Rising Substance Abuse Among Kids: Let's Talk About It

According to Wesley Massing, juvenile probation officer at the Greene County Juvenile Probation Office, recent data shows that from January to mid-July, 58 charges were filed for substance abuse for a juvenile. This number accounts for 31% of charges filed for 2025 in Greene County.

One of the most sobering revelations from the July Greene County Alliance Meeting was that children as young as seven have been caught using drugs. In one recent case, a two-year-old was photographed smoking under the supervision of older siblings—with parents and grandparents present.

Panelists identified family disruption and foster care placement as one potential factor of substance abuse.

“I'll tell you, the number one is a disruption in the family,” stated substance abuse counselor at A Time for Peace, Ashley Daffron. “It might seem unstable from the outside, but to [the kids] that chaos is very normal. So you’re taking them out of their comfort zone and adding a lot of different components, a lot of different people, and ultimately substance abuse is a coping skill.”

She told attendees that it is common for families to use drugs together and, while it isn’t very unfortunate, to a child it is their normal.

“I was given meth for the first time at twelve years old by my mother,” shared Massing. “I lived in a home where it was more of a lifestyle.”

He went on to detail his years of struggle with substance abuse and how, upon reflection, he wishes that there were people in authority who would have tried to help his mental health. Massing is now sober and committed to helping get youth the help he needed during his addiction.

Sergeant Tony Harris from the Greene County Sheriff's Department is an SRO Supervisor in a local school and is often called to navigate substance abuse by students.

“Just because it’s criminal, doesn’t mean you throw the book at them,” added Harris on drug use in school. “That’s where we’ll call [the] Juvenile [Probation Office], we’ll find out their history, we’ll talk to the counselors at school…and we’ll try to do what’s best for this kid.”

Harris said this has had an impact on youth who feel as if law enforcement didn’t ruin their life, but wanted to help them get better.

Massing then went on to discuss how he sees the stigmatizing of drugs affecting youth, stating that in the past, doing drugs made someone “uncool” and now young people who don’t drink or do drugs are considered not cool.

“We’re also seeing a lot of pop culture and social media [say] it’s cool to use drugs…it’s cool to sell drugs,” said Massing. “That’s a big issue for us. I mean we’ve gone to lengths of installing filters that these kids can’t have access to the internet.”

Panelists emphasized that rising drug use is intertwined with mental health struggles, including depression, PTSD, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts.

“Social media is taking so much of their time and their brains and they’re comparing themselves to other people and other lifestyles that are not even real and then they feel depressed because their lives aren’t like that,” added Sarah Sumpter, director of clinical services at Methodist Children's Behavioral Hospital.

Sumpter went on to discuss how the perception of perfection on social media hurts children’s mental health. Bridgett Craig, Business Development Director at Methodist Children's Behavioral Hospital, added that oftentimes kids don’t have coping skills for these issues.

Greene County is working to combat these rising numbers by utilizing diversion programs to steer first-time offenders away from court and into counseling or education. Panelists agreed more prevention and early intervention is needed. Suggestions included increasing public education, destigmatizing mental health treatment, and expanding affordable youth services.

“We need to talk about it because the more we talk about it the easier it is to seek help and to encourage people,” said Sumpter.

Panelists used the example of Breast Cancer Awareness and compared it to mental health awareness, stating that talking about this struggle with the same attention would go a long way in destigmatizing getting mental health treatment.

“We’re trying to explain to the child that [treatment] is not a punishment, this is not kid jail,” said Craig. “It’s treatment for what’s going on with you, this is to help you stabilize and feel better, but even professionals try to use treatments as punishments.”

As youth substance use trends rise, Greene County leaders hope continued conversations, combined with community-wide commitment, can prevent more young lives from being caught