Syracuse, N.Y. -- Brandon, an 18-year-old Syracuse resident, has been in and out of drug rehab since he was 14.

One program tried to scare him into quitting marijuana, his favorite drug, by showing him videos of addicts who had ruined their lives using cocaine, methamphetamine and painkillers.

Instead of scaring him, the videos made him want to experiment with those other drugs.

“I started wondering how they would affect me,” he said.

The teen now gets help through a new drug counseling program in Syracuse that doesn’t use scare tactics or even demand that participants quit using.

Choices, a joint effort of Elmcrest Children’s Center and Central New York Services, attempts to get young people, ages 13 to 21, to honestly discuss the pros and cons of alcohol and drugs, identify the reasons they use them and decide for themselves if they need to quit.

It’s based on the notion that the “Just Say No” abstinence approach does not work well with this age group.

“If you tell kids not to do something, they will probably do just the opposite,” said Michael Nemeti, who supervises the Choices program and counsels youths.

While the program’s goal is to get young people to become abstinent, it does not twist their arms to give up drugs or condemn them for using.

“We are not approving of kids using drugs by any means,” Nemeti said. “We realistically know they may still use or have slip-ups. I’m not following these kids home to make sure they are not using. They need to make that decision for themselves.”

Choices is modeled after the Seven Challenges program, developed in 1991 by a psychologist in Arizona and now used in 35 states by more than 300 agencies. It has been endorsed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Independent studies done at the University of Iowa and University of Arizona show the program significantly decreases substance use of adolescents and improves their overall mental health.

The impetus for starting Seven Challenges here came from OnCare, a federally-funded organization working to improve services in Onondaga County for youngsters with behavioral and emotional problems. OnCare provided a $136,000 grant to Central New York Services and Elmcrest to launch the program. Central New York Services is a nonprofit that works with people with mental illness and substance abuse problems. Elmcrest serves youths with behavioral and emotional problems.

There’s a dearth of substance abuse services for adolescents in the Syracuse area.

“Adult-based models of substance abuse treatment do not always connect with young people,” said Linda Lopez, OnCare’s director. “The Seven Challenges model appealed to us because it accepts young people where they are and teaches them how to make better decisions.”

The program is headquartered at Elmcrest. It serves Elmcrest residents and young people from the community at large.

Brian McKee, associate director of Elmcrest, said the children’s center was having difficulty finding services for residents with drug and alcohol problems.

“If you don’t treat substance abuse, you are not treating the whole child,” he said.

Adolescents do not like to be lectured or told what to do, said Dr. Brian Johnson, director of addiction psychiatry at Upstate Medical University.

“They are hell to treat,” he said.

Adults tend to be more motivated to quit after their addictions have ruined their marriages, cost them their jobs and gotten them charged with crimes like driving while intoxicated, he said.

“When you’re 15, that hasn’t happened yet. You haven’t racked up the consequences,” Johnson said. “Their urge to do things is fully developed and their ability to inhibit behaviors is underdeveloped.”

Johnson said the Seven Challenges approach makes sense with this age group.

“We are creating an atmosphere that encourages drug use when we take the Just-Say-No approach,” he said. “We all want to do stuff that is maybe exciting and forbidden.”

Brandon said he’s always suffered from anxiety and was picked on by classmates when he was younger. He smoked marijuana for the first time at age 14. Getting high seemed to make his problems go away.

“When I tried pot for the first time, I loved everything about it,” he said. “I would feel relaxed. I loved weed more than anything.”

As his pot use escalated, he stole money from relatives to buy pot, frequently argued with his mother, got into trouble at school and was arrested for possession and other charges.

“I knew I had to change my life around,” he said.

Brandon said he tries his best not to use drugs anymore, but acknowledged he still does occasionally.

He likes Seven Challenges because the program helps him understand why he wants to use drugs and figure out healthy ways of dealing with his anxiety instead.

“When I skateboard for a while and get exercise and air, when I’m done with that I can relax, pop myself on the couch and chill,” he said.

The program seeks to create an atmosphere where youngsters open up and talk about themselves. Nemeti said youngsters often use drugs to cope with psychological problems stemming from physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect.

“They expect you to come at them with an argument,” Nemeti said. “We don’t want them to glamorize drugs. But we are not going to demonize drugs. So we tell them we will compromise, meet in the middle and have a discussion.”

Participants are expected to identify how alcohol or drug use has harmed them or could harm them and how using could affect their goals. In addition to talking, the youngsters have to write about these issues in a journal.

“They just don’t come in and mark their time,” said Fern Whyland, coordinator of community outreach for Central New York Services. “There’s a lot of work they have to do. It’s putting it on them.”

Jeremy Klemanski, chief executive officer of Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare, which provides inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment for adults, has some reservations about the Seven Challenges approach.

“It could become dangerous to know that a child is using substances that adulterate their brain chemistry and not take immediate action to arrest that behavior,” he said. “That is the challenge and risk of such a program.”

Seven Challenges is geared to young people using “softer” drugs like marijuana. Nemeti said it’s not appropriate for youngsters who need inpatient detox programs.

Nemeti said if the program becomes aware that a youngster’s drug use has escalated to the point where he is at a high risk of harming himself or others, it will intervene by notifying a parent.

Brandon has a lot of regrets about his drug use. He said all the marijuana use has taken a toll on his memory.

“I hate to say it, but I’m a burnout,” he said. “I’m not as smart as I used to be. All I can say is, ‘Don’t do drugs and you won’t end up like me.’”



To learn more

For more information about Choices, the Seven Challenges program at Elmcrest, call 446-6250, ext. 371.



Seven Challenges

Here are the elements of the program:

1.We decided to open up and talk honestly about ourselves and about alcohol and other drugs.

2.We look at what we liked about alcohol and other drugs and why we were using them.

3.We looked at our use of alcohol and other drugs to see if it had caused harm or could cause harm.

4.We looked at our responsibility and the responsibility of others for our problems.

5.We thought about where we seemed to be headed, where we wanted to go and what we wanted to accomplish.

6.We made thoughtful decisions about our lives and about our use of alcohol and other drugs.

7.We followed through on our decisions about our lives and drug use. If we saw problems, we went back to earlier challenges and mastered them.

Source: www.sevenchallenges.com



Recent drug use

Percentage of U.S. youths, ages 12 to 17, who said they used illicit drugs in the past month:

2002: 11.6 percent

2003: 11.2 percent

2004: 10.6 percent

2005: 9.9 percent

2006: 9.8 percent

2007: 9.6 percent

2008: 9.3 percent

2009: 10.1 percent

2010: 10.1 percent

2011: 10.1 percent

Source: Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

