Dr. Drew's Advice For Teens
Have the issues changed for teens after 25 years of advice?
Well, again, what has changed is there was sort of a naive exuberance in the 80s, and my original own naive idea about getting involved with this kind of show was, "Hey guys, you've got Dr. Ruth out there telling you to have sex, you have that part down. She doesn't understand what you guys are up to," meaning young people. I was 24 years old, I could see what was happening, I get it. You need to understand the biological consequences, there is this thing called GRIDS, Gay Related Intestinal Disease Syndrome, we eventually called AIDS, coming. That was in the beginning of all that, "You need to understand how serious this is biologically." And, you've got to understand something: before the 80s, young people were not educated about sexuality and reproductive health, and sexually transmitted diseases. It was all shrouded in mystery. They were called "venereal diseases", condoms were behind the counter with the medication, you had to ask the pharmacist to come up and get it for you. I mean, it was a different world, and I thought to myself, having just completed this training in medical school, "This stuff is so basic." It's easy for a kid to understand what Chlamydia is, what Gonorrhea is, what HPV is, they just need to understand it. Give them the information so that they can understand, and know how to protect themselves, because that was not available. The term "safe sex" had not even been coined yet. I was sort of there when that terminology developed. Now, we're much more dealing with drugs and alcohol, we're much more dealing with the consequences of childhood trauma and the horrible repetitive retraumatizations, the horrible choices the young people make in their personal lives.
What surprises you most about the questions teens ask?
Nothing surprises me but a lot of things embarrass me. They still embarrass me, a lot of things. It's so embarrassing, some of the stuff they talk about. But no surprises. I've seen everything.
Does anything embarrass you anymore?
All of it. It still embarrasses me to talk about this stuff. I mean it embarrasses me what kids do. All of it. Its just embarrassing to hear them, these crazy things they get into. But, I am not surprised. I've seen and heard it all.
