Pubdate: Mon, 10 May 2004
Source: Charlotte Sun Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2004 Sun Coast Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sun-herald.com/newsch.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1708
Author: Angeline Taylor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

PART OF DRUG PROBLEM IS TRYING TO AVOID THEM

Many students are being raised by parents who have a relaxed attitude 
toward drug use, in an age in which everything about drugs and the 
substances themselves are available over the Internet. Marijuana has been 
called the "gateway drug," and is the leading cause of school expulsions in 
Sarasota County. And some believe its pervasiveness stems from parents 
using the drug for recreation with their children. "Some parents are 
smoking marijuana with their kids," said TRIAD Program Director Steve 
Hazuda. "Then the kids begin to expand their horizons (to) cocaine, heroin, 
etc." At least two school district reports and two state reports cite a 
problem with drugs in Sarasota County. Yet, programs to help either parents 
or children are still limited. Parents who use the drug today are under the 
impression that the drug from the 1960s is the same. Fact is, the pot of 
the 1960s no longer exists. Marijuana today is actually 16 times more 
toxic, according to national reports and Norman Shewman, CEO of Home Detox 
Inc. and Home Detox Drug Screening in Venice. "Some of the kids around 
think it's not harmful," said Capt. Tim Carney, of Sheriff Youth Services. 
"Nationwide, the drugs of choice for teens is alcohol and marijuana." 
Shewman, however, has not only seen pot. He's seen heroin, cocaine, 
Oxycontin -- you name it. Shewman agrees with Carney that the problem is 
not just in Sarasota County. "Sarasota County has the highest Oxycontin use 
in the state," Shewman said. "Charlotte County has the highest drug use in 
the state." Department of Education's discipline data reports show 
Charlotte County School's drug problem as twice as bad as Sarasota 
County's. Charlotte County had 378 school drug confiscations in the 2002-03 
school year, while Sarasota County only had 162. A process involving 
student and parent begins once a student is recommended for expulsion, said 
Linda Post, Sarasota County schools expulsions coordinator. The student's 
public school prepares a settlement agreement to attend an alternative school.

If the agreement is broken, the student is officially expelled and the 
School Board votes to approve the expulsion. Problem is, most alternative 
schools are overcrowded. Just recently, school officials requested 19 
students to be accepted at Gulf Coast Vocational Institute on an altered 
schedule.

Those students will attend Gulf Coast from 3-7 p.m. at a cost of $23,750. 
The lure In his book, "Dispelling the Marijuana Myth," George Biernson 
describes how the toxicity of pot lures most of the new generation of pot 
users.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is a psychoactive chemical that stays in a 
user's body for more than a month. The high, Biernson writes, only uses a 
small portion of THC, with up to 40 percent being stored in the body. Any 
student who smokes pot is most likely being dragged "into a state of 
continual sedation," he writes. This cycle starts the search for the 
highest high. The difference the day make A current TRIAD student wanted 
Hazuda to know that his older cousin also attended TRIAD. When the 
student's cousin was there, he just smoked pot. Now, at 22, he takes 30 to 
40 Oxycontin pills a day, Hazuda said. "Then these kids feel like 
failures," Hazuda said. "They just want to quit on life. Deep down they 
really do want help." According to Jennifer Walker, program director at 
Gulf Coast Vocational Institute, the problem is not limited to a certain 
part of society. "Ten years ago you could pinpoint problems to low SES 
(socioeconomic students). Nowadays you can't. I've had students from Venice 
that live in million-dollar subdivisions," Walker said. "We can't just say 
the kid lives here and this is why he or she is having problems. It has no 
barriers.

It's not just drugs.

It's who they elect to be with. That peer group is equally important.

How do we combat that?" When family's not enough School Resource Officer 
Randy Ruth said drug usage often starts as cliques or groups form in middle 
or high school.

By working at North Port High, Ruth has witnessed how high schools develop 
their own mini-societies. At North Port, none of the groups could be 
considered gangs.

Nonetheless, Ruth is wary. "They aren't really organized gangs.

They're more like factions students break into," Ruth said. "They 
experiment (with drugs) among peers." Ruth has either found or known of 
drugs on school campus, like a vile of cocaine being found at school, a 
local heroin arrest and repeated marijuana usage. "This generation doesn't 
scare me, but the next one sure does," Ruth said. "It's just so 
sensitized." Internet Those that are not exposed by peers could be educated 
by the Internet. Their education comes from a well-known Web site, which 
offers tips such as things to add to marijuana to increase the high. 
"Unfortunately, a lot of kids are aware of the site," Ruth said. "We got it 
(the Web address) from a student." The site accepts memberships and 
donations offers a forum for testimonials. "Wow. WOW," wrote one Ecstasy 
user. "WOOOOOOOOOOW! Sorry ... Had my first X experience this weekend, and 
I though (sic) I'd tell the net what it was like, and also ask a few 
questions about this stuff to the people that know more about it than I do."
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