The United States has about 26 million teenagers between the ages 12 and 17. According to a new documentary, more than 10% of them need substance abuse treatment. The documentary, produced by ABC News Nightline, follows students in a recovery high school in Denver, Colorado, for a year.

The school is called 5280 High School, a public and private partnership charter school operated as a nonprofit organization. With a dozen staff and 110 kids, 5280 High School is considered the largest recovery high school in the U.S. One thing all the kids have in common is that they are in recovery for substance use disorders (SUDs).

More specifically, of the 2.9 million U.S. teens with SUDs, 750,000 suffer from alcohol use disorder and 2.2 million from drug use disorder (DUD), which includes opiates, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs of abuse. The teenagers profiled in the ABC News documentary reflect this diversity of disorders.

One of the common elements for the kids at 5280 High School is dysfunctional home life. This includes parents and caregivers with substance abuse problems, missing parents, parents in jail, and parents deceased. Many of the students report using drugs before the age of 10.

Some of the kids have been homeless or have lived on the streets for a time. Many have committed crimes, have been arrested and convicted, and their attendance at 5280 High School is a condition of their release.

The documentary does not say a single word about sexual abuse, which is too bad. As we have reported here, sexual abuse is a common factor among a majority of the people seeking treatment for SUDs in the U.S. One of the students confesses to “selling nudes” to get money for drugs, which led to her being blackmailed with her own nudes.

How does 5280 High School manage scores of kids going through recovery at the same time? It’s not easy, as you can imagine, but the program has some lessons for anyone who is helping a teenage substance abuser:

Stabilization first. The teens need to kick their habit before attending school. If this requires clinical treatment, that’s completed prior to attending school. Students often continue on medication after they have stabilized and are attending school.

Family support. Most of the teens have strained relationships with their families and many are being supported by relatives other than their parents. Having someone who cares outside of the school is a major ingredient in staying sober.

No one is left alone. Students are closely watched and are not allowed to disappear without notice. If someone skips class or skips school, their guardians are contacted and an explanation is required.

Peer support. 5280 High School begins each day with a mandatory meeting to get everyone in the right frame of mind to succeed. Sober events, such as prom night, help students have fun and stay clean. It is clear that the support of peers is highly motivational for teens seeking to stay sober.

Recognition of progress. 5280 High School uses sobriety tokens to celebrate each month and year of sobriety. The ultimate token is a graduation diploma, and ABC News captures the joy that comes from finally graduating high school.

Employment and career counseling. It is important to recognize that students are approaching a major transition in life, either on to college or into the workforce, and if that isn’t handled well, it can lead to relapse. Having a goal is a tremendous motivator for rebalancing a reward system damaged by substance abuse.

5280 High School embraces all of these elements of the community reinforcement approach to addiction recovery that considers family, school, employment, medical care, and peer support. The high school is woven into a support community that includes the FullCircle Support Group in Denver, where teens attend sober concerts and dances, 12-step meetings, and family counseling sessions.

Many of the teenagers interviewed by NBC News expressed a desire to work in the recovery field upon graduation. Some of them have been offered internships at Full Circle, a smart way for recovering teens to enter the workforce. With a dropout rate below 10%, 5280 High School is a model recovery school that every municipality can learn from.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published July 23, 2025.

Sources:

“Teens work to overcome addiction at one of America’s largest recovery high schools,” ABC News “Nightline,” July 15, 2025.

“Last-chance high school part 2: Teens battling addiction strive towards graduation,” ABC News “Nightline,” July 16, 2025.

“Hard to Get Sober Young: Inside One of the Country’s Few Recovery High Schools,” KFF Health News, April 5, 2023.

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