Drugs and Alcohol - Dirty Little Secrets

[Qbot2640]

Two things that seem too important not to point out are:
Even with a minor situation involving something prohibited, especially drugs, the publicity that can generate will likely spiral out of control. The complicated politics of society and organizations today pretty much guarantee that even the best team or organization is going to have someone willing to exploit bad news...and the sensationalism of today's media jumps right on the mud-slinging bandwagon. (1) The existence of the team could be threatened - a sponsoring organization might dissolve the team in response to appear like they are addressing the situation...or because their insurance carrier requires it, or it could so adversely affect contributions as to dry up all funding. And (2) the mentors of the team could face dire circumstances such as loss of employment and possibly be part of criminal investigations for not being more forthcoming with information.

It is very important to have an up-front, no exceptions policy about how you are going to handle these kinds of situations (and a policy that conforms to whatever requirements your organization has for the situation). Tell your students that you will help them in any way possible, but a mentor's responsibility to the team and the mentor's own liability may prevent them from being the kind of friend to share all secrets with.