As we continue to educate the general public about different types of addiction and how to overcome addiction, it is increasingly obvious that teen athletes are at high risk for substance abuse.  While risk of injury and pain pills is a huge factor, there is also something about being a high school athlete and the atmosphere it can produce that makes these teens more likely to engage in partying.  Perhaps it has something to do with competition and wanting to be the best, or the mindset that we are invincible, I don’t know.  Being a great athlete gave me instant praise and gratification, a response I became all too comfortable with.  After watching this important piece by WCVB on teen athlete addiction in Massachusetts,  I remember that addiction and substance abuse is not so new to teen athletes, opiates and heroin have just made it more difficult to turn a blind eye to underage partying.   We also know that underage partying increases the risk of addiction.  Regardless, parents need to understand these risks to be in the best position possible for prevention.

You may recall the 1990’s campaign “D.A.R.E. to Keep Kids Off Drugs” and the program that accompanied it.  Ironically in the 6th grade D.A.R.E. play, I played the bad chick who peer pressured everyone into drinking and using drugs.  I don’t know if anything would have been different had I known the magnitude of the mental health issues amongst my ancestors.  One side of the family had a history of alcoholism and the other untreated eating disorders, which I now understand are virtually one in the same. I do know that for someone with a rebellious addict mind, programs like D.A.R.E. only made me want to experiment more.  Some things like stages of alcoholism or drug addiction statistics were perhaps a bit premature for what I was ready to listen to at 12.  I also know that had I understood the neuroscience of why drug or alcohol abuse in someone under 25 affects the brain in a drastically different way than that of someone older, it would have caught my attention.  Neuroscience tells us that if you take someone with possible addictive tendencies and introduce them to substances at a young age, their brain will essentially light up those neuropathways which can lead to craving, addictive behaviors, and substance abuse.  There is no longer room for the, “it won’t happen to me” denial, because the proof is in the CT scans.  The brain science that aids us in understanding addiction continues to catch my eye today.  We need to start being more specific with kids so they understand HOW they are harming themselves from the first time they touch a substance. Read some fascinating information here on The Effects of Drugs and Alcohol on the Adolescent Brain.