Does alcohol and drug use uniquely affect an adolescent’s ability to make decisions about medical care for addiction; and, if so, should clinical and legal standards take this factor into consideration?
Denise is a sixteen-year old 11th grade student who started using marijuana and drinking at fourteen and has used heroin regularly for the past six months. Denise stopped attending school in January and hangs out with her friends. She lives at home with her mother and younger brother, but comes and goes and often isn’t seen by her mother for four or five days at a stretch. When Denise was fifteen, her mother, with the assistance of a school-based addiction treatment counselor, was able to get her enrolled in outpatient treatment to address her alcohol and marijuana use. Denise participated in the program and reduced her alcohol and marijuana use. The outpatient program diagnosed Denise with depression and mild anxiety, and she was prescribed medication. Denise seemed to be regaining her health, and she started high school classes in the fall. However, her mother began to notice troubling patterns of more serious drug use in November and was unable to get Denise to resume treatment at her outpatient program.
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