High School View

On Dec. 5 the Rockville Centre Youth Council hosted representatives from Phoenix House at the Public Library. Phoenix House is an organization that operates community residences throughout the United States for people who are struggling with substance abuse. The presentation involved talks from three respectable looking young men from nearby communities who happen to be recovering heroin addicts.

As a teenager on Long Island, I found their message to be familiar, relevant and moving. Each of the three had successful lives in front of them, until they began to make poor decisions. The young men discussed their paths to drugs that in each case began with alcohol and marijuana.They described turning to Vicodin and Oxycotin to solve their problems after alcohol and pot left them unsatisfied. One of the men would steal from his family, friends and workplace to obtain enough money to sustain the 30 pills he needed daily to keep him high at all times.

As a little sister myself, it horrified me when another of the men explained how his younger sister found him passed out on his bed with a needle in his arm after overdosing. He confessed with grave remorse in his eyes that he now suffers from epilepsy because of the drugs he took. “What I wouldn’t do to take it all back,” he said to the crowd.

All three concurred that their parents never knew how addicted they actually were or what drugs they were taking. But what frightened me the most was how normal these young men appeared. If I had met them on the street I would have never guessed that they were addicts of any sort. In each of them I saw my friends and peers, and I realized that this could happen to anyone.

As an involved and aware teenager in Rockville Centre, I can cautiously proclaim that this community does not have a rampant heroin problem. However, alcohol and marijuana abuse is an epidemic here. Sometimes my friends and I count on our hands the number of teenagers who do not drink or smoke pot. I have watched friends and peers with the bubbliest personalities be reduced to cardboard because they no longer know how to have fun without alcohol or marijuana.

As my final year of high school is winding down, I expect the frequency and intensity of party nights to step up. My great fear is that reckless behavior will sow the seed of tragedy. Drinking and substance use has always been a natural display of teenage rebellion, but when does it go too far? The Phoenix House presentation opened my eyes to what can happen to those friends and peers who cannot find the answer to that question. The Rockville Centre Youth Council will faithfully continue its awareness efforts, imparting strength and wisdom to protect local kids from going over the edge. The Youth Council is grateful to the Phoenix House for offering hope to the desperate and encouragement to those of us who work to prevent this imminent threat.

Cathy Mackey is South Side High School’s senior class president. She is active with the Rockville Centre Youth Council and is a past contributor to the Herald’s High School View column. Any high school students who would like to contribute to this column can email the Herald at RVCeditor@liherald.com or Facebook us.