If you are reading this page, you are a few steps ahead of a great many parents of troubled teens. You are out of denial. The country as a whole is coming to understand that if a teen crisis intervention plan or program isn't in place in schools and public institutions that the juggernauts of drug abuse, alcohol abuse and teen sexual exploitation will continue to crush the lives of America's youth.

Substance Abuse Statistics Tell the Tale

Teen crisis intervention is too grandiose a term you say? These statistics suggest teen crisis intervention is a necessary description for ongoing substance abuse among teens.

• Between 1999 and 2000, the rate of past month marijuana use among women aged 12 and older increased from 3.1 percent to 3.5 percent...
• Among youth aged 12 to 17 in 2000, 9.7 percent had used an illicit drug within the 30 days prior to interview
• Approximately 2.1 million youths aged 12 to 17 had used inhalants at some time in their lives as of 2000. This constituted 8.9 percent of youths
• About 9.7 million persons aged 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol in the month prior to the survey interview in 2000 (27.5 percent of this age group). An estimated 6.6 million (18.7 percent) were binge drinkers and 2.1 million (6.0 percent) were heavy drinkers

Teen Crisis Intervention Comes in Many Forms

As you read these pages, we keep you informed of those public schools, states, towns and non-profits that acknowledge the need for teen crisis intervention by funding teen crisis intervention programs that address the at-risk teen, teens already in the legal system, and pre-teens who might be tempted.

The rise of the Internet only accelerates the need to develop interventions to prevent the at-risk teen from being seduced into dangerous and unsavory situations while right under their parent's roof.

If the dangers to teens ended with substance abuse it might be manageable, but drug abuse brings the subsets of teen pregnancies, rape, imprisonment, AIDS, and prostitution. Teen crisis intervention programs need to be implemented that take account of all of the destructive forces that can be unleashed if left unchecked.

Teen crisis intervention can simply mean that adults take back control of their teen's lives by battling the cultural forces that make drugs seem attractive to the troubled teen. Teen crisis interventions can only occur when parents quit denying a crisis exists.