Let's not forget that attending substance abuse classes is the recommend medical treatment for substance abuse, a medical problem. Doctors wouldn't recommend it if it didn't work sometimes. Imagine if the story was about a broken leg instead of substance abuse and the child similarly said they didn't feel like anything was wrong with their leg, and so it similarly went untreated.
That's quite different from consuming synthetic opioids in elementary / middle school. The former is fairly common at colleges and universities in the west. I'm glad that you were able to dodge that bullet though.
> I don't know that such cautionary tales would necessarily have helped this child, but they might have
They certainly didn't for me. Adolescents aren't necessarily known for their ability to accurately weigh long term consequences when making decisions.
> is the recommend medical treatment for substance abuse, a medical problem
AA and NA would like to disagree. Spirituality is the central component of these programs.
> Imagine if the story was about a broken leg instead of substance abuse and the child similarly said they didn't feel like anything was wrong with their leg, and so it similarly went untreated
A broken leg would be painful enough to spur anyone to seek treatment. Consequences from substance abuse and experimenting with drugs often don't manifest as quickly or as obviously.
The bottom line is that putting further shame on a person who is abusing substances, often leads to the further abuse of substances. This was the case with myself, and most people I encountered throughout my trips to AA / NA meetings, rehabs and a halfway house. I didn't start getting better until I began loving myself enough to stop wanting to slowly kill myself. Punishing or shaming a child who is suffering or simply comitting a mistake, is most certainly not the key to ending their suffering or helping them to realize their misstep.
We know there are better and more effective ways (Sinclair method, or even just reading The easy way to stop drinking), but they don't have the cultural heft that AA has.