Caleb was a young teen living in an affluent area of a major California city.
Although he is quite young, Caleb has shown himself to have remarkable talent in acting and singing, has starred in middle and high school plays and even a few television commercials.
I first heard of this young man from his aunt who attended a parent seminar I gave at a high school in another part of town.
The aunt told of her increasing worries over drugs and alcohol abuse among the crowd with which Caleb (Not his real name) was hanging.
She said that although he was talented and quite handsome, his judgment was poor and he had more courage than sense.
She gave me the family's name and numbers and I tried to reach the family but got no response.
After another couple of months went by, Caleb's mother called my office for help because he had overdosed and nearly died.
He was 14 years old.
He had taken 5 ecstasy pills at once and on top of that took 8 powerful ADHD tablets of unknown strength.
The particular ADHD drug he took is an amphetamine, a powerful stimulant which is subject to abuse and addiction.
I came to speak with Caleb at his parents' request.
Not as counseling, more just to give some drug education and have a look as a preliminary assessment.
I saw a young man at fourteen years of age who was behaving like a child and who had not the slightest idea that he was risking his sanity if not his life by continuing to abuse drugs.
This, in spite of the fact that he'd nearly died less than a week earlier.
After spending hours with him and after making sure he had a full understanding of the dangers of MDMA, (ecstasy), I left him and we began to search for a program he could attend.
By the next day, we located an empty bed in a program that helps teens in a 12 month, live-in, drug-free environment.
Getting him started there would take 4 days.
But during those 4 days, he again overdosed on the exact same drugs! He survived this overdose too.
However, just how much permanent damage was done to his nervous system, no one could say.
Caleb's case is unusual, but far from rare.
Millions of people around the world, most often young people, are exhibiting astounding lapses of judgment, making the most bone-headed decisions regarding drug use.
And it is not true that they are simply stupid.
Some are quite intelligent.
But their ability to make good choices is just gone.
Even though they see the danger and the damage, they lack self-awareness, self-inspection and self-control.
Addiction is like a curtain dropped over the drug abuser's eyes.
Without proper treatment, talking to these addicts all day and all night will be purely wasted time.
Not until they are fully withdrawn from the drug, including an actual detoxification of drug residues, will this person be aware enough to begin true rehabilitation.
At that point, off drugs, the addict can begin to see the truth of where he or she has been and it will finally be possible to begin the process of reparations and rebuilding.
Caleb has a long row to hoe.
His recovery will be difficult and there is no guarantee it will ever be complete.
A good rehabilitation center can start the addict on the road, but over the years to come, only he himself can walk it.
Without actual, drug-free detox rehab treatment the addict may never even see that road.