Project ADULT Teaches Youths To Face Life Without Drugs

WHITMORE LAKE - Project ADULT stand for Adolescent Drug Use Limitation and Treatment. In other words, it is aprogram designed to help adolescents make it in the adult world without drugs. The program, under way since August, 1970, is in its pilot stage in Michigan and is the only program of its kind in the nation, according to its directors. It is sponsored by the Michigan Office of Youth Services and the Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Programs. The entire program is under the auspices of the Department of Justice. The Maxey Boys Training School located near Whitmore Lake serves as headquarters for the program. There are nine other communities and three other state institutions also in the program. Dr. Russell F. Smith, BTS physician and director of a medical services unit for the Michigan Office of Youth Services, is director of Projedct ADULT. Ray Merriman is coördinator of the program. Smith commented, "We had a lot of kids coming in here who had withdiawal symptoms from drugs and ■who were also freaking out. Fifty per cent of the kids coming in two years ago had acute drug problems. Njne out of 10 had tried drugs. We found that conventional law enforcement was not working and we conceived going after the kids themselves. This is not just an educational program. We deal with the experimenter, the curious and the veteran drug users." Of the 400 youths at the institution, about half are involved in the program in their individual living units. The program is divided into five phases. The first phase involves intake, program explantion and contact. The second phase features educational-motivation providing drug ris information in the framework of the Overdose Aid Program. The third is the coping phase or reference group dynamics. It is devoted to group problem solving, altering value systems and life styles by "rap" sessions, field trips and other activities. The fourth is introduction into self-taught techniques and the fifth is gradual total group autonomy. Smith explained that during the initial phase, groups varying in size from six to 20 meet. The group leadership as well as some of the participants include ex-drug addicts and ex-drug abusers. The purpose of this group is to learn loyalty and gain confidence. This phase lasts from a few months to a year. S m i t h said the second phase, the Overdose Aid Program, is subtle and nonthreatening and gets drug information to the participants. This session usually lasts 16 weeks. Overdose aid is defined as the special use of first aid sküls to give immediate, temporary help in cases of accidents involving drugs. Smith said overdose aid was developed to meet an urgent need. "Drug-related accidents take place in the streets and back rooms, away from the usual sources of first aid help. Even if first aid was available, it would not be sufficient. Overdose aid training must be added to the knowledge of first aid. Only in this way can help become available to the victims of accidents caused by the ahuse of drugs," he said. Smith added, "Drug education is worthless. It lacks success with the kids who are on drugs. Just talking a b o u t drugs doesn't help. We are trying to teach kids overdose first aid so they can put their skills on the streets." The OD first aid program focuses on the following points : 1 ) Symptoms of various drug usage and overusage (how to identify which drug was taken in order to determine what treatment is needed). 2) Psychological causes of drug abuse and addiction, necessary to know in understanding the drug abuser. 3) Treatment of adverse reactions to drug usage. 4) Treatment of drug overdoses. 5 ) Treatment of drugrelated emergencies. Not only are youths at the BTS subject to the above training but outside clinics are also conducted for personnel from crisis centers, community mental health centers, university medical centers and law enforcement agencies throughout the state. One of the BTS staffers teaching youths OD aid is David Irvine, a first aid instructor and recreation director for one of the open living units at the institution. For the past three months, Irvine has been teaching a group of youths about first aid. The course includes eight hours of educational film, 12 ho u r s of basic first aid techniques plus about eight hours of testing, lecture and research. The group meets from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday. Occasionally, it meets three times a week. "I try to teach them to be detectives as well as first aiders. I am confident that they are so well prepared they will apply what they have learned right away when it is needed," he said. This is the third group Irvine has taught so far. Some 30 youths have received overdose aid training from him. It was noted that more than 1, 000 persons have received OD Aid training so far in he state. __ Similar programs are also being held in the instituion's ther living units. The training the youths receive covers everything from ipplying splints to a broken limb to treating a person who [ïad overdosed on heroin. Aiter the course is completed, the participants receive special shoulder patch and a standard first aid card. Smith conceived the idea for the shoulder patch, which contains the peace symbol over a red cross. "This design was used to portray the fact we are breaking the generation gap and credibility gap. It is an amalgamation of two different ideas. The red cross symbolizes help is available," Smith explained. He added that the peace symbol enables those wearing he patch to reach youths easier. Smith added former participants in the program have helped to save the lives of 31 people in the state so f ar who had taken drug overdoses. " A lot of them join the program to find out about it without actually doing it. Ther e ' s no reward b u t selfsatisfaction," Irvine said. He commented there's no way to make up lost classes and added the participants must make a great effort to get the training. Irvine noted some of the course graduates have gone onto work in crisis clinics and others have become hospital orderlies. The youths in Irvine's group range in age from 15 to 17. Some or most of them have drug records. of the youths described himself as one acid freak who started out sniffing glue. "It made me numb but I feit good," he said. The youth admitted his "sister turned him on and gave him anything to get high on." Another youth said he use to take heroin, "I was in my own world and everything was pretty," he said. One of the youths said he would like to go to college and become a para-medic. He remarked, "It helps you when you take this course. It has helped prepare me for the, , future . ' ' ■■■M In the third phase or coping I s e s s i o n , participants are I taught how to survive without I drugs. This phase lasts froml one to VA years. In this ses-l sion, the group leader be-l comes less conspicious andl the group works toward ánl automonous end. Participants I begin to show genuine con-l cern and mutual protectionl for one another's welfare. In the fourth phase, thel leader fades away and thel participants are exposed tol yoga and transcendental me-l diation and other techniquesl employed to d i v e r t thel youths' attention from drugs. I Also during this phase, activities are planned which challenge the participants survival needs. For the future, it is hoped jto gain the financial support jof communities for the various groups once they have left the linstitution. In other words, particpants lin Project ADULT are not only learning to help themselves ibut others as ril ■-