tECY-SE":70"P
n.
D RU G MYTH
Alcohol and drug abuse are
eroding the Jewish community
belief that 'It can't happen here'
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Local Columnist
J
osh Firestone, 19, lived in
hell. With red, dilated eyes
he slept through school
days, while at night he was
drugged.
"This is what the life of a drug ad-
dict is like," wroth Firestone in a com-
position for a senior English class at
West Bloomfield High School. "Drugs
will destroy your home life, your
school life and your health."
School suspensions, running away
from home and losing his parents'
respect and trust were all part of his
nightmarish existence while indulg-
ing in drugs.
"I started using drugs as an ex-
periment — just to find out what it
was like. And I fell in love with drugs.
It was a long love affair that started
and went on for five years," says
Firestone. In the next breath
Firestone recalls his tormented soul:
"I thought about suicide. I even
planned it!"
lbday Josh Firestone refers to
himself as a recovering addict. He
spent 41 days at Fairview Deaconess
Hospital in Minneapolis, participated
in drug abuse counseling and attend-
ed Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Now Josh goes to Oakland Com-
munity College and will attend the
University of New Mexico in the fall.
He also has a part-time job at a
restaurant.
He has traveled miles since
visiting drug houses in Detroit, and
beach hangouts in Union Lake. The
purgatory he once experienced is
history.
Josh's parents, Ardell and Nate
Firestone, are sitting in a West
Bloomfield family room surrounded
by books and smiling photos of their
five children: The Firestones seem
like the picture perfect family on a
television sitcom. Ardell, with
reddish-brown hair, is the gracious
hostess offering food. Nate, with silver
hair, is friendly and jokes with the
guests. Josh, wearing blue jeans, an
earring and silver rings, claims his
24
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1988
room is presentable, while Ardell
disagrees.
It's hard to imagine this Jewish
family was once divided and invaded
by adolescent drug abuse (any drugs,
legal or illegal substances: alcohol,
marijuana, cocaine).
Nate Firestone, a pediatrician for
25 years in Farmington Hills, and his
wife Ardell, a homemaker, relate
their story with cracked voices and
teary eyes. They also are anxious
about seeing their story in the
newspaper and how the Jewish com-
munity will react.
"If it helps one child, we will be
happy;' says Mrs. Firestone.
"We are not embarrassed about
what happened to our child. We are
grateful he is alive today. And I want
to give a standing ovation to the West
Bloomfield School District for all its
support;' adds Dr. Firestone.
The Firestones parallel American
middle-class families. Today, adoles-
cent drug abuse is as prevalent in
Jewish families as in non-Jewish
ones.
"As there is a problem in the rest
of the country, so there is a problem
in the Jewish community;' says Mit-
chell Wallick, executive director of
New York JACS Foundation (Jewish
Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent
Persons and Significant Others). "It
becomes more serious in the Jewish
community because we believe that
we are never going to have that pro-
blem," says Wallick.
Denial is the common
denominator used by social workers,
teachers, parents and judges when
discussing drug abuse in Jewish
adolescents. Drug abuse is the une-
quivocal shande (shame).
"There is unbelievable denial;'
states Dr. Firestone. "Most people
don't want anyone to know there is a
problem!' Firestone recalls a Jewish
family in his practice who never
returned to him when he suggested
drug testing for the child.
Research and statistics on adoles-
cent drug abuse rarely, if ever, cite
specific references to Jewish teens.
One reason is that the findings are
not categorized by religion. Resear-
chers also encounter "protectionist
mentality" — minimizing, refusing,
denying and hiding the problem.
Information published in January
by the Institute for Social Research at
the University of Michigan states,
"Over half (57 percent) of last year's
high school seniors in the nation tried
an illicit drug, and over a third had
tried an illicit drug other than mari-
juana." The report did cite a decline
in cocaine. In 1986, 16.9 percent of
senior high school students in the na-
tion tried cocaine, while in 1987 the
percentage was 15.2. Although a low
number, it means that one in every
six high school seniors has tried
cocaine.
For alcohol, the statistics are grim
and have not improved in the last
three years. "Nearly all high school
seniors (92 percent) have had ex-
perience with alcohol and two-thirds
are current users, i.e. the past 30
days?'
Judge Bernard Friedman of the
48th district court (Birmingham-
Bloomfield Hills) is surprised at the
number of Jewish youngsters he sees
in court for alcohol abuse. "Part of the
reason for the increase is a better
awareness of the problem in the
general community as well as the
police community;' says Friedman.
What disturbs him is the blase
reaction of parents toward alcohol
abuse. "All of them take the attitude,
`It's no big deal. I'm glad it's not
drugs! " Friedman often finds himself
explaining to parents and teens the
deleterious effects of alcohol as a drug,
the legality, the driving dangers and
the criminal record.
According to Al Dicken, director
of the Student Service Center at West
Bloomfield High School, "The
average age of a first use of drugs in
Oakland County is fifth grade."
Dicken points out that kids usually
begin experimenting from their
parents' liquor cabinets.
Dicken, like other drug educators,
has no separate statistics for Jewish
children. But he believes Jewish
traditions and values have kept
alcoholism at a minimum in past
decades.
Dr. Sheri Olson, a substance
abuse psychologist since 1970 and
now at the Maplegrove Youth Treat-
ment Center in West Bloomfield,
believes there is "an increase of drug
abuse among Jewish youths, where
one time it was unheard of!'
Sis Wenger, manager of communi-
ty education at Henry Ford Hospital
and nationally acclaimed anti-drug
advocate, also notices a rise locally
among Jewish teens. "Jewish parents
need to be alert, just like all parents,"
says Wenger.
"It's not uncommon for a young
person to be drunk at a bar mitzvah,"
"As there is a
problem in the
rest of the
country, so there
is a problem in
the Jewish
community?'
_/\
says Dicken. Party planner Dee Dee
Hoffman of West Bloomfield confirms
this. "I have had to ask kids to leave
a party because they were drunk."
Josh Firestone's foray into drugs
began at age 12, one year before his
bar mitzvah. He first started drink-
ing with friends, snitching alcohol
from parents' liquor cabinets. "When
I was 12, I started smoking pot with
Jewish kids from North Farmington
High!' As the years progressed, his in-
volvement increased — ninth grade
was cocaine and mushrooms, tenth
grade freebasing and acid.
"I was doing all the things you
don't want your kids to do;' states
Firestone. When he couldn't steal
money to support his habit, he stole
saleable goods like radar detectors.
The Firestones recognized
changes in their son. He became un-