Fighting the drug culture

I want to protect the identify of my son, so if you know him, please keep it confidential.

I am a mother who lives in Colorado. I am raising money for my son to attend Turn About Ranch in Utah for drug abuse, depression, anxiety, and a mood/anger disorder. We have been through other treatments that never address the reason why my son is continuing down this path. I have researched and explored many options and treatment centers. I feel Turn About Ranch is a good fit for my son because it is a working cattle ranch where he will gain the confidence and skills to win this fight.  Our plan is to get him in an environment where he can develop the skills to stand up to this normalizing drug and gang culture.   Our town has become unsafe and we are unable to move at this time. We have tried to rehabilitate him in his natural home environment and have had some success but recently he has been making poor, unsafe and unhealthy choices.

Soon after legalization of marijuana my son started using marijuana edibles in 8th grade and moved on to dabs (which is the crack cocaine of marijuana) which lead him down a road of mental illness and more drugs. He attempted to take his own life in 9th grade. Even though we raised him not do drugs and had him in pro social activities, he states he was under the understanding that marijuana is natural and harmless.  My son is ultimately responsible for his own choices, but these false messages have over taken our town and is a result of the propaganda from the pot industry.

We volunteered our family for crisis intervention with the Department of Social Services who helped some, but never addressed the main problem.  We have been through 3 hospitalizations, multiple outpatient treatments, including 2 rounds of home therapy. It is recommended by multiple medical professionals that we seek inpatient residential treatment. We are finically stressed. We are being treated for PTSD due to violence of a shooting that occurred near our home related to our son, and his suicide attempts. We have been threatened by gangs, but lately those threats have not occurred for a the past few months. Thank God.

Marijuana use increases suicidal tendencies by 7 fold in a young brain and is a gateway drug. I have spoken to lawyers about a class action lawsuit against the state of Colorado due the fact that they allowed legalization of marijuana to pass without any education in our schools but have not found a lawyer to take this on nor do we have the financial means to pay a lawyer.  Our community is flooded with high potency pot products and has attracted more drugs and gangs.  The black market is thriving. The pot industry manipulates our community with the promise of money and gives scholarships to high school seniors. They need to promote their business so they can have future customers, and those customers are our children. I don't take that lightly. I am very active in our community trying to overturn this law. I volunteer my time with several community groups, as to be more proactive.

We know our son can get better because he stayed sober for 8 months and has just relapsed in the past 2 weeks. He has been running away, and last weekend he was gone of 3 days. My husband, myself and our younger son were inconsolable at times not knowing where he was or if he was ok. He is only 16 years old. He is home now and is willing to get help. Out of all the options I have research, he has chosen Turn About Ranch for his recovery.
It's important to get him there asap because his school and our town are unsafe because of the bullying, gangs and drugs. He's just not strong enough yet to face this toxic culture.

Turn About Ranch was working with us to get our son there but decided they need $36,000 up front just to get him in the front door.  They said insurance companies will not pay them for up to a year and do everything they can not to pay. The insurance company will try to discharge him after only 10 days of treatment. Most treatment programs are not in the position of carrying that kind of debt and in their professional opinion my son will require a long treatment stay. Maybe even up to a year.    I've called Turn About Ranch about 10 times over the past few years after hearing about them on the Dr. Phil show. I will continue to write letters to Governor Hickenloper, Dr. Phil, family and friends so we can seek help.

 

My husband and I are hard working people who have volunteered in our schools and with the Boy Scouts of American.  Many days we feel broken but we have strong faith and know that god's plan may be different than ours. We are thankful for this opportunity to ask for help but it is difficult to ask because we have always paid our own way.

This expense is just not something we can carry.  My husband and I feel we need this professional help for our son to live a healthy productive life and at this time our parenting skills are substandard to what he needs. We will do anything that guides us to become a better family and support our son through this journey. We will continue to educate and serve our community with prevention and empowering messages, because we know we are not the only family struggling.

Thank you, and we hope to pass on any support we can in the future to other families in need.  We believe our country is in a spiritual war, and education, truth, and faith is the light and the key to recovery and progress.