Putting a face on drug addiction, and its consequences

SHARON — Jeff G., a soft-spoken young man, addressed an audience of about 65 people on Monday evening, Nov. 16, at Sharon Hospital, and talked about the development and progression of his addiction to drugs.

He was part of a forum sponsored by the hospital, the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau and Mountainside in North Canaan.

Jeff  began in the seventh grade by smoking pot and drinking, which he didn’t think was a big deal, he said. In his “upper-classâ€� neighborhood,  “a lot of parents, with high-powered jobs, were smoking weed and drinking — a lot.â€�

Jeff then discovered the benzodiazepines — powerful medications often prescribed for anxiety — in the family medicine cabinet. He combined them with alcohol, a dangerous mix.

“Boundaries started being crossed,� he said.

In high school he began using cocaine, and when he went away to college he began using precription opiates, and, finally, heroin.

After treatment at Mountainside, including an extended stay in that institution’s transition program, he now lives at a sober house. He has been clean for eight months.

Jeff was one of four panelists at the event. Similar events have taken place in Region One towns since last fall, as parents and educators became concerned over reports of drug activity — especially heroin — in the Northwest Corner and neighboring counties in New York and Massachusetts.

Bruce Dechert, director of Mountainside’s family program, emphasized the importance of education and support for families of addicts and alcoholics.

Families must begin by distinguishing between the addict’s behavior, which is often “deplorable,� and the disease of addiction.

“It’s not about bad people,� he said. “They are impaired.�

Mary Marcuccio, founder of Parents 4 a Change in Southington, Conn., advocates strong, even intrusive action by parents of teenage addicts.

“I believe in interfering in the drug process,� she said. When she and her husband discovered their teenage son was a heroin addict, “we got right smack in the middle,� following their son and his friends, taking down license plate numbers, and trying to make the boy’s drug use as uncomfortable and inconvenient as possible.

“Our goal was to separate our kid from the drugs.�

Parents 4 a Change has attracted national attention with its uncompromising approach. This was Marcuccio’s second time addressing parents in the Northwest Corner.

Dr. Armen Ketch, an anesthesiologist at Sharon Hospital, stressed that the human nervous system doesn’t develop fully until adulthood. Teenagers who get involved with drugs not only risk overdose but long-term impairment.

“Dreams get blurred. You lose the sharpness of your mind,� he said.

He urged the younger members of the audience to take a stand. “Become the leaders among your peers.�

And he echoed Marcuccio when he said if the anti-drug message “is not reinforced at home, then it’s not happening.�

Of the 65 people in the audience, about a quarter were teens from local schools.

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