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They Chose "Dare"
and Lost |
By Paul Wisenthal
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When she was 11 years old and living in
Freeport,
 New York, Arielle S. says, she began
drinking alcohol heavily.
As a sixth-grader, she felt alone and alienated
from her parents, and drinking gave her a new sense
of confidence.
“At my parents’ dinner parties, I would sip the
wine and champagne. I felt I belonged and was no
longer an outsider,” she said, “especially when I
would hang out with other teenage drinkers at
school.”
Every week or two
she would raid her parents’ liquor cabinet and take
two or three shots of vodka at a time,
replacing it with
water. “Every time something upset me, such as
forgetting to do my homework or having an argument
with my
parents, I reached for a drink,” she said.
This led to drugs –
first marijuana, then cocaine
addiction. Arielle
suffered depression, attempted suicide, moved from
school to school, and sought therapy. Finally, she
found a school specializing in helping young people
and their families heal from the damages of
addiction. Today, 18, sober and drug-free, she hopes
to graduate high school next year.
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Copyright © 2003,
StreetBeat News. All rights Reserved. |
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The photos in this article are not those of the
actual people described in the text.
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