Posted on 11/08/2013 7:48:19 AM PST by BenLurkin
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An Agoura Hills family is raising awareness about the dangers of heroin addiction among teens.
The Isaac family is opening up about the drug that brought their 19-year-old son’s life to an end on Aug. 21, when he was found dead from a drug overdose.
“The face of heroin has changed,” Rick Isaac told CBS2′s Serene Branson when recalling his late son, Josh.
The Agoura Hills High School graduate grew up in a loving home, involved in baseball, basketball, soccer and skateboarding.
Rick and Joyce Isaac now say they’ve learned a painful truth — heroin doesn’t discriminate.
“When he was using marijuana as a teen I would have never dreamed he would have touched heroin,” Joyce said.
Josh’s parents, and his sister, Lauren, started noticing changes in his mood after graduation as he transitioned from high schooler to adult. Lauren, who is three years older than her late brother, now wants to be an addiction counselor.
“I’m from a pretty normal family in my opinion. My parents are well educated and were here for me and our brothers. It can happen to any family,” she said.
Family members say they tried everything. Josh had been in rehab three times this year, the last time in August just weeks before his death, and was set to go back five days after he died.
“I saw him Tuesday night, the night before he passed away. He said he was going to turn his life around, enter a long-term program,” Rick said.
Then came the sheriff’s knock on the door: Josh had overdosed while staying with a friend he’d met in treatment.
“People going into treatment need to know that. Don’t use ‘one more time,’” the father said.
Now the Isaacs visit Josh’s Westlake Village grave, rather than a college dorm, plagued by thoughts of how they could have prevented his death.
“It’s hard for a parent because when they’re little, you can fix stuff. Then they grow up and they’re the only ones that can fix it,” Joyce said.
The family has created a foundation in Josh’s name, hoping to boost awareness about teen heroin addiction and build a dialogue.
“There’s this denial that goes on — ‘I know personally that nothing like that could happen to my kid, never,’” Joyce said.
According to the Los Angeles Overdose Prevention Center, overdose deaths have doubled since 1990. They’re now the second-leading cause of accidental deaths in California for people 15 to 34 years old, second only to traffic accidents.
“I know it’s a serious problem here. There is no discussion. There is a big heroin problem in Agoura/Calabasas. The kids need that fear of drugs when I grew up. They need a fear of it,” Joyce said.
Recent studies suggest there is a shift from injecting heroin — to snorting or smoking it — because of increased purity, and the misconception that these forms won’t lead to addiction. Experts say it’s pure, abundant, and as cheap as a movie ticket.
Cartels are bringing much of it from south of the border, and law enforcement in the greater Los Angeles communities of Agoura, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and La Cresenta say it’s a growing problem. Narcotics detectives say dealers hook teens by giving them their first few hits for free.
The Isaacs say they’re aware of two other teens who’ve nearly died from overdosing since Josh’s death.
They’re hoping their story sparks a conversation and inspires the community and individual families to look at heroin head on.
“It could be learning disorders, mood disorders, just the difficulty of teen years. It’s a complicated thing to get through. We want people to understand that so they can manage their family and friends as best as possible,” Rick said.
“There’s a lot of people that don’t want to talk about bad stuff in their family, but it needs to be talked about in the community,” Joyce said.
Not to sound cold hearted here, but the parents should have stopped him when he was smoking marijuana. Marijuana is a gateway drug that oftentimes leads to experimentation with "harder" drugs.
Regardless, RIP.
“Cartels are bringing much of it from south of the border”
Only HALF TRUE, 95% of the WORLDS OPIUM is produced in Afghanistan. Heroin was a very minor problem for years and years until, THE US WENT TO AFGHANISTAN. And who exactly is standing guard at the Afghan Borders?? THE US MILITARY, And how do you suppose that much product is moved under the noses of our Military without their Knowledge.?? It isn’t, Our Government has been on both sides of this FOREVER.
Sure would be nice if we had a securable border in this country, wouldn’t it?
Marijuana is also literally up to 10 times stronger than it was back in the doper parents’ generation. Yet not only is “recreational” marijuana legal in many states, it is easier for teenagers to engage in drug use than it is to purchase cigarettes (for which one has to be 21 in many places, as opposed to 18 for drug paraphernalia).
This is so even though it has been shown that marijuana, especially at those concentrations, impacts the development of the brain in teenagers and can result not only in a lifelong drop in IQ, but in the development of paranoia and other psychotic manifestations.
Still, drug use is being virtually encouraged among adolescents. Why is anybody surprised at the results? And why is anybody surprised that they are using heroin as well?
The 20 yr old guy who shot up the mall in Jersey last week was a virtual walking cocktail of drugs, and had been a heavy user of virtually anything he could get his hands on since early adolescence. That’s why he disappeared from the news so fast. Doesn’t go with the peaceful doper meme.
And when he was sneaking alcohol out of your liquor cabinet before that you probably weren't paying attention. Early consumption of alcohol is the biggest preventable factor in substance addiction. Any intoxicant for that matter, but alcohol is by far the most common.
Rehab centers have this in common with prisons.
You’re more likely to learn how to better scam the system, than rehabilitate.
If your rehab isn’t God centered, failure is likely.
Going out on a limb here and assuming this is a white, comfortable family from the suburbs.
Where has the concern for drug use been for the last half-century? Did they think they could keep heroin in the ghettos forever?
The results of the Swiss Heroin-assisted Treatment Program.
Their addiction rate is dropping by 4% a year and they’ve reduced deaths to OD to ZERO. Their rates of hepatitis and AIDS are dropping. They are getting far fewer new addicts each year. Kids are not as attracted to the drug as it’s seen as ‘uncool’. Addicts are always given the opportunity for rehab through the program and many take it. Many addicts manage to work while in the program and are not leaches on the society while fighting addiction.
There are much more effective ways to fight drugs.
How come I never see FReeper drug warriors addressing the worst “gateway drugs”: legal pharmaceuticals. Sure, if you start smoking marijuana, you might proceed to harder drugs. However, if you get hooked on legally prescribed pain killers, you automatically ARE hooked on heroin, because opiate addiction doesn’t discriminate between brand names.
sarcasm
But......that would be racist, wouldn't it?
FReeper drug warriorsSeek help.
Especially women on the side of the highway and old men who roll through stop signs! (We all know they’re the most dangerous.) /s
Thanks for mentioning this…while reading the article I found myself wondering if this family had God as a central focus of their lives….not meant as a criticism just a question
You are exactly right; every American kid hooked on heroin or who OD’s on it is, in my opinion, another casualty of our war in Afghanistan.
I was a deputy prosecutor for 18 years and have practiced criminal defense for the last 10. Heroin abuse/addiction was very rare, until about 2005. At that point, it exploded. Now its everywhere; not just in the inner city, but its rampant in the suburbs. In our jurisdiction, it is far more of a problem than meth.
And it’s all coming from Afghanistan. Not every member of our armed forces is a choir boy. The gangs have infiltrated the armed forces for this very purpose. We need to leave that place, now.
You might appreciate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsk8R_j5zzg
A presentation by LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). A group of retired cops, DEA agents, judges, and lawyers who understand that the WOD is expensive and ineffective.
I am not ‘pro-drug’. I am against an ineffective strategy that militarizes our police and treats honest citizens like criminals. I am against policy that gives us the opposite of it’s stated intent. I think that we can do better.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see any reference to the family’s faith or whether or not they’re Church-goin’ folks.
Just wondering if they asked God for help.
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