RSS
Home
Heroin use up in suburban Detroit high schools
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Heroin is one of the deadliest drugs. Unfortunately, it is making a comeback in the metro Detroit area schools, especially in suburbs where you might least expect it.
If you think it can’t happen to you or your kids, think again. Farmington High, Royal Oak and Rochester Adams have all recently had students with serious addiction problems. It has even reached as far out as my home town of Milford.
Many kids with addictions seem to have parents who have done everything right. For example, one 15 year old boy almost died of an overdose during lunch hour at school. His mother was PTO president for many years and very involved with her family. Another 15 year old honor student fell asleep in a classroom after stealing a laptop from her teacher.
A family friend buried their son this summer. His father had always been his baseball coach and very involved with his sons.
In Royal Oak, they built a downtown that is a great place to visit. However, the proximity of this downtown to the big city via Woodward makes Royal Oak teenagers particularly vulnerable.
“Noah’s Story” was a sad story published in the Oakland Press this past weekend. It was about an 18 year old boy from Rochester who used heroin for the first time, overdosed and died.
By all accounts Noah was a great kid, and everyone who knew him was shocked. The family of this boy is very admirable as they are using the tragedy to try to help others avoid it. Peter Johnston, the father of this boy, is working with Judge Julie Nicholson of the 52-3 District Court Rochester Hills to share Noah’s story, hoping that it will impact other young people.
They show a video in the schools, including footage of Noah’s funeral, to get their basic message across.
“As hard as that is to look at, I wanted everyone to know you aren’t supposed to see your 18-year-old in a casket. All I can do is preach to the kids that parents should not bury their kids,” Peter said.
Hopefully this brave family’s story will impact others. When I was a teen, I remember the impact of reading “Go Ask Alice.” This was the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who died of a drug overdose in the late 1960s. I saw the movie and still hear the lyrics of the song by Jefferson Airplane.
For information on heroin addiction and treatment, see www.heroin-addiction.ca/michigan_heroin_treatment.htm
Note: if you would like to receive regular updates on what’s happening in Michigan education, please click on the Subscribe icon below to sign up for once-a-day spam-free emails.
More About:
Drugs and Michigan Schools
Related Articles:
Comments
Public charter schools continue to grow at a steady rate, and the waiting lists are long in most areas, according to a report by the National Alliance …
Three out of four American citizens ages 17 to 24 are unfit for military service, according to a government report called "Ready, Willing and …
- Barack Obama's Letter to His Daughters Emphasizes Education
- Have Teachers' Unions Been Betrayed by Obama?
- How Will Obama's Stimulus Plan Affect College Students?
- Obama Stimulus Plan: $100 Billion Education Dollars
- Text of Obama's Education Speech Released
- What Should Obama Tell Us About Childhood Obesity and Health Care?
- ACT Versus SAT: Which College Exam Should You Take?
- Buying Textbooks Online: Save Money
- Choosing a College
- College Students Can Get $2500 Tax Credit Under Stimulus Plan
- Finding Scholarships
- How Should Parents Communicate With Their College Students?
- Renting Calculators to Save Money
- Renting College Textbooks
- Watching Your Teen Pack for Freshman Year of College
- Why Do So Many College Students Drop Out?
- Divorce and Homeschooling
- Homeschoolers are Successful in College
- Homeschoolers Score Higher Than 86% of Peers
- Homeschooling Numbers Double in a Decade
- Homeschool Statistics and Laws
- Talented and Hilarious Homeschooling Moms Sing to Their Neighbors
- Top 10 Reasons to Criminalize Home Schooling
- Unschooling is Homeschooling that Fits Many Familes
- Do Public School Really Need More Money?
- Should Inmates Earn Diplomas in Prison?
- Should Parents Receive Tax Rebates for Private School Tuition?
- Stimulus Money Divides Districts and Teachers' Unions
- Why is the US Public School System Struggling?
- Will Schools Continue To Teach Abstinence Only Sex Education?
- ACORN Receives Millions From Teachers' Unions
- Retired Educator Bravely Gives Opinion on Teacher Unions
- Should School District Union Negotiations be Public?
- Should Schools Implement Merit Pay for Teachers?
- Should Teachers Strike Illegally?
- Should Teachers' Union Dues Pay for Politics?
- Survey Says Teacher Satisfaction Has Risen
- Teachers' Union Discourages Members from Volunteering at School
- Teachers' Unions Stuggle During Recession
- Will Teachers Lose Their Union-Owned Health Insurance?
- 26.8% of Students in Detroit Graduate
- 29 Detroit Schools Will Close; 40 Failing Schools Will Restructure
- Bill Cosby to Help Robert Bobb Promot Desperate Detroit Schools
- Detroit Public Schools Request Disaster Funding from US Education Department
- Millions of Stimulus Dollars to Pay for Massive Academic Overhaul of Detroit Schools
- Power Control at Issue as Detroit School Board Sues State Manager
- Will Detroit Public Schools Declare Bankruptcy?
