Go Ask Alice was published in 1971, and is supposedly based on the actual diary of a fifteen year old drug user. I highly doubt that's true. I didn't even make it 1/3 of the way into the novel before I stopped to go look it up on wikipedia. The wording, descriptions, and attitude just did not ring true to things a fifteen year old would say.
It's a scary story though, full of danger, pain, regret, and mistakes. If anyone ever actually went through the things Anonymous was said to have went through, my heart would go out to them. I don't believe this book to be a true story though, especially since the editor (who holds the copyright) listed it as a work of fiction on the copyright page.
The same editor also edited (more than likely wrote) Jay's Journal (smart boy becomes a Satanist), Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (girl taken advantage of by a teacher), Almost Lost: The True Story of an Anonymous Teenager's Life on the Streets, Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, a Pregnant Teenager and It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager (she's dying of AIDS).
Forgetting about the probability that Go Ask Alice was written by an adult, I can see why parents freaked out. There were drugs (using and selling...even to nine year olds), rape, prostitution, running away, harassment, and more. Anonymous was yet again slipped drugs and ended up clawing most of her face and fingers off, and getting committed. Probably not material most conservative parents want their high schoolers seeing.
One of the biggest reasons I believe this to be fiction is this: Here's the Epilogue from the last page - "The subject of this book died three weeks after her decision not to keep another diary. Her parents came home from a movie and found her dead. They called th ...