This is an opinion column.

Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield, has a drug problem. Not literally now — at least not to my knowledge. No, the Republican and OBGYN has a problem with anyone’s use of drugs, like marijuana. Even when legal.

He steadfastly opposed Alabama’s medical marijuana law, being one of eight senators who voted against it before Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law in 2021. “I agree with the [U.S.] surgeon general,” he said at the time. “There is no medical marijuana it is just marijuana.”

Well, yes there is a distinction, in many of the 47 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories where the use of medical cannabis is allowed.

A year later, he filed a bill that would have required women “of childbearing age” – 13 to 50, the bill stated — to show proof they’re not pregnant to purchase legal medical cannabis products. This despite the pesky matter of the constitutionality of such a law or a 2020 study showing no evidence suggesting the use of prenatal cannabis is harmful to the fetus.

It never saw life.

Now, Stutts — a man who once horrifically tried to kill a bill named for a patient who died under his care — wants to raise the age of medical consent in the state from 14 to 18 for people to make their own decisions, with some exceptions. His bill, however, which hasn’t yet been debated in the Senate, would require school counselors to notify parents or receive their parental consent before providing most services to students.

That, alas, realistically renders mute any anonymity expected under an exception.

This is yet another of those “parental rights” bills that presumes the parent is always right, even when they may not be all right.

You may recall Rev. Shaw Moore, the father character in Footloose who declared that dancing can be “destructive” and lead to “spiritual corruption.” (He may not be all wrong…) Stutts clearly believes drug use is destructive and the primary motivation for the bill.

When asked why raising the consent age for medical decisions is needed, Stutts cited two examples involving a minor’s drug use.

“If you had a 15-year-old child that was using drugs,” he said last week to AL.com’s Heather Gann, “and they didn’t want you to find out, but they’re living in your house under your care and they have a positive drug screen, shouldn’t you be able to find out?”

And this: “I think if you have a substance abuse problem, your chance of success with counseling or treating that substance abuse problem is significantly improved if you have the family unit involved.”

Note to doctor: When minors need medical aid, it’s not always caused by drug use. Sometimes, it’s just life.

Such narrow-minded justification reeks of Reefer Madness and naively espouses a Pollyannaish 1950s “family unit” that doesn’t always exist today—if it universally existed at all.

That’s just partly why the bill is “extraordinarily concerning” to many school counselors and therapists, says Dr. Leesha Ellis-Cox, a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist practicing in Hoover, and could create an increase in mental health issues among adolescents, including suicidality.

She said one member of a text group that includes several area school counselors and therapists shared the bill and said: “This just can’t happen.”

“Think about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our young people — an increase in the need for mental health services that led to an uptick in young folks accessing services,” said Dr. Leesha, as she’s known. “To turn around and propose legislation that would completely interrupt that is devastating.”

Her practice has seen numerous minors, she said, who may be experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. Or being bullied. Or are simply wrestling that ugly transition called adolescence. Yet they don’t believe their parents would allow them to undergo counseling.

“They come into my office and say, ‘My parents don’t really believe in mental illness. I don’t really feel like I can talk to them. They don’t understand. I’ve tried to talk to them,’” she said. “The ideal situation is when parents and youth align around recognizing a need for services and then take action to meet the needs of that young person. But this doesn’t always happen.

“Sometimes it’s because of the parents’ stigmatizing beliefs,” she adds. “Sometimes there’s just ignorance about what mental illness looks like. Sometimes because there is trauma being played out in the household. Sometimes it’s because their parents have their own mental health issues, and that may be an avoidant to tackling the issue.”

Stutts’ bill has an exception for mental health counseling consent “for life-threatening situations, imminent danger.”

“If a school counselor thought a child was in imminent danger, they absolutely would have to intervene,” he said. “You don’t have to say, well, let me get permission from your parents first.”

That standard may not be sufficient, Dr. Leesha said, and could lead to dire, life-threatening consequences.

“Not having access to just say to a counselor, ‘Hey, I’m not okay,’ would lead to an increase in rates of depression and anxiety, school failure and suicidality that could include self-harm, suicide attempts or even death by suicide,” she said. “It is just utterly devastating to think that this is a real possibility.”

Almost one in five teens aged 12 to 17 (19.5%) had a major depressive episode in 2022, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Nearly half of high school students (42%) reported feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most frighteningly, more than one in five teens (22%) have seriously considered attempting suicide, reports the American Psychological Association.

In Alabama, the suicide rate among young people aged 10-14 has doubled in the last two decades, says a report from the Alabama State Department of Education, titled Youth Suicide: “The Silent Epidemic” – Keeping More than Dreams Alive.

This is not exactly the time to add another barrier for a young person seeking mental health counseling, one based on assumptions about the parents that Stutts’ bill simply cannot assure.

Parental consent “requires that you would have a reasonable parent, and that’s a problematic assumption because all adults just aren’t reasonable,” Dr. Leesha said. “Even the assumption around what a reasonable parent looks like is problematic. They have to be healthy. They have to be emotionally healthy. You’re assuming what’s happening in terms of communication in the home. You’re assuming there is no trauma or abuse happening, and we know rates of trauma and neglect are high.”

Students are often referred to Dr. Leesha’s practice by school counselors; teachers, she says, are often as likely as parents to sense changes in behavior that might indicate a need for counseling.

“Kids spend an overwhelming majority of their day at school where teachers are pick up things that are happening,” said Dr. Leesha, “whether a kid has fresh scars from self-harm, or is having an academic decline that’s a shift from normal behavior, or they’re sitting by themselves more frequently in the cafeteria, or they have intimated some things to the teacher. They make contact with the kids and suggest they contact the school counselor.”

Stutts’ bill would “interrupt that process,” she added. “It’s just so short-sighted and could be devastating for our young people.”

Even those who’ve never touched a drug.

Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.