Mill Creek High School

o Learning Objectives:

1 - Students will have a basic understanding of the most commonly abused
prescription drugs and their adverse side effects.

2 Students will have some understanding of how abused prescription drugs
can affect the individual.

3 Students will understand how abusing prescription drugs can affect the
people around them.


o Introduction of DSU students:

Lacy I was a waitress at Pizza Factory most of my grown up days. I enjoyed
my job, the people, I made great money, and it was easy. After about two to
three years of serving we had some friends ask us if we were interested in
moving away to help them open up a school for troubled teens. They had
found a fairly new school for sale in a small town in Kansas. We did not own
our home and we had no children so we felt as if nothing was tying us down,
so we said yes. Five months later we were living in a town of 250 people
doing paperwork for the state and getting the building up to code for living
in. After a few months of really hard work, we got our first student from New
York. We worked there for almost two years and I loved every minute of it. I
saw lives change and I felt like I was making a difference. The reason we
moved back is a long story, but when I came back and started waitressing
again there was something missing. I served for almost seven more years
before I realized I wanted to go back to school and become a nurse. I have a
feeling that when I start working as a nurse I will get some the same
satisfaction that I got working at the school. I will be able to help people,
which is one of my most favorite things to do.

o Introduction of topic: What do all these celebrities have in common? They
have all been addicted to prescription drugs at one time or another.

o Memory game: Students will learn some of the most commonly abused
prescription drugs, the desired effect, and the adverse effects.

o Effects of prescription drugs on the individual and those around them:

1 - Megan effects on the individual

2 - Lacy effects on the family

The family has become much more complex in recent years. There
are many different types of homes, ranging from the traditional nuclear
family, to single parent homes, to step families, or foster homes. Because of
this, substance abuse will affect each family differently, depending on the
family structure and also depending on the individual who abusing the
prescription drugs. For example, a child of a parent who abuses drugs may
fell it is their fault or they may grow up having trust issues that they may
never be able to overcome. Another example is if a child in the family is
abusing drugs, other siblings may feel neglected while mom and dad are
constantly trying to react to the constant crisis of the child abusing the drugs.
These siblings may behave as if the only way to get attention is by acting out.
People who abuse substances are likely to find themselves increasingly
isolated from their families. Often they prefer associating with others who
abuse substances or participate in some other form of antisocial activity.
These associates support and reinforce each others behavior.

Characteristic patterns of interaction in a family that includes a parent or
child abusing drugs:

o Negativism any and all communication is negative. The feeling in the
household is downbeat and all good behavior is ignored. In this
situation the only way to get attention is to create a crisis.
o Parental inconsistency rule setting is erratic, enforcement is
inconsistent, and children are confused as to what is right and wrong.
Children may start to act out in hopes that the parents will set clear
boundaries of right or wrong. These inconsistencies seem to happen
whether it is the parent or adolescence who is abusing substances and
causes a sense of confusion.
o Parental denial despite warning signs the parent says, what problem
and even after authority intervention parent states, you are wrong,
my child does not have a problem.
o Miscarried expression of anger parent or child afraid to express
outrage of anger and turns to drug abuse themselves to repress anger
o Self-medication either parent or child turns to substance abuse to
get rid of thoughts or feelings such as anxiety or depression
o Unrealistic parental expectations if unrealistic expectations, child
can excuse themselves from further expectations by saying, you cant
count on me cause I am just a junkie. Or they may work extremely
hard to overachieve all the while feeling that no matter what they do
it will never be good enough. If expectations are too low, and the child
is told they will fail, the child may conform to their parents
predictions unless meaningful adults intervene (Kaufman, 2004).

My friend, Joe and siblings grew up with a father, Rick, that was very
intelligent and a hard worker. He invented tools for construction companies.
He would travel all around the U.S. teaching companies how to operate the
machinery and tools. They were wealthy and Joe remembers his dad just
giving him the credit card and sending him shopping and telling him he could
whatever he wanted. Joe says now that he is older he has no idea where all of
the money went from all of his fathers hard work but he did say that they
always rented homes and that if they wanted something, they got it, if they
wanted to do something, they did it, and if they wanted to go somewhere,
they went.
His father worked hard and was injured on the job several times.
Somewhere along the way Joes father became addicted to the pain pills and
it got to the point where he needed them and was craving something more.
So he started pill seeking, and was able to find pills to give him his desired
affect. He was taking so many pills that they started to damage his organs,
but he still to this day is unable to see what the pills are doing to him. He is
now to the point where he no longer needs to seek out pills. He has been
prescribed a considerable amount of pills to help with all of his failing organs.
Rick was very good at hiding his addiction for a long time and the
family didnt really recognize any signs of addiction until Joe had moved out
of the house. His two younger siblings were left at home. Lisa was a little
older but Steve was still fairly young and needed a lot of guidance. At this
point Rick was no longer able to work and was able to get on disability from
all of his medical conditions. Since no one was now relying on him it was so
easy for him to slip away into his own world and completely get lost in the
drugs.
Rick had always been a little controlling over his wife Sally and so the
family believes that Rick was able to get Sally to join in on his pill popping.
This is where the trouble for the rest of the family started. Rick, Sally, Lisa,
and Steve were now living in a very small apartment. Lisa was busy living her
college life and Steve had just started middle school and was stuck at home
with mom and dad passed out on the couch pretty much all day every day. He
would get himself up and ready everyday and make his way to school. He did
have some supportive neighbors and Joe did as much as he possibly could
but he was just a young adult struggling and working a lot.
Now Steve was experiencing a lot of the things that Reilly talked
about. He was angry and for the most part he could keep it in and then he
would just explode on his parents. During the first few weeks of each month
Rick and Sally would be so out of it that you could not have a conversation
with them without them falling asleep, slouched over and drooling, and then
about the last week of the month (when the pills were all used up) they
would be somewhat coherent and coming down off the drugs. They were
anxious and mean. This was where Steve really struggled because half of his
month he could come and go as he pleased without anyone caring and then
the last little bit of the month his parents would try to be involved in his life
and most of the time they we unkind to him and tried to restrict him from
doing anything.
As Steve got a little older he resented his parents and regardless of
any help from family, friends, and neighbors, Steve decided that the only way
he could escape his anger was by trying drugs out for himself. It has been
about 11 years and Steve is older and on his own. He is not currently
addicted to drugs but he has had a hard life and still struggles with self-
esteem and drinks quite often.
As for the rest of the family, during all of this with Steve, the oldest
brother, Jeremy, was finishing up Nurse Anesthetist schooling and he was
very knowledgeable about prescription drugs and their effects. He had all of
the children gather to do an intervention on their parents. It did not go well
at all. Rick was yelling and screaming at his children, telling them they didnt
know what was going on and that it was none of their business. Sally just sat
and bawled the whole time. Rick got so angry that all of the children had to
leave out of fear. Jeremy ended up writing a very well written letter to Ricks
doctor. In the letter he explained his knowledge of the medications and
expressed the feelings of the children and the things they were witnessing.
He also very specifically told the doctor that they wanted to letter kept
confidential because of the results of the intervention. Ricks doctor showed
the letter to Rick and out of anger Rick disowned all of his older children.
Rick and Sally missed a few years of their children and grandchildrens lives
but have since made amends.

3 - Chelsey effects on friends

4 - Mariette effects on society

o Make sure they know it affects everyone and it happens to everybody and
come forward

o Ask the students if they have any stories or personal experiences they would
like to share related to the topic.

o Quiz

o Donuts and Juice








Work Cited
Kaufman, E., & Yoshioka, M. (2004). Substance abuse treatment and family therapy: A
treatment improvement protocol (TIP) series, no. 39. Rockville, MD: DHHS
Publication.