Addicted: family's
patience wearing thin teen's
struggle with drugs
deepens as efforts to get help
denied
While for many
the holiday season is a time of bringing
family together, Stanlia and Warren
Bellefleur have spent these recent weeks
wondering about the whereabouts of their
teenage granddaughter, knowing wherever she's
been she's likely been desperately looking
for a heroin fix to feed her addiction.
Having helped
their son through a 20-year drug addiction,
the Bellefleurs have been through this before
- the lying, the denial, the heartache and
knowing that a handout isn't a hand up or way
out of the addiction.
Their emotions
are wearing thin, as is their patience with a
system they say has failed as they watch
their granddaughter's struggle with drugs
deepen.
Danielle
started drinking in the seventh grade,
dropped out of school a year later and turned
to other drugs. She returned to school
through an alternative education program and
was on the honor roll when she slipped back,
according to her family.
The former
owners of the Brewer nightclub Babes, as well
as a plumbing and heating business and a
hairdressing salon in Limestone, the
Bellefleurs said they are reaching their
emotional limits. After seeing news reports
of 2002 being the deadliest year on record
for drug-related deaths in Maine, they wanted
to go public with private family matters in
the hope of getting their granddaughter help.
My husband and
I have no pride left," Stanlia
Bellefleur said recently.
Danielle wants
to head in the right direction but can't do
it alone, her family said. She's tried
medications that are intended to help reduce
the side effects of quitting her 21/2-year
addiction cold turkey, but they haven't
worked. By herself, with no institution to
restrain her, she is always drawn back, they
said.
Like Danielle,
the family is looking for an immediate
treatment that will lead to a more permanent
withdrawal from drugs. They say if they can
just isolate her from the drug for a little
while, they believe Danielle's resolve will
be strengthened.
But at a time
when drug use and drug-related deaths are on
the rise, the Bellefleurs said they have only
three options: immediate hospitalization, a
residential drug treatment program or
incarceration. So far they've been unable to
secure any of the three options for their
granddaughter.
It was with
some measure of hope that on the Sunday
before Christmas they turned to Eastern Maine
Medical Center, where they brought Danielle,
who was convinced that a hospital bed would
provide her the necessary distance from
heroin.
But after a
nearly 10-hour wait, consultations with staff
and representatives of Acadia Hospital, which
provides care for substance abusers, Danielle
was told she needed to detoxify herself, and
was given medications to help with the
withdrawal symptoms and sent home.
"It was a
horror show, a complete horror show,"
Warren Bellefleur said, still bristling at
what he sees as many missteps. A hospital
official who had stayed with them throughout
the day had thought Danielle was going to be
placed immediately into a program, but that
changed quickly toward the end of her visit.
Broken and
dispirited, Danielle cried and screamed,
begging for them to let her stay, telling
family members, "I'm dead," her
father, Mitchell Bellefleur, recalled.
Danielle previously had tried some of the
same medications she was given and they
didn't work, he said. That night, Danielle
left with her mother, who is no longer living
with Mitchell Bellefleur.
Tough
decisions
While he
couldn't specifically address Danielle's
medical case because of patient privacy
issues, Dr. Erik Steele of EMMC said the
decisions about whom to admit and when are
based on sound medical practices and the
realities of today's society. And he knows
it's often a painful decision all the way
around.
"We're
all struggling with this, we don't have the
magic answer," said Steele, a hospital
vice president and emergency room physician
who was described by a state substance abuse
official as one of the best ER physicians in
this field.
Putting an
addict in the hospital for treatment doesn't
guarantee success in the short or long term,
Steele said. Inpatient care hasn't proved any
more effective than outpatient care and
counseling in the long run.
It's a
sentiment echoed by Lynn Madden, vice
president of operations for Acadia Hospital,
which is affiliated with Eastern Maine
Healthcare, the parent company of EMMC. She
said statistics show that young people such
as 16- and 17-year-olds have a better chance
of doing well in a less restrictive treatment
program as opposed to an older adult who has
been using drugs for many years.
And an
addict's convictions can sometimes waver,
Steele said. A 17-year-old in treatment could
choose to leave the hospital to get a heroin
fix. The hospital staff can't stop the
teenager, unless she posed a danger to
herself or others.
"It's a
brutally difficult situation for families and
it's very difficult for health care
professionals," Steele said.
Earlier this
month, another family brought in their
59-year-old father, who they said was
drinking himself to death. But once he
sobered up and wanted to leave, the hospital
couldn't keep him, Steele said. Within hours
of being discharged the man was back drinking
alcohol.
There is
another concern. Patients admitted with
addictions that can be treated outside the
hospital are taking up beds that could be
used for people being treated for
psychological problems who aren't appropriate
for outpatient treatment. Steele said
hospitals are routinely running at 90 percent
to 95 percent capacity for these beds and
regularly are finding it difficult to find
available space for the psychological
patients who sometimes have to wait days for
a bed to open up.
Scary
statistics
But those
arguments mean little to the Bellefleurs, who
are worried that Danielle will add to the
state's statistics of fatal overdoses, which
this year reached 136, according to a report
issued shortly before Christmas.
Mitchell
Bellefleur, 39, who himself has fought drug
addiction for much of his adult life, has
been calling to facilities around the state
hoping to find a spot for his daughter. But
at 17, Danielle is not quite an adult in some
respects. The common response Mitchell has
heard is, "'When does she turn
18?'" he said.
"That's
May 4th [2003] and she's not going to make
it," said Mitchell, who last weekend
continued to call his daughter.
Kimberly
Johnson, director of the state's Office of
Substance Abuse, acknowledged that finding
detoxification programs for anyone under age
18 is a difficult endeavor.
"If they
need hospitalization for detoxification or
residential treatment, those are in short
supply," said Johnson, who noted that
currently there's a residential program in
Hollis that works with 16- to 22-year-olds.
Survey data
collected by Johnson's department seem to
show an increase in drug use in some
substance categories, including heroin,
OxyContin and other prescription drugs. In
2000, no high school seniors responding to
the Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use survey
indicated they were heavy users of heroin,
OxyContin or other prescription medications
or that they had used them within the last 30
days. In the 2002 survey, 1.3 percent of
those seniors surveyed said they fell into
the heavy-use category for heroin, 3.2
percent admitted abusing OxyContin and nearly
11 percent admitted abusing prescription
drugs other than OxyContin.
Johnson said
to help meet the need, a second program - one
for 14-year-olds - is being developed but has
hit a snag. Originally planned to open in
October, it has been pushed back until April
because authorities can't find enough people
to run it.
And because of
her age, Danielle is not considered an
appropriate candidate for other treatments.
Methadone used
to treat some opiate addictions is rarely
available to teenagers and not generally
recommended for them. Johnson said that their
bodies and brains are still developing, and
although there are a few 17-year-olds using
methadone, she said it's usually the
treatment of last resort. Abstinence is
considered the best treatment for youths,
rather than putting them directly on
something they would have to use the rest of
their lives.
Legal system
stumped
The
Bellefleurs said they also have turned to the
legal system in an effort to curb Danielle's
cravings, taking a step most families would
avoid. They've asked that Danielle be
arrested and incarcerated.
Penobscot
County Sheriff Glenn Ross said that jails
aren't equipped to handle such problems and
that custody would be only a temporary
solution. Ross said inmates with drug
problems tend to return to those habits and
criminal activity to support the habits. He
recalled that one inmate serving time on a
drug offense overdosed and died soon after
being released from jail.
Already out on
bail for stealing and cashing checks from her
aunt, Danielle is alleged to have stolen
checks from her grandparents, writing $1,450
in bad checks, her grandmother said. Family
members had hoped police would do what the
hospital would not do, take her to a place
where she could not have access to drugs: the
local jail.
The
Bellefleurs said they are frustrated and
angry that police have not arrested Danielle,
and they've been told that other cases have
taken priority. But the Bangor Police
Department is making progress in the case,
having charged one other person in connection
with the theft of checks.
At 3rd
District Court in Bangor last Tuesday
morning, Danielle hugged her grandfather -
who had driven down from Island Falls along
icy roads to get there - then waited to be
brought into the courtroom. It took only 15
minutes to hear the case and Danielle left
the court feeling let down again.
Although she
has been referred to Drug Court, which
involves treatment programs, weekly meetings
with counselors, case managers and a judge as
well as random drug tests, Danielle and her
family don't think it's enough.
"She's
going to be back on the street in a few
minutes," Warren Bellefleur predicted
after his granddaughter's court appearance.
Clearly
agitated, Danielle would only say before
walking away, "People who ask for help
don't get help."
