The Dec. 10 Fence Post question concerning drug testing of high school students provides ample food for thought about the state of our educational system. The problem of drugs in school has not been solved by the "war on drugs" and "just say no" campaigns. Mandatory testing clearly violates the Bill of Rights and would be very difficult to reconcile with lessons pertaining to that document. Yet, voluntary testing opens up a new can of worms - that of being considered guilty simply by virtue of refusing the test. What hasn't been explored nearly enough are methods currently used to educate kids on drugs and alcohol. Various programs have taken the tack that the "scared straight" method is the best way to go - paint a picture so horrible of the consequences that kids will be too scared to try drugs. This works until a kid reaches the age of 12 or 13 and observes for himself that, contrary to what he was led to believe, people don't necessarily die or become totally debilitated as result of drug use - at least not right away. So he begins to feel he was lied to. [continues 152 words]
Sara Aeschlimann A DuPage County grand jury today will consider whether Garrett Harth caused the drug-overdose death of one of his closest friends. Harth, 21, has been under intense police scrutiny since Sara Aeschlimann overdosed last spring in the basement of his parents' Naperville home. Prosecutors Joseph Ruggiero and Justin Fitzsimmons are expected to present evidence today to a grand jury that suggests the young woman did not voluntarily ingest all of the drugs. If indicted, the charge most likely would be involuntary manslaughter. [continues 376 words]
Governmental bodies in Cook County spend four times as much money on drug enforcement than they do on drug treatment and prevention, yet illegal drug use continues to rise, according to a new study to be released today. Of the nearly $1.2 billion spent by federal, state and local governments to combat drugs locally in 1997 - the most recent year analyzed - some $976 million went to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute. The remainder went to treatment and prevention, according to the three-year study done by Roosevelt University's Institute for Metropolitan Affairs. [continues 396 words]
Most of us think of drug production as something that happens in Colombia. However, drug labs are springing up in Illinois faster than subdivisions in the suburbs. In 1997, authorities discovered 24 illegal labs producing methamphetamine. In 1999, they nabbed 246 such labs. That's a tenfold increase in just two years. It gets worse. The Illinois State Police expect to seize more than 400 labs this year. The problem is growing because methamphetamine is relatively easy to make. It is also addictive. [continues 105 words]
Gurnee police say there was a fivefold increase this year in the number of Six Flags Great America visitors who wanted to get high on something other than a tall roller coaster. Visitors had to pass through metal detectors before entering the park for the second consecutive season. Park officials said they placed the detectors at the main gate in an attempt to prevent patrons from slipping in with weapons. As it happens, security workers have wound up finding guests with marijuana on them after a metal detector is tripped by a large belt buckle, for example. Such guests are turned over to a Gurnee police officer stationed near the front entrance. [continues 245 words]
The presentation on "club drugs" was an education for Lake Forest resident Suzanne Zimmerman. During a recent two-hour talk, Zimmerman and other parents learned about the popularity of the drugs, their effects and the dangers they pose to users. "I'm going to talk to my children and tell them a few things I learned today," Zimmerman vowed. Co-sponsored by Lake Forest-based LEAD (Leading Edge Against Drugs) and State Rep. Susan Garrett, the program featured state police from a task force on illegal drugs, gangs and weapons. [continues 306 words]
Des Plaines elementary school officials will survey eighth-grade students on their attitudes towards drug and alcohol use. Within the next four weeks, Des Plaines Elementary District 62 officials will administer a 99 multiple-choice question survey to 459 eighth-grade students. The survey was developed by the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research at Colorado State University. District 62 officials said they agreed to conduct the survey because Maine Township High School District 207 would be able survey its students for free if the feeder school systems agreed. [continues 244 words]
The Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board Thursday approved a policy that will allow students to be tested for drugs on a voluntary basis in their high school. Board members, who say they hope the policy can at least help some families address issues of substance abuse, unanimously approved the policy though the district's high schools may not unanimously support it. It will be up to each individual school to decide whether to participate in the program. Schools deciding to participate can start as soon as they receive the test kits. [continues 250 words]
Teens today are using drugs at a level not seen since the 1970s, an area expert says. The age of the average kid who tries drugs is falling. Teens are vulnerable, Northwest Community Hospital psychologist Mario Giacomuzzi says. They're crammed into school buildings, 2,000 or 3,000 of them together, trying to fit in and feel comfortable at a somewhat awkward time in their lives. What should parents do? "Realize every teenager is at risk today," he said. "No parent wants to think their kid's using. No parent even wants to think their kid is at risk. ... But take an active role in your kids' lives. Get to know your kids. Get to know their friends." [continues 283 words]
Cocaine still flows freely from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of the cities and suburbs. Despite the fact that billions of dollars have been spent over the years on drug interdiction efforts in Colombia, 90 percent of the cocaine on the U.S. illegal drug market comes from this South American nation. And make no mistake, this cocaine makes its way here. Earlier this year, 30 grams of cocaine were seized in a drug bust in Carpentersville that netted the arrest of 14 people. In recent months, dealers or alleged cocaine dealers also have been arrested in McHenry County, Elgin, Naperville, Villa Park, Vernon Hills, Streamwood and elsewhere throughout the suburbs. [continues 304 words]
The death of a Buffalo Grove High School student from a presumed heroin overdose is shocking - shocking for the loss of a promising young man and shocking for the presence of a drug to which suburban police and parents have given little thought. Everyone knows that far too many suburban teens drink and that some use marijuana and, more recently, Ecstasy and other drugs popular on the club scene. Those known factors are sufficiently disturbing. But heroin? Any serious heroin influx would take concerns about the region's drug problems to a new level. Fortunately, there is no indication that this highly addictive and dangerous drug is gaining a broad foothold in the suburbs. Suburban police say they rarely see it at all, and educators seem to agree. Some suburban teens say any drug is available for a price, but even they don't seem to be aware of any real surge in heroin use among their peers. [continues 54 words]
There has been an alarming growth in the popularity of a dangerous club drug known as ecstasy. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that abuse of ecstasy has increased 500 percent over five years. The drug has made its way into the suburbs. Police departments have made arrests of ecstasy dealers. And two Chicago-area youngsters died after taking what they believed were ecstasy pills. Instead, the pills turned out to be a lethal drug called PMA. In response to these alarming developments, legislators are pushing new measures to try to get ecstasy off the streets. U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert's bill to provide tougher punishment of club drug dealers likely will be approved by the House this fall. It would greatly increase the maximum sentence for trafficking ecstasy. [continues 70 words]
I noticed with great interest that many of those involved with promoting and hosting rock concerts at area facilities oppose "The Parents Empowerment Act," a recently introduced bill in the state Senate, which would allow parents to sue those who knowingly allow anyone under the age of 18 to use illegal drugs on their property. The Illinois State Crime Commission worked with state Senator Patrick O'Malley, a Palos Park Republican, the bill's sponsor, in developing the proposal, which is recorded as SB 1964. As the commission's executive director, I can tell you that some concert promoters have good reason to be concerned about O'Malley's bill. [continues 213 words]
Somewhere out there a young person is going to be offered a drug, called Ecstasy, that is supposed to make her feel real good. Taking it, though, could be the biggest mistake that kid will ever make, and not just because taking Ecstasy or any other drug is wrong for so many reasons. In this case, it could kill her. What kids think is Ecstasy could be something else. It could be something called PMA. If they take this drug, they could die. [continues 361 words]
Springfield - Thin, marijuana look-alike cigarettes will be illegal to sell to anyone regardless of age under a law signed Friday by Gov. George Ryan. The cigarettes imported from India are called bidis, which come in a variety of candy flavors, already are illegal to sell in the city of Chicago, and Evanston recently passed an ordinance banning them as well. Bidis, pronounced "beedies," already were regulated like regular cigarettes, but critics charged they were marketed to teenagers and easily accessible. [continues 96 words]
Lake County police demonstrated Tuesday they follow through on suspects who try to evade the law. Starting at 5:30 a.m., teams of police visited the homes of people wanted on arrest warrants to hunt them down. All those sought had evaded the law in drug cases. Some had been charged but failed to appear in court; some had posted bond but had not shown up again in court; and others had been convicted but failed to show up for their sentencing hearings. [continues 139 words]
If young people don't know it by now, they should - taking the drug Ecstasy is idiocy. For one, Ecstasy is being blamed, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of at least two Chicago-area teens in recent weeks. An 18-year-old Naperville girl died of an overdose after taking a drug that resembled Ecstasy. For another, law enforcement is cracking down on Ecstasy dealers, evidence of which is the investigation by the Palatine Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff's Department. It resulted in 11 arrests of people accused of selling Ecstasy to undercover officers at a teen nightclub in Palatine. [continues 317 words]
The governor of New Mexico is speaking on television of legalizing marijuana. This would be the way for the United States to go. A woman on television said it would upset the economy. Whose economy? New Mexico's, because they grow it? Look back at what happened during our Prohibition era of beer and alcohol. Al Capone and his competitors grew rich. Let's try it the legal way. Mildred E. Chekytis Naperville [end]
Since the mid-1990s, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has been warning of an increase in Ritalin abuse among the nation's teens. Fifteen students at Lake Zurich Middle School North are suspected of abusing the prescription drug Ritalin. According to details of the investigation of this incident, students gave away the tablets or sold them for 50 cents to $1. This isn't shocking to law enforcement and drug abuse experts, because they know this isn't a problem unique to this particular school. Since the mid-1990s, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has been warning of an increase in Ritalin abuse among the nation's teens. [continues 309 words]
A committee studying Buffalo Grove-Long Grove Elementary District 96's drug resistance program recommended several changes Tuesday, including possibly eliminating the program from the third grade. The committee, consisting of one administrator, three teachers and one parent, took three months to evaluate the Drug Abuse Resistance Education and Violence Education and Gang Awareness programs taught by the Buffalo Grove Police Department. It came up with the same evaluation that many researchers on the national level did - "that there is no significant evidence that the program is successful in deterring young people from substance use," according to a memo from the committee. [continues 197 words]
