Pubdate: Wed, 30 Nov 2005
Source: Lowell Sun (MA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lowellsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/852
Author: Dennis  Shaughnessey, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

LOCAL STUDENTS TOLD THEY ARE ON 'FRONT LINES' OF DRUG ABUSE

TYNGSBORO -- The stories are replete with heartache and misery and are
designed to steer kids away from drugs.

There is the Yale student who died of an overdose. There is the MIT
student who died in a methamphetamine lab. There is the prominent
doctor who became addicted to OxyContin, forfeiting a wonderful
family, a beautiful home and a lucrative practice. "Drugs not only
hurt the user, but it hurts everyone around him," Lt. Dennis Brooks
told a group of about 200 students from area schools who attended an
antidrug conference yesterday at the Boston University Corporate
Education Center. The conference was sponsored by the Project Alliance
Middlesex Partnerships for Youth and the Middlesex District Attorney's
Office. Brooks, a 23-year member of the Massachusetts State Police,
assisted the students, all of whom are peer leaders in their schools,
in identifying the various drugs that have made inroads into teen
social circles in the last five years. He also spoke of the violence
that often accompanies the drug culture. "The drug dealers and the
drug users don't worry about me catching them," Brooks said. "They
know I won't kill them or hurt them. They're worried abut their
associates and their group of friends who can inflict some serious
pain upon them." The good news is that alcohol and marijuana use is
down among high-school students across the state, said Middlesex
District Attorney Martha Coakley. The bad news, she added, is that
OxyContin, anabolic steroids and other narcotics are readily available.

So are heroin, cocaine and, now, crystal meth.

"Let's get straight to the point," Coakley said after welcoming peer leaders
 and their teachers to Safe and Drug Free: A Peer Leadership Training for
High  School Students. Kids are dealing with so much more than kids of
previous  generations. There are temptations around every corner, and we can
give them  some information that will be helpful, (and) they will all be
able to go back to  their high schools and maybe, just maybe, they'll be
able to help others.

The theory behind the program is to teach kids what to say and how to
respond to friends and loved ones who are in the throes of addiction.

"If a kid who is a respected peer leader in his or her school says it's not
cool to use OxyContin, then maybe kids will listen," Coakley said. "They're
really not going to listen to what I have to say."

When Brooks asked if the students know anybody who is currently using drugs,
all hands went up.

"You're on the front lines," he said. "You're the one that has
to be there to  get help. Oh, they'll be reluctant to let you help
them, but you have to be persistent. Don't treat them like criminals. Treat
them like somebody with a disease that needs help." Milling in
the halls after the presentation, students chatted about the conference.

"I thought it was useful and helpful, and it will come in handy when
I talk to other kids about drugs," said Concord-Carlisle High School
senior Gregory Proulx. "There was an awful lot of information to
process." In addition to the Brooks presentation, workshops included
such topics as abusive relationships and sexual-assault prevention,
cyber bullying and Internet safety, adolescent gambling, and eating
disorders.

"It was good for the students to be able to attend," said Loren
Baccari, a student adviser at Woburn High School. "I would have
liked to have seen more in  terms of providing concrete tips and
strategies that the kids could use when  dealing with peer
situations."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin