The "System" fails 17 y/o heroin addict

[Monello]

This story is about a mom that lost her 17 year old daughter to heroin. Mom tried to get her daughter help. In the end the kid dies of an overdose of heroin. I have never had to experience anything like this with anyone close to me. How do you help someone that clearly doesn't seem to want help? Addicts have rights, so we just can't go around arresting them until they clean up. I've heard that you have to reach your rock bottom before you will seek help. Does the mom have a genuine gripe or is it just some sort of guilt she's having to try and blame the system?

She tested her limits and pushed boundaries. The older she got, the harder she pushed. And pushed.By the time she was 17, no one could stop her, not the drug treatment programs, the justice system and counselors who tried to step in her way. Heroin killed her, one year ago Monday. She was 17 years old.

To her mother, it’s a story about a system that failed her, repeatedly, one that never gave her any safety net, never any sense of relief.

She was placed into Hunterdon County Intensive Outpatient Program for the second time, but was kicked out shortly after. Again, for breaking the rules.
“I asked them what I was supposed to do with her. She was clearly incapable of following the rules, but she needed help,” Lori said. “We were left with no follow-up support.

Dead at 17

 

[Dakota]

There are just no easy answers...

I have dealt with numerous family members grieving over a loved ones drug use in the moment and after they have died from an overdose. The problem is you have many people in the "system" who are very liberal minded and feel jail is just an awful place nobody belongs in unless they have killed somebody when the truth of the matter is that the jail just might be the safest place for them to slow them down. It might be the hold they need to stop and reevaluate their lives but even that doesn't always work. A person has to want to live a drug free life and sometimes the urge is greater than the tools provided.

A sad but common story.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

This is sad but heroin didn't kill her, she killed herself. The system didn't fail her, she failed herself.

 

[kwillia]

She was a broken person from an early age. Not everyone can be "fixed". Broken people tend to find ways to end their suffering and there's not much a mom or a system can do about it.

 

[luvmygdaughters]

Very sad. I don't think the system failed her, sounds like they did everything they could to help her. Unfortunately, some people cannot be helped.

 

[Chuckt]

This story is about a mom that lost her 17 year old daughter to heroin. Mom tried to get her daughter help. In the end the kid dies of an overdose of heroin. I have never had to experience anything like this with anyone close to me. How do you help someone that clearly doesn't seem to want help? Addicts have rights, so we just can't go around arresting them until they clean up. I've heard that you have to reach your rock bottom before you will seek help. Does the mom have a genuine gripe or is it just some sort of guilt she's having to try and blame the system?

There is a methadone clinic near where I work and we had to have locks installed in a lot of our building because they would be wandering around on the sixth floor and they would tell security they were looking for their bus pass. Do you believe their excuse? I went to the McDonald's and saw police for them that I never knew existed and the McDonalds has a 30 minute limit to eat your meals because they would sit in the McDonald's all day and refill on soda.

Our co-worker's car was stolen so I went over to the methadone clinic to see if they had anything on their security cameras and there were people with emotional problems.
I suspect some people abuse the system and tell the judge they are users instead of dealers so they can get a lesser sentence.

You're dealing with people who can't come down emotionally to deal with their problems which is why they are on drugs. It is addicting so you're not talking to the person but you are talking to someone on drugs. There is probably fear involved.

You need to make them pee in a cup and test it for drugs. I think getting them into the court system is better than death and they offer people treatment or jail.

 

[Chuckt]

Very sad. I don't think the system failed her, sounds like they did everything they could to help her. Unfortunately, some people cannot be helped.

Their mental state is affected. If you were a mental patient, the psychologist would say, "I need to put you on some drugs to be able to talk to you."
They are on the influence of drugs and when people take alcohol, people lose their inhibitions or do the opposite of what they would normally do.