Several weeks ago I raved about the A&E television show, Intervention. I encouraged our area teenagers to watch it, since the show compassionately depicts addicts as they hit rock bottom and their loved ones try to get them help.
The show and the delicate subject matter has now hit much closer to home. How close? A guy who graduated from Bonneville High School a few years ago was profiled last Sunday for his crystal meth addiction. He was not a dropout of a stoner, he was a straight-A student who was on the dance team.
Troy grew up in ‘a small Idaho town’ and attended Bonneville High School. They showed video of him in dance competitions and school pictures and how generally happy he was. Tragically, as seems very common with other addicts, Troy suffered some extremely emotional hardships. His father died when he was only two, and both a male and a female babysitter molested him.
A friend helped Troy realize he was gay while attending Brigham Young University. This was an understandably difficult time for Troy, with his personal feelings being opposed to the Mormon faith and traditions. He left BYU for the University of Southern California. He graduated, but was turned down at all five law schools he applied to. That had to be a blow to anyone’s self confidence.
Troy turned to smoking crystal meth and engaging in unprotected sex with so many gay men that he could not even guess how many there had been. He admitted to at least 20 men in a single night. Ouch, not at all the life his classmates probably expected from him.
So in the end his friends and family had the intervention, he got very defensive, but finally agreed to go to treatment. He found he has syphilis and HIV, and the program ended by saying he had been sober since November 12, 2006 (2 months ago today).
His was such a powerful story of how different life can turn out from what you think will happen in high school. Once again, I hope local teenagers will start watching this show every week. If you are uncomfortable watching it with your parents, try watching it with friends, or at least by yourself. If you don’t get A&E, look on the bitTorrent networks to download episodes.
If you know someone who is addicted to anything, consider staging an intervention for them. Teens can even do one with other friends if you don’t want to tell the addicts parents. Let them know this is their last chance to get help before they get worse.
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I also have been a fan of intervention and believe it could be very beneficial for all teens, as well as parents. Alot of parents have not even the slighest inkling their child has experimented with a drug, let alone may have a serious problem. More parental awarness is something that as acommunity we have to come together, and put our arms around the children of the future.
If anybody knows where I can download any of these episodes, please email me at leon33 [at] hotmail.co.uk. I’ve already checked several bittorrent sites without any luck. Would really like to see them, but can’t as we don’t get the A&E television channel in the UK. Thank you
This is an interesting article which bears a lot more than just the fact that a local kid was on a TV show. It brings to light that drug addiction runs in all facets of society,not just the stereotypical druggie. It also reveals a little of the disappointments that precede people’s problems. And the dangers of drug abuse that stem from intoxicated decision making, not just the effects of the drug itself on the body and mind. The television show exhibits for families what to expect in an intervention and a little about how to go about it. There is one small problem that I would write about regarding this method. If the individual doesn’t make the decision on their own, then they (IMHO) have not truly hit the “rock bottom” referred to in the first paragraph. Although it could certainly be advised that friends or family let the person know they are concerned or try an intervention there is no way to change the mind of an addict of anything from the outside. The real rocky bottom that it may take for someone cannot probably even be fathomed by someone living outside the eternally selfish world of addiction. Better, more often, to just be careful not to enable that person to live comfortably, let them suffer their way into seeing that they have wasted the love, money, shelter, food, their kids, self respect, etc. until it becomes a matter of life or death
I would like to see an update of what’s happened to Troy since the last airing.
Troy, are you out there?
Me, too. I hope to hear that there is success in the air. I don’t mean to come off negatively. Somehow my keyboard screwed up mid sentence, there. Best wishes to Troy and his family.
Again, I would still like to hear an update on Troy. Anyone know their family or if Troy runs a blog or anything?
Maybe one of our local journalists could pursue the story and see what happened to him?
I know we get fairly frequent search hits on this site for “Troy Intervention”, especially each time after A&E reruns that episode 18.
What happened to you, Troy? People you don’t even know are concerned for you.
I would like to find Troy. As a former LDS I too have a similar story and also as a film maker, I would like to speak to others, especially Troy, who have had to go through a similar transition. You do NOT have to feel guilty about the life you have chosen. You do NOT have to “fix” yourself with drugs or alcohol or anything. You are OK just the way you are. There is life after a Mormon upbringing and I want to share those stories. Please contact me at dreamgirl1976 at hotmail. com.
Interesting screen name you have their Mr Texaco.
This seems like a good place to discuss chemical addictions… rather than on the already lengthy High Speed Chase and Shootout thread, if no-one has any objections?
Actually this would be a better post to discuss that topic. http://www.idahofallstoday.com/2008/04/13/three-steps-to-end-our-war-on-drugs/
The inspiring rebirth of a biologically critical river in Arizona is recounted in A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek. The one-hour documentary examines the ecological effects of a dam and hydroelectric facility on the waterway and chronicles the 15-year effort that led to decommissioning. A River Reborn is a powerful case study in environmental restoration. It is emblematic of a broad reassessment of rivers and dams globally, as well as the growing effort to balance fulfillment of human needs with protection of the natural systems that support human life.
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christine
Drug Intervention Massachusetts
Alcoholism frequently generates this illusion that nothing is unethical in the life of the one affected by it. But the fact that they don’t observe it does not mean the situation is not dangerously wrong. The people in the dependent persons’ environment should react. They have created intervention to make it less difficult for those persons. It is very acceptable to have a lot of persons that know the alcoholic doing the intervention. The individual struggling with an alcohol dependency must not identify beforehand the intervention. The intervention a lot of the time makes the individual struggling with an alcohol dependency face what his addiction does to him and everyone around. The whole point of achieving an intervention is to have the addicted individual enter an alcohol treatment. That is why it’s less intricate if the people have searched for alcohol rehabs that would fit the alcoholic. Because an addict can be dangerously unstable, one should be ready to send him right away when he sees that he needs help. An intervention is a very rewarding tool for the people that suffer from the person struggling with alcohol dependency.
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VIJENDRA JAIN
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Hello Dear,
Alcoholism frequently generates this illusion that nothing is unethical in the life of the one affected by it. But the fact that they don’t observe it does not mean the situation is not dangerously wrong. The people in the dependent persons’ environment should react. They have created intervention to make it less difficult for those persons. It is very acceptable to have a lot of persons that know the alcoholic doing the intervention. The individual struggling with an alcohol dependency must not identify beforehand the intervention. The intervention a lot of the time makes the individual struggling with an alcohol dependency face what his addiction does to him and everyone around. The whole point of achieving an intervention is to have the addicted individual enter an alcohol treatment. That is why it’s less intricate if the people have searched for alcohol rehabs that would fit the alcoholic. Because an addict can be dangerously unstable, one should be ready to send him right away when he sees that he needs help. An intervention is a very rewarding tool for the people that suffer from the person struggling with alcohol dependency.
———————-
VIJENDRA JAIN
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Hello Dear,
Often, even when an intervention is achieved, the person struggling with a dependency does not want to go in a rehab. A lot of the time, some time will pass before the individual can realize the extent of his addiction. But even so, don’t think that an intervention has not been useful, it may take a while. Each individual will take their own time to notice that they need a rehabilitation program. When the individual struggling with alcohol addiction calls you for help, you’ll clearly realize that the intervention worked.
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VIJENDRA JAIN
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Careful with the spam VK…..
I would love to meet Troy.
I grew up in Idaho Falls. Figured out I was gay. Was thrown out of my parents house. Ran away to Los Angeles. Tried to cobble together a life. And discovered crystal meth.
It took years and years of trying but I finally found a solution that works for me and I am grateful beyond words.
I started writing about my experience getting clean on my 5th day sober on a blog and this coming Thursday I’ll celebrate 2 years clean and sober.
The story of the experience that made it possible for me to get sober is included in a new book, “Moments of Clarity” by Christopher Kennedy Lawford ( -It came out New Year’s Eve and is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc.- )
I suspect that Troy and I have more than a little in common.
I’d like him to know that we DO recover. That it’s amazing and wonderful. That he isn’t alone.
I’d love for Troy to register as a user on my blog – leave a comment – and exchange some email with me. There is so much hope I’d like to share.
Sorry to associate gay with HIV/AIDS, Chris, but I will. I imagine a lot of folks do put together HIV and gay.
I’d recently graduated from college as a nurse (not yet taken board tests) while working my first job. I worked in a hospital and lo and behold we admitted the very first aids case in the State of Idaho. I was one of his nurses. That was back in the mid 80’s.
An exciting time for me even if not for him. The poor gay man died. Sincerely, I felt bad. Still I felt more bad for him when he was alive than when he was dead,
The many weeks he was in the hospital none of his family came to visit him, even though they lived near by. I didn’t ask why because I knew our home town well enough to answer my own curiosity:
They were ashamed of him. They didn’t want anything to do with him because he was gay and they were too proud, too good to be associated, let alone related to a gay man.
So he died alone. Once he was dead, dead, dead his family finally claimed him. I guess they felt less threatened by his homosexuality “disease” that way; once the boy was dead his virus shouldn’t spread.
The family’s love had stopped spreading many years before.
I was just wondering why Chris Mecham felt the need to throw in the “I’m gay” comment when the whole point of this post and his comment for that matter, has to do with drug addiction. Drug addiction doesn’t care if you’re gay, straight, bi, tri, black, blue or a multi-colored jew. It’s an equal opportunity disease, so do wear those condoms, please.
This message was brought to you by the Coalition for Condom Awareness.
The young man’s confusion with his life, specifically his sexuality allowed him to be an easy target for drug use and abuse. Mentioning his circumstances allows him and others to understand how easy it was for him to fall victim to the disease that is drug addiction.
My congrats to Chris M. on his two year mark (a couple of days premature)
The two year mark is a HUGE milestone in addiction recovery!
But with that milestone comes more hurdles…I’ve watched people with 20 years clean relapse and die shortly thereafter…I’m of the opinion that there are two “types” of addiction: “circumstantial” and “real” (for lack of better terms)
A circumstantial addict found him or herself where the drug of choice was “enjoyed” based on something external…significant other was doing it, close friend(s) were doing it, was just simply in a difficult place they couldn’t escape for a time except through drugs and/or alcohol, etc. These people recover.
Meth addiction is not *usually* in this category. “Real” addiction (and that’s just a placeholder name…couldn’t think of anything better…it’s not supposed to be a this-addiction-is-better-or-worse-than-the-other in any sense) one doesn’t recover from fully, in my opinion. It’s something that always has to be maintained. That maintenance gets easier, but it doesn’t stop. Using dreams only become less frequent, but they stay just as real. Cravings only come during very stressful times instead of everytime something goes wrong, etc.
So that being said…just a word of caution: Keep up the positive attitude…but maintain wariness. I’ve watched too many people reach that two year mark and not see their third, and in some cases not live long after relapsing.
And with regards to the “why throw in gay” question, wendyjo hit the nail on the head: It’s true that addiction doesn’t care who you are…but the homosexual population (and certainly in this area this is true) is considered a high risk population for substance abuse.
The reference to being gay and being an addict have everything to do with each other – especially for those of us who grew up in places like IF. Gay people are about 4 times more likely to suffer from serious substance abuse problems than the general population (the CDC and SAMSA say so, not me) and the correlation between crystal meth use and HIV is profound. For people like me and Troy, recovery is only possible when the whole person is treated, right down to the internalized homophobia we carry around and try to kill with drugs and alcohol and risky sex.
Not to mention that people who feel ostracised, especially teens, are much easier to suck into the drug lifestyle. If people feel supported and have a good family base, they are less likely to resort to drugs and the things that go along with them as their security blanket.
I have to disagree with your statement Alice. I’ve known quite a few people over the years that have grown up in loving, supportive, & even extremely religious families and still fell into the drug lifestyle and addiction. I’m sure statistically speaking people from lower income, abusive family’s etc. are more likely to succumb to this lifestyle, but from my personal experience, nobody is immune from the evils of addiction. At the same time, I’ve known kids from both sides of the tracks that have “experimented” with drugs and never got addicted, and later grew up to be productive members of society.
It’s a crap shoot really.
No one can truly feel the pain and heartache, of the family of an addit until they walk in their shoes.
I have forwarded this website to Troy and he can comment if he wants to. I for one want to forget the whole experinece, it by far was to worst day of my life.
Thanks to those who have shared and truly care about my son. Again, the Lord says “Judge not that ye be judged” until you walk in those shoes, you can not feel the pain. Troy is doing well cuurently and still struggles with life ,,, as we all do now and again.
Thank you
Troy’s mom
The sad reality Troys Mom, is that many people have walked in his shoes either personally or have had close family members or friends that have. Addiction not only affects the addict, but those close to him/her in profound ways. Nobody here is trying to judge your son, but merely discussing the topic
I definitely see your side CR67, and for the most part, I agree. I have also seen kids from very supportive families (very close to me, actually) go through their drug problems, and I’ve seen kids without much support go through them. Some of the “kids” with no support are still going through them some 20 years later.
It seems that the kids with the support, at least from what I’ve seen, seem to get the help they need where the kids that are simply shuffled to the street by parents who are unsupportive, or worse, addicts themselves, seem to stay in the rut longer.
Of course, we can’t really stereotype because there are exceptions to every rule. Also, the availability of support doesn’t always mean a happy ending.
I think a show which shows the real condition that shows the life of addicts will be a good lesson for the youths of today.
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sathyan
Drug Intervention
(Comment edited by Moderator due to violation of Rule 4. No personal attacks. Thank you.)
That wasn’t a very nice thing to say. Not to mention it being nobody’s business.
Wow. That was out of line.
Yea, that was quite out of line… and I think I know who it is, and if it’s who I think it is, expect more of the same.
There goes the neighborhood…