girl asked if she could leave early for the day.)

"Kids are different from adults," said Norman Yamaoka, administrator of the
BISAC adolescent program. "They're still in that stage where they feel
invincible. They don't believe in fear. They have nothing to lose. They don't
have a house to pay for, a job to lose, that kind of responsibility.

"With adults, sometimes they'll seek out treatment because they know if they
don't get off the drugs they can lose everything, their job, their house, their
family," he added. "They can hit rock bottom. They know they have a choice: Get
help or lose everything and possibly end up dying."

Children, he said, rarely seek help on their own.