SADD Club at Fenwick

Mass.gov classifies addiction as “a chronic, treatable illness, not a personal choice” that “makes long lasting changes to the brain and the body” (Supporting 2021). Massachusetts’s North Shore is a community largely affected by the problem of addiction. Addiction impacts 27.1 million people in the US and Opioid-related deaths have increased 450% over the last 16 years in Massachusetts.  (Massachusetts 2017) The national Institute on Drug Abuse warns that “Adolescence is a key window of vulnerability for using drugs and developing substance use disorders. The still-developing teenage brain is prone to act on impulse, take risks, and follow the influence of peers. By the time they finish high school, more than two thirds of kids will have tried alcohol and about half will have used illicit drugs such as marijuana or will have abused prescription drugs.” (Principles 2014)

The Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) Club,  in partnership with SADD National has worked for years to help teenagers and young adults discern and seek treatment for their own addiction, in addition to providing outlets to those affected by the addictions of others around them. To read more about SADD’s end to addiction initiative, please see here: https://www.sadd.org/initiatives