“Kids are impressionable and unfortunately, they tend to copy what their favorite stars are doing,” says Stephen Della Valle, author of the new book Rising Above the Influence and president of the board at Turning Point rehabilitation center. “When they see their favorite stars using drugs and alcohol, and making it look like fun, they want to do it, too.”
Part of the problem is the easy access that thanks to the paparazzi and celebrity gossip TV shows and Websites, every move that a famous person makes these days, from leaving a nightclub intoxicated to taking a smoke break outside a rehab facility, is documented and published for the world to see.
“You see photos of Lindsay Lohan at the Cirque Lodge, looking like she’s spending a day at the spa,” says Mr. Della Valle. “But you don’t see the ugly side of rehabilitation—
In 2001, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration conducted their Household Survey and found that:
· Ten percent of people aged twelve to seventeen were current drug users.
· 10.1 million in the same group currently used alcohol.
· Almost 6.8 million of those were binge drinkers; 2.1 million were heavy drinkers.
· Only 53.5 percent of people between twelve and seventeen thought that using marijuana posed a “great risk.”
· 22.8 percent of young adults had driven under the influence of alcohol.
“Young fans see celebrities drinking and using drugs with little or no consequences,”
Stephen Della Valle is president of the board of directors at Turning Point rehabilitation center in Verona, New Jersey. Currently celebrating twenty years of sobriety, he lives in Oak Ridge, New Jersey, with his wife, Donna. He has three children.
Rising Above the Influence is available now (ISBN: 0-9801776-0-
