Help parents protect their children from substance abuse
Several months ago, I lost my 22-year-old daughter to an accidental drug overdose. Through her struggles, I learned how difficult it is to access adequate treatment, housing and resources in this city.
Although she received funding for housing after finishing recovery last summer, she struggled to find something adequate and safe for someone needing to live a sober life, as the stipend was insufficient for most rentals, or the places she might have afforded could have put her sobriety in jeopardy due to the evident drug and alcohol use. Even though she was being treated for issues of mental health in recovery, she did not have seamless support, receiving notification that they finally found a therapist for her four days after her death, more than a month after she left her program.
One tragedy of this situation is that I attempted to assist my daughter by getting her into recovery when she was in high school but was unable to do so in part due to §32A-6A-14, 15 NMSA 1978, which gives children 14 years of age or older the exclusive right to consent to substance abuse treatment. While I understand the premise of this statute is to allow children to seek services they may not feel comfortable disclosing to their parents, it effectively shortchanges parents who are seeking to save their kids from circumstances that could hinder them in the future, or even end their lives prematurely.
As we enter the new legislative session, I implore our legislators to examine this statute to find a way to allow parents to do their job: protect their children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Mexico has one of the highest rates of drug overdose mortality, and I am begging this city and county to find a middle ground where kids can seek services with autonomy while also allowing families enduring the heartache of watching a child struggle with substance abuse the legal authority and ability to get them the help they need before they later become a statistic.
When my daughter refused recovery
as a teenager, I tried to get her to family in another state where this would be possible, and she became a runaway in the juvenile justice system, which also offered no solution or contribution to helping me keep her safe, and essentially kept her couch surfing and unhoused.
Right now, our criminal justice system is broken, and picking up people on possession and releasing them a day later with no accountability, as my daughter experienced, is doing nothing to keep Santa Fe and other cities safe. I also ask our public servants to please start finding ways to truly support those wrestling with substance abuse, to do what we can before we lose our community altogether. A commitment to provide the necessary wrap-around resources of safe housing, continuity of mental health services, supportive employment, food security and adequate transportation is needed.
I wish I could describe the overwhelming grief and excruciating pain that comes with losing a child to substance abuse. It’s the most horrific nightmare, one from which I can’t wake up from. I implore action to prevent others from suffering the same, unnecessary sorrow.