Pubdate: Wed, 11 Oct 2006
Source: Stoneham Sun (MA)
Copyright: 2006 Stoneham Sun
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/stoneham/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3709
Author: Nadine Wandzilak, Correspondent

PARENTS GET AN EDUCATION ON DRUGS

A group of about 50 students gathered last week at Stoneham High 
School, signed in for a class, picked up a handout and filed into the 
auditorium.

"Do your kids know you're here?" the program's instructor asked the 
audience not of teens, but rather adults.

"Tell them you're getting an education," said Marilyn Grifoni 
Belmonte - lessons in how to recognize drugs and symptoms of drug 
use. In the first of four sessions, the drug recognition instructor 
talked about plant-based drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, 
methamphetamine and marijuana.

This week she will talk about prescription and over-the-counter 
drugs; next week, club drugs and on the fourth and final installment 
a panel comprised of members of the Stoneham Police Department and 
School Department will talk about drug issues particular to the town.

It's tough, Belmonte said, for parents to talk to their children 
about drugs, mostly because they don't know much about them.

Belmonte said kids are cocky; they think they know more about drugs 
than their parents but end up getting a lot of misinformation. She 
said by dispelling these drug myths parents could help save lives.

Sound dramatic? When Belmonte was getting a flyer printed, she began 
to talk to a boy who worked at the printing shop. He told her he 
overdosed on heroin and almost died the night of his high school 
graduation. He said he had used Oxycontin all through high school, 
she recounted.

"He has a monkey on his shoulder for the rest of his life - an 
addiction, said Belmonte. "I do not want to see our kids have that 
burden at that age."

For two hours, Belmonte, who presents training seminars for police, 
emergency medical personnel, nurses, teachers and drug counselors, 
talked about drugs. She said in this part of the country, opiates, 
including Oxycontin, Cocaine and Ecstasy are a huge problem among kids.

Belmonte said Ecstasy use is on the rise in the commonwealth, adding 
the average age of a beginning user is 15 years old.

Drugs go in and out of style "like pointy-toe shoes," she said.

Belmonte said today heroin is more dangerous than in the past because 
it's low in price but high in purity. She said marijuana is also more 
dangerous because it's more potent than before.

The four drugs that bring people to emergency rooms in the Boston 
area, according to Belmonte, in descending order, are alcohol, 
cocaine, heroin and pot.

Belmonte said teens abuse drugs during two time periods on weekdays, 
between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. and between 8 and 10 p.m. She said during 
school vacation, there is no use "blip" in the morning.

But making drugs illegal doesn't solve the problem, Belmonte said.

You are less likely to see drugs than drug paraphernalia, Belmonte 
told the audience. "You will definitely see" physical and behavioral 
clues of drug abuse, she said.

With "eyes as the window of the soul," Belmonte listed "predictable 
eye clues" for different types of drugs, from narcotics abusers' "pin 
point pupils" to the huge pupils of methamphetamine users.

Belmonte said one of the strongest antidotes to drug use is parents. 
She said teens don't worry about dying, they think they are 
invincible - until something bad happens and realize they're not.

The majority of teens say the greatest risk of using marijuana is 
upsetting their parents, Belmonte said.

"Just let your kids know you are not clueless anymore," she said. 
"They want - and need - to know you care."

Barbara Arnott, an audience member and parent, said parents need to 
be aware, for without information they feel they do not have a clue 
about what's going on around them.

Arnott said what Belmonte is encouraging is parental influence. She 
said parents have to communicate with their children so kids know 
their parents care. Otherwise, Arnott said, they seem to jump to the 
conclusion that parents don't care.

Diana Crowe, co-president of the Stoneham Middle School PTO, said she 
too wants to be aware of as much information as possible. She said 
with drugs all over the place, Belmonte's presentation was everything 
parents would want to know.

"She knew what she was talking about," Crowe said.

Blame game is pointless

Parent Eileen Mello, a nurse, said she sees more and more people are 
coming in to local hospital emergency rooms under the influence of 
drugs. She said blaming local police or schools or parents for the 
problem solves nothing.

For Mello, Belmonte's presentation reinforced the negative effect of 
the Internet on students, adding parents and residents need to look 
at the activities available to students here.

Several parents declined to comment on the program, and give their 
names, because they did not want to embarrass their children.

Along with praise for Belmonte and her program, two members of last 
Wednesday's audience had one complaint: the size of the audience.

"Even when you think you know everything," Mello said, "There's 
always something (new) coming out."

Audience turnout was also low at past programs on Internet safety and 
Molly Bish, said Crowe.

"We need to know (about drugs) before (our children) know," she added.

The Stoneham United Council of PTOs and the Stoneham Rotary Club are 
sponsoring the program on the four Wednesdays in October.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine