Robert Brubeck is Substance Abuse Counselor at Reality House in Columbia, and he's been seeing a disturbing trend.
"I've seen a lot of young kids lately that have been coming in to our program, that are really having a lot of problems with it," said Brubeck.
"It" is heroin, and Emily was one of those young people just a few months ago.
"I was always that girl that was like 'no, you're never going to do that'," said Emily, a recovering heroin addict.
But she did, starting in high school, and battling her addiction up until last December when she was arrested and sent to rehab.
She also says that what used to be a hush-hush problem, has now infested many area schools.
"From what I know, it's all over the high schools, from what I've heard. I mean, you hear about overdoses,and you hear stories; they're not very uncommon," said Emily.
Educating your kids to the dangers of drugs, Emily says, makes a bigger difference than you might realize.
"So, as awkward as it might be, talk to your kids about it, let them know how dangerous it is. You can die; it's not a joke.”
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