An Inside Look at Recovery High Schools

Earlier last month I blogged about recovery high schools and how they are changing the landscape of addiction treatment among adolescents in this country. The nation's first recovery high school opened in Minnesota in 1989, and since then 20 additional schools have opened in 10 other states. The high schools provide a safe and sober environment that allows students the opportunity to get their high school diploma free from the influences of a normal, traditional high school.

Last month I took a look inside a real recovery high school in Boston. The school is called Ostiguy High School and is staffed by a wonderful principal and an amazing faculty. I spoke with several students about their experiences before coming to Ostiguy, and about their experience since coming to Ostiguy. I also spoke with the faculty about their experiences working at a recovery high school.

Here is my radio piece that I created from the interviews conducted at Ostiguy High School.

New Research Shows Effects of Drug Use on the Adolescent Brain

A recent study shows that adolescents who use drugs have greater cognitive shortfalls, including mental flexibility, later in life. Experiments on animals have suggested that adolescents are more susceptible to lower doses of cocaine and are willing to risk more for a cocaine "fix" than adults. The findings, which were presented at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting, suggest that the adolescent brain is only about 80 percent developed. When you consider that more than 4,300 teens try an illicit drug for the first time each day, it really puts into perspective the impact that these drugs can have on teenagers.

According to Harvard psychologist John Kelly, the associate director of the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, there are aspects of the adolescent brain that makes adolescents more susceptible to drug abuse. "In the adolescent brain, the nucleus accumbens, which is the brain's pleasure center, is not full developed. This means that they are more incline to see new and exciting rewards. In addition, the frontal cortex of the brain is not fully developed and this area is responsible for caution."

The image below, provided by the National Institute for Drug Addition, shows the deterioration caused by drug use in comparison to the deterioration caused by heart disease.

It is evident that they are both diseases, disrupting the normal, healthy functioning of the body's organs. While there are other factors to take into consideration, such as mental illness, genetic susceptibility, unstable family life, or exposure to physical or sexual abuse, research shows that the earlier a person begins abusing drugs and alcohol, the more likely they are to suffer further abuse and serious medical issues.