HOUSTON – The Council on Recovery is an outpatient recovery center that offers sessions for individuals, families and adolescents needing help to recover from all kinds of addictions.
President and CEO Mary Beck sat down with KPRC 2 Health Reporter Haley Hernandez to explain the fentanyl crisis and how to speak with young people about this pervasive drug.
QUESTION:
There have been a lot of accidental overdoses reported, but are you seeing patients intentionally abusing the drug?
ANSWER:
“We don’t often see it like where someone intentionally goes out and seeks fentanyl. What they seek is an opioid,” Beck said. “More often than not, you’re getting it inside your Xanax pill, you’re getting it inside your ADHD medication.”
QUESTION:
What makes fentanyl so addictive?
ANSWER:
“When it enters your system, it creates a euphoric effect in the way it operates in your brain to create new pathways for dopamine to be released and to be stored, and so you never quite reached the same state of euphoria you had the first time, but you’re constantly chasing it,” Beck explained.
QUESTION:
How can parents address a topic without giving permission for someone to explore it? We don’t want to say, ‘I know you’re going to do this,’ but in the reality that they come into contact with pills, how do we address this concern before they’re exposed to fentanyl?
ANSWER:
“Kids often respond to the science behind use verses, ‘it’s just not good for you.’ So, of course, a parent telling your kid, don’t eat that, don’t do that, isn’t the most effective prevention strategy, but working with them to gain knowledge together and understand so they can make that choice. Also, them being aware of when and how that can happen, and being given, and taught decision-making skills,” Beck explained.
Beck said the frontal lobe of a teenager’s brain is not fully developed. The frontal lobe helps with decision-making skills. Therefore, young people are not yet equipped with the appropriate decision-making skills.
QUESTION:
Is it OK to search your child’s bedroom?
ANSWER:
“You pay the rent, you pay the mortgage, you can look,” Beck said.
It’s perfectly ok to tell them at times that you have that right. The bottom line she says, if it’s going to keep them healthy and alive, do it.
QUESTION:
What amount of experimenting is to be expected?
ANSWER:
Beck said the way the brain is developing in this age group, they thrive on risky behavior.
She suggests giving them an outlet: sports, rock climbing, or swapping one rush for another.
Beck said experimenting is typically a one-time thing. If you find drugs in their room (they’re hiding, stashing, storing it), that’s likely not the first time.
Secretive behavior is a possible indication that someone has a problem.
QUESTION:
At some popular concerts in Houston, on occasion, there are tents that offer to test your pills for fentanyl. Is that recommended or is that condoning drug use?
ANSWER:
“We believe that you can both prevent and work to prevent something, and at the same time educate to help people know that what they’re choosing is harmful to them and their families... use that opportunity whether it be in a tent like that, or somewhere else to provide information, provide resources for treatment, to give them knowledge, to plant a seed that may be tomorrow they’ll make a different decision,” Beck said. “They’re standing there in front of you, and you’re helping to prevent death and you’re providing education and opening a door to treatment.”