Getting Past "Just Say No": Reflections on Adolescents and Substance Use
As the death toll in North America from the opiate overdose crisis continues to rise nurses must re-think the approaches that are being used in the healthcare services that are supposed to be designed to best help youth. There are now decades of evidence that support the ineffectiveness of the 1980s ‘Just Say No’ drug strategies targeted to prevent youth from using drugs. In reflection on my nursing career, mostly in programs and services designed to provide care for people who use substances, I feel heartbroken about the slowness of change in inpatient settings. As I near the five-year anniversary of my joining what was heralded as an innovative mental health and substance use program for youth, I also critically question the erosion of that innovation to conform to a rigid system with rigid values about youth who use substances and how to best provide care for them. Three years ago, I walked into the care team station, early for my night shift. I began my night shift ro