Oceana County, with its pastoral fields brimming with asparagus and cherry trees, might seem an unlikely place for a teenage drug problem.
But in this quiet area where the largest of five high schools will graduate fewer than 115 seniors, there is a growing number of young people entering treatment centers for drug abuse.
Last year, 42 Oceana County residents between the ages of 15-20 were in drug treatment. And, according to one recovering addict, that is a fraction of the number actually misusing drugs.
“There is a big problem here,” said 20-year-old Brittany of Rothbury, a recovering drug addict. “Everyone thinks Muskegon is so bad, but they sell the same stuff here as they do there. … Weed is a big deal everywhere, but prescription drugs you can get from just about anyone.”
Prescription drug abuse among young people in Oceana County has led to arrests, accidents and even the recent death of a 20-year-old Hart woman.
Bruce C. Vanderhoof, a local substance abuse counselor, sees the consequences everyday.
“Alcohol and pot use nationwide has come down about 2 percent, but prescription drug use has come up,” he said. “We’re seeing it more and more and no one wants to admit we have a problem in the area.”
In August, Jessica Bruce, a former cheerleader at Hart High School and accomplished equestrian, died when she overdosed on drugs that included a Fetanyl patch. Her father, Steve Bruce, said his daughter had stolen other Fetanyl patches and prescription drugs from her mother in the past.
Many of the prescription drugs young people illegally use are stolen from their parents or someone they know, a fact Michigan’s Department of Community Health has hammered home this year with an aggressive advertising campaign.
But Oceana County residents said that message often goes unheeded.
“It’s very difficult to understand how it happens in a rural community with small-town values,” said Rev. Lorraine Boucon of Hart Congregational United Church of Christ. “You see people dying of drugs and it just doesn’t make sense.”
Steve Bruce said he discovered evidence his daughter, Jessica, had been “smoking” the prescription painkiller the morning he found her dead in her bedroom. His daughter had been living in the Bruce home about three months before her death.
Steve Bruce believes his daughter, who also was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school, started experimenting with drugs after being prescribed pain medication for an injury at age 13. He said he attempted to address his daughter’s growing drug problem for years, but after she turned 18, it was difficult to intervene, especially due to her bipolar disorder.
“Although (we) made multiple attempts to have the dual diagnosis problem of bipolar and drug addiction treated over an extended time period, they were continually stymied by a medical system that bureaucratically is unable to respond to this critical need,” Steve Bruce said.
The day of her death she was scheduled to go to rehab, he said.
“No parent needs to go through this. We talked very straightforward about things,” he said. “She had a good recognition of the problem. We had many discussions about the fact that everyone needs to be responsible for their own actions at all times, whether with drugs or driving or any thing else.”
It takes courage for parents to speak out about a child’s drug problem, Vanderhoof said.
“Most parents and teachers look for the wrong things or they’re afraid to look. They worry, ‘If my kids experiment with drugs, am I a bad parent?’ … This isn’t a blame thing,” he said. “I’d love to see more of these parents say, ‘My kid overdosed.’ ”
Some community leaders have begun to dig deeper into the local teen drug problem.
Boucon, who presided over Bruce’s funeral service, said her heart breaks to see the local youth “hurting.”
“We certainly as a church and as Christians have to find a way to approach it. We’re in the business of saving souls, but maybe we need to be in the business of saving young lives as well,” said Boucon.
Boucon said she spoke out at Bruce’s funeral about the dangers of drug use.
“I stressed to the young people that if they have a problem with drugs, they should speak up. I said, ‘You don’t want to end up the same way (as Jessica Bruce),’” said Boucon. “Living on drugs is not a life. Just because you’re breathing, doesn’t mean you’re alive.”
Boucon, who moved to the Hart area from Grand Rapids 10 years ago, said she’s floored drug problems are so prevalent in small-town America.
“It’s a puzzle. It’s a really beautiful, peaceful place. I call it ‘Happy Valley.’ But people here have the same kind of pain and struggles that anyone else does,” she said.
Law enforcement officials said they also have a hard time getting a grasp on the prescription drug problem.
“It’s not necessarily illegal for someone to possess OxyCotin,” said Lt. Tim Priese of the Oceana County Sheriff’s Department of the strong painkilling medication. “It makes the enforcement of that more difficult. You run into more dead-end roads, whereas, if someone has cocaine or meth — the case is done.”
Education for young people also is lacking, said Oceana County Prosecutor Terry Shaw.
A lack of federal and state funding has ended some drug-education programs that operated in Oceana County for years, such as D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), Shaw said.
The program, which operates in many communities across the country, is an officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live drug- and violence-free lives.
Law enforcement, prevention and treatment are key to battling the drug problem, Shaw said.
“You need prevention and treatment and sometimes there isn’t enough resources,” he said. “Until there is an equal amount of all three, we won’t be successful in combating the issue,” he said.
Oceana County recently received a boost in educational resources when it secured a portion of an $11.75 million grant earlier this year that will be distributed across 16 state substance abuse agencies to help bring the issue of alcohol and drug abuse to the community’s attention.
The Northern Michigan Substance Abuse Agency, which serves 29 other counties and administers the aid money, is conducting two initiatives with the grant money: One in Oceana County to focus on underage drinking and auto crash fatalities, and the other on illegal prescription drug use.
Shaw said he believes prescription drugs have evolved into “more of an issue” than “street drugs.”
“There is a stigma that (street drugs) are worse, but things like OxyCotin are deadly,” he said.
Vanderhoof said local teens are generally referred to his office by the juvenile court system.
“It ebbs and flows,” he said of the number of teens he sees each month. “But the court officials are getting better at identifying it.”
Vanderhoof believes it’s a lack of education among parents, teachers and teens that has contributed to more teens using recreational and prescription drugs.
“We have no education for these kids. We have no education for parents,” he said. “No one is pointing the finger. No one is trying to blame anyone, but this community has got to come together.”
New generation, new challenges
The first line of defense against prescription drug abuse is parental awareness, said Vanderhoof.
He points to a generation of teens that is taking “self-medicating” to an extreme — “if it feels good, take five. If five feels good, take 10.”
Law enforcement officials also are dealing with newer forms of drug abuse.
Pentwater Police Chief Mike Schuitema said he recently learned that a “farm party” has nothing to do with teens gathering on property to drink beer and listen to music.
“Pharm,” it turns out, is short for pharmaceuticals and refers to party-goers bringing pills they steal from relatives or friends and placing them in a bowl to be blindly passed around and ingested by those at the party.
Bowls and baggies of random pills often are called “trail mix” and, according to Internet chat sites, collecting pills from the family medicine chest is called “pharming.”
“It’s scary. How much of this is going on?” Schuitema said. “It’s so under the surface, but I’m sure it’s in every community.”
Last May, two teen girls in Pentwater overdosed on an illegally obtained prescription drug — Ativan — received from an 18-year-old student on school property, according to police reports. After ingesting the drug, one of the teens crashed her car into a tree, but, fortunately, was not injured.
And in Shelby, Police Chief Tim French said middle-schoolers, ages 12 and 13, already are sampling recreational and prescription drugs and the complaints are piling up.
“Shelby has observed additional drug-related complaints and arrests in 2007 from prior years,” said French. “In general, the Shelby Police Department’s complaint load has more than doubled … from last year,” he said.
The use of prescription drugs, like OxyCotin, Vicodin and Codeine, is increasing, French said, due to “household availability” and the fact the pills are “no cost” to teens who take them from medicine cabinets.
French maintains that the issue is getting worse due to a lack of “parental guidance.”
French advises parents to focus on “drug education” and “limit friendships that you see as having a negative influence.”
“Strengthen your bond with your children so they know they can approach you about anything. Teach them respect for you and other adults. Do not give up,” French said.