Pubdate: Sun, 26 Nov 2006
Source: Sentinel, The (Carlisle, PA)
Copyright: 2006 The Sentinel, a division of Lee Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.cumberlink.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4268
Author: Tatiana Zarnowski

CVSD RESPONDS TO RISE IN TEENS TRYING DRUGS

They seem to be getting younger, the teens who parade before the 
Cumberland Valley School Board for their fate to be decided in 
discipline hearings.

Ninth- and tenth-graders are getting caught with marijuana and 
abusing prescription drugs, and when the board's discipline committee 
asks, most of the teens say they started using drugs during the 
summer before ninth grade, says Assistant Superintendent Mary Riley.

"That summer is absolutely crucial," Riley says.

Twenty-six students faced discipline hearings in the first two months 
of school, a disturbingly high number compared with the 56 teens who 
had hearings during the entire last school year, when the first 
hearing occurred after the October Homecoming dance, she says.

CVCAC joining in

So the district and Cumberland Valley Community Action Committee 
(CVCAC) are bringing out the big guns to combat teen drug and alcohol 
use with a hard-hitting "Drugs 101" program open to all district parents.

It isn't the first sweeping anti-drug initiative they've taken.

Last year, high school students who participated in activities or 
drive to school were entered into a database for random drug testing 
at school, and those weekly tests continue this year.

But now parents who wonder whether their teens are on drugs won't 
have to leave the question to chance. Parents who attend the Dec. 7 
drug program will take home a free drug test to use on their children.

The district encourages parents not to be in denial about teens and 
drugs. "You always want to think it's not your kid," Riley says. "You 
want to believe them."

The evening presentation spells out the signs of drug and alcohol use 
for parents who aren't drug savvy and offers them a peek into a 
teenage drug user's bedroom - staged, of course. Parents will be 
asked to identify drug and alcohol paraphernalia placed throughout the room.

Marijuana, inhalants, ecstasy, methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin 
all will be addressed in the two-hour presentation. Parents are 
encouraged to bring their questions.

Riley reminds parents that some drugs are available much closer to 
home. "It's a trend right now ... children are raiding medicine 
cabinets and giving out things that aren't theirs."

But thanks to the random drug testing policy and other district 
initiatives such as randomly testing students for alcohol at school 
dances, teens are coming forward more readily to report drug 
activity, she says.

"I think what's working is there is a greater awareness, particularly 
at the high school level, that drugs and alcohol on school property 
are not acceptable."
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