Introduction to Youth and Addiction
We are learning how prevalent addiction is in Western society. It is an “epidemic.” According to numbers from the Center for Disease Control, more Ohioans died from drug overdoes between 2003-2008 than the number of U.S. Soldiers who died in the entire Iraq War. With numbers like these, what are we, as advocates, doing for prevention? Now, drugs and overdose are reaching a younger population. However, there is still a stigma of what we, as a society, thinks addiction is. If adults are confused about how to deal with addiction, how is our youth understanding it?
Resources for addicts and their families are few and far between. Most people are still unaware of what addiction looks like, what to do to help an addict, and where to go for help. Since there are no tried and true answers for any of these things, books, videos, and websites can be offered as a means to educate and find help for those also suffering from addiction– family and friends.
The primary age group that memoirs and information about addiction available is for ages seventeen to twenty-one. Much of it is graphic in nature-- but so is addiction. The most famous memoir, Go Ask Alice, is somewhat antiquated although recommended. Many of the other books available now, such as Tweak, by Nic Sheff, is raw and painful. However, it could not be recommended to someone under the age of seventeen in a school system. The purpose of this resource guide is to help parents, librarians, and children find books and activities for children under the age of fifteen. There are very few books that are "hip" enough that the teenager would want to read it while still allowing a child to still be innocent. One book that accomplishes this is Clean. Starting at age fourteen, this book is written in a more sanitized style that parents can feel comfortable allowing their young teens to absorb.
Other books in this resource are a "step up" for teenagers as well as for younger children. The connection across all of these recommended materials is that they give helpful and empathetic views into the disease of addiction. Please view these pages with an open mind and an open heart for and about the people suffering from addiction.
