Pubdate: Sat, 24 Mar 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Colbert I. King

KIDS ON DRUGS

There was nothing complicated or tricky about the question. Juvenile 
drug-testing statistics for January prepared by the D.C. Pretrial Services 
Agency showed the arrest of two 11-year-old children. One of them tested 
positive for drugs. I wanted to know what happened to the preteen drug user.

The search for an answer began Wednesday morning with a call to Carolyn 
Bowen, chief of Pretrial Services' juvenile drug-testing unit. Her group 
collects samples only at the time of arrest and forwards the results to the 
court. A judge usually decides the child's fate after talking with the 
court's intake unit. She pointed me in the direction of intake's Vivian Brock.

I called Brock, explained what I was looking for, stressed that I was not 
interested in the child's identity, only in how his case had been handled. 
She referred me to her boss, Moses McAllister, director of the court's 
Social Services Division.

McAllister took my name and number, and said he would get back to me.

Two hours later, Margaret Summers, press liaison for the D.C. Court of 
Appeals and Superior Court, called. She said she wasn't sure she could 
discuss the case at all or tell me anything. She wanted to know what tack I 
was going to take. I said it depended upon what I learned. Summers said she 
would get back to me. It was mid-morning.

Hearing nothing from Summers by the end of the day, I called her. She said 
the person she needed to speak with had been tied up in meetings all day. 
She promised to call the next day.

Wednesday's inquiries weren't for naught, however. As usual, encounters 
with the city always leave me a little wiser. Lesson learned: An 
11-year-old child who reportedly uses drugs and gets in trouble with the 
law does not make the radar screen of higher-ups in the juvenile system.

Not that official rhetoric about troubled children doesn't flow from on 
high like a mighty stream. In its latest update, the city's Youth Services 
Administration touts its "holistic, family-focused approach" to delinquency 
prevention and control -- "holistic" being defined as "family-centered 
[service] with emphasis on youth/parental responsibility." Declares Youth 
Services, "The youth care system must focus on prevention and early 
intervention of troubled behavior, encouraging self-examination as the 
cornerstone of personal growth and healthy adulthood." The Superior Court 
describes its drug intervention program in heavy terms, too. "Orientation 
and Assessment, Stabilization and Cognitive Restructuring" etc. Good stuff, 
huh?

So, what's the story with the 11-year-old? Thursday, a senior Superior 
Court official said he'd check and get back to me.

The 11-year-old wasn't alone. Dozens of 17-year-old youths were also taken 
into police custody. Forty-five of them -- or 69 percent -- had drugs in 
their system. The younger the arrestees, the worse it got.

Of 38 16-year-olds arrested in January, 30 -- or 79 percent -- tested 
positive. The report showed seven 13-year-old arrestees had been on drugs. 
They were joined by two 12-year-olds.

January was no departure from the norm. Next to the Wizards' losing season, 
the District's surest recurring phenomenon is drugged-up kids on the wrong 
side of the law.

Think not? Work forward from 1995. Juveniles testing positive for drugs at 
the time of arrest exceeded 60 percent in each year. In January, the number 
of arrested kids testing positive reached 69 percent. Not exactly progress. 
It's been like this for years.

Now, don't lay off the whole problem on juvenile services or the court. 
Think about it: When was the last time any of our exalted local leaders 
either in the political arena or in the pulpit had anything to say about 
illicit drug use among the young. When have you heard them talking about 
the link between wigged out boys and girls and truancy, early sexuality, 
child abuse and violence.

There's a reason. They would rather not deal with it. Too messy. Calls for 
stepping on too many toes close to home. Better to direct attention 
somewhere else. Downtown. Across town. Out of town. Look anywhere, except 
toward the mess at hand.

Our leaders -- whether decked out in suits and ties or adorned in robes and 
collars -- are, like sleight-of-hand artists, masters at misguiding their 
audiences: the new Wilson Building; privatizing health care; symbolic city 
license plates; recall petitions. They are things to get worked up about. 
Repress all that unpleasant stuff about our own kids, though. Let's just 
lie to ourselves.

Oh, yes, the 11-year-old.

Yesterday afternoon, McAllister called to say he had located the case. The 
boy had been arrested for unauthorized use of a car, tested positive for 
drugs and was sent to the Oak Hill Youth Center (reformatory) in Maryland 
because no beds were available at the youth shelter. A bench warrant had 
been issued for him earlier, because he was already under court supervision 
for a previous offense and had run away from his grandmother's home. 
Although she has trouble handling him -- his parents are out of the picture 
- -- he's now back at home with grandmother, still under court supervision 
and reportedly meeting with a probation officer.

So much for "holistic" services, "stabilization and cognitive restructuring."
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