Liam
Liam was the star athlete on his high school basketball team. He drank lots of energy drinks and worked out excessively. During his parents divorece, his anxiety rose, and his friends suggested he smoke some marijuana to calm down. His parents knew about it and dismissed it as a “rite of passage” as they too had smoked marijuana in college. Liam also started to experiment with drinking on Friday nights after games.
Liam graduated from high school and during the summer he had his wisdom teeth removed and his dentist gave him a prescription for pain-killing opiates. He took them as prescribed and liked the feeling these drugs gave him. He became addicted, and eventually couldn’t get a doctor to refill his prescription. He soon learned that he could buy drugs from other kids in college. His grades fell and he stopped going to classes. When his college friend supply was cut, he started buying heroin on the streets. One night, he overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl. Luckily, Liam survived and his parents called us for help.
Our team was able to find a young adult program for Liam where he could be other 18–25-year olds, and he was even able to sign up for assistance to return to school. Today, he is in a 12-Step Recovery Program and helping other young people to find sobriety.