The real story was not Erin Allen's drug addiction and unfathomable recklessness, but rather the very real brain disease which caused these behaviors. It takes a manic-depressive person an average of eight years to be properly diagnosed and often another several years before the disease is well controlled.
Prescription medications provide the only effective treatment.
No amount of psychotherapy or parental intervention can permanently stop the behaviors unless brain chemistry is corrected. Pa. The story was a tearjerker, for sure. But it was also devoid of nearly any information that would be useful to citizens trying to make informed judgments about public policy toward drugs and drug addiction. Your story didn't say. Some addicts can't be cured.