Mexico shuts rehab center, deports U.S. teenagers

Reuters ^ | 06 Dec 2005

[ncountylee]

TIJUANA, Mexico, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Mexico has closed a boot camp for troubled U.S. teenagers south of this city on the California border and deported 13 youngsters whom workers are suspected of abusing, health authorities said on Tuesday.

The U-Turn For Christ Youth Ranch, a group home for the treatment of adolescent alcohol and drug addiction near the Pacific-coast resort of Ensenada, was closed last Friday after inspectors said they had found a range of violations at the center.

Juan Carlos Mariscal, a spokesman for Baja California state health authorities, said youths attending the camp showed "signs of physical and mental mistreatment" as well as insect bites that had not received adequate medical attention.

He added that helpers at the home had no qualifications for rehabilitation work, while the center itself lacked adequate bathroom and dining facilities required under Mexican law.

It was unclear whether formal charges had been filed against the center or its workers.

[Dog Gone]

How bad of a camp do you have to be to flunk Mexican bathroom standards?

Or is this just a case where somebody forgot to bribe the local officials?

[Who dat?]

… a group home for the treatment of adolescent alcohol and drug addiction…

I’m personally always wary of the “teenage alcoholic” or “teen drug addict.”

Maybe that’s because when I hear “teen” I tend to associate with someone lower in the 14 or 16 side of the teen scale.

As a youngster I’d drink when I could but only moderately and not that often because it wasn’t available. I’d be buzzed up good but never to the point of passing out or anything.

Then from the age of about 19 I drank heavy. I’d kill a quart of Seagram’s 7 every day like clockwork and start in on another. Did that for 25 years.

Then one day lost the taste for it and stopped. In hindsight I believe it was a combination of boredom and excessive leisure time (due to the job I had at the time – plus plenty of money) that contributed to my drinking like a fish.

Still, if I can stop drinking *heavily* every day for over two decades without a lot of arm-waving or discomfort, I tend to think the concept of “teen alcoholic” is bunk.

Or, maybe it’s because they started much younger and F-ed up their brain chemistry irreparably or something.

As far as the drugs, I’ve heard that amphetamine type stuff can be hard to kick and that you can literally die unless you’re handled properly in the case of barbiturates. I can’t say anything about that because I never fooled around with any of it.

Our concept of “drugs” was an aspirin tablet or Tylenol or something like that. Not the “real” ones because as far as I knew they weren’t available.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Then from the age of about 19 I drank heavy. I’d kill a quart of Seagram’s 7 every day like clockwork and start in on another. Did that for 25 years.

I suppose that is what led to your screen name. :-)