A Vision for the Future

by Dr. Rami Kaminski MD

We envision a future in which brain-altering prescription pills will not be widely prescribed to middle schoolers and considered “no big deal” by youngsters. A world where being drunk is not considered cool and alcohol is not the self-prescribed “treatment” for social awkwardness.

Our children, however, grow into a world that is moving in the opposite direction. Hence, we want to be there before when drugs capture their mind as they descend into the secret, hermetic world of adolescence.

We want to help parents accept that their children should not be shamed or judged about their drug experimentation: it only contributes to the growing walls of mistrust and hurt. We want to intervene before parental authority is wrestled away by the pull of peer group rules. We want to create a “positive peer pressure” by older cool peers that have been to the worst and back.

If someone is already a heavier user than imagined by the parents, we can help them as well, it is never too late: we work daily with those who we helped come back from the abyss. But prevention is so much easier. Being addicted to drugs and alcohol is like being lost at sea: one of those life lessons that even if you come out the other side, the pain this lesson caused you was not worth the learning.