Overcoming teen addiction

COEUR d’ALENE — Pain swept over Brandi Irons' face as a young couple in the audience spoke about their 15-year-old daughter in the throes of addiction.

The teen survived a recent alcohol and opiate overdose, but her distressed parents asked for guidance: How do they keep it from happening again? How do they move forward?

A recovering teen addict herself, Irons is well-acquainted with the heartache that envelops a family when a child falls into substance abuse. As a panelist at the Teen Addiction: Symptom or Cause conference Thursday evening at the Kroc Center, she shared her personal story and gave the concerned parents a heartfelt response.

"You guys are here, and that is huge. That shows so much, to me, especially, having parents that care so much about their child that they're taking every measure that they can, and that's super important," she said. "My best advice would be don't enable her and show her love. Through all of this, show her as much love as you can. Opiates were my drug of choice as well, so I understand that on a whole different level, and it's a hard habit to kick.

"I'm going to be honest with you, about 93 percent of opiate addicts end up relapsing," she continued. "It's going to be tough. It's psychological, it's physical, the addiction aspect hits you from all sides."

Panelist Greg Orlando, program manager for the Anchor House, added a hopeful sentiment.

"It's a journey," he said to the parents. "The ending is not written, so don't lose heart. Don't lose hope."

Also on the panel were Idaho first lady Lori Otter, who founded the Idaho Meth Project, and Idaho Drug Free Youth (iDFY) executive director Corey Crownhart.

The panelists fielded a number of questions from the audience, eveything from intervention and peer relationships to resources, mental health and incarceration.

"I'd like to think that we're moving in the right direction. There's been much more awareness and education in our country," Orlando said in response to a question about incarcerating addicts and treating them like criminals.

"We are not going to jail this problem away," he said. "That's short-sighted thinking. If people are incarcerated, it just reinforces that they're worthless. Yes, we do need jails and prisons, and they're there for a reason, but addiction is a disease of the brain. For crimes, people do need to be held accountable, that's for sure. I'm hopeful that we'll continue to move in a direction that we start recognizing addiction for what it is."

Otter said when her husband became governor in 2008, she saw the need to combat methanphetamine, so she commenced the Idaho Meth Project with the "Not Even Once" campaign right away.

"Kids are the state's greatest resource," she said. "The reason we knew how important it was to start the Meth Project was because we knew not only the impact that it was having on the families, but if you compound that to what is it doing to the state and to the workforce and to the education system and to everything else, it's a whole vicious cycle of dysfunctionality."

The conference was coordinated by Life Recovery Solutions, a local company aimed at transforming the lives of those suffering "from life's cause, effect and consequences." Life Recovery Solutions co-founder Ed Stevenson, who served as event emcee, said each year, 2.8 million new addicts are added to the roster, and half of them are younger than 18.

"We have a big need (for educational events) because what is happening is our teens are self-medicating," he said. "Whether it's depression, anxiety, troubles at home, they're turning to pills. And with our neighboring state where marijuana is legal, we're seeing a higher rate of teens using marijuana."

He said kids are trying harder drugs these days, including an increased use of heroin.

"It's very scary and it's a growing epidemic," he said. "We need to come up with solutions that don't traumatize and stigmatize our kids."

Info: www.liferecoverysolution.com