CONFERENCE OFFERS NEW DRUG-FREE STRATEGIES

If 16-year-old Miguel Angel Terrazas has heard it once, he's heard it
a thousand times: Say no to drugs.

The message has been effective: The Juarez high-school student is
drug-free and on his way to college.

"This message has become old, though. Young people have become
desensitized to it," he said. "We need something new that will reach
us and make us think about this problem ... something more than a slogan."

That is the premise of the first "Young Frontier" conference organized
by El Paso, Las Cruces and the Foreign Relations Department of the
Mexican Consulate.

The conference began Monday at the Chamizal National Memorial Theater
and will end today in Juarez.

"This is a preventive event. We want to show students what happens
when they not only do drugs but also traffic in them," said organizer
Dolores Limongi of the Mexican Consulate in El Paso. "Best of all,
there are a lot of young people who are reaching the students with
stories and dances and plays about this subject."

The conference was attended by more than 300 high-school
students.

The program also included a panel of law-enforcement agents from both
sides of the border who discussed the punishment and legal
consequences of drug use and trafficking for teen-agers.

The consulate says that already this year, 175 teens younger than 16
have been caught at the international bridges trying to smuggle drugs
into the United States.

"This is an excellent opportunity to reach young people," said Mexican
Consul General Antonio Meza, a panelist for the event. "There is a
good balance of adult and student input in the conference, which will
most certainly help convey the message we're trying to put out."

Activities Monday also included an anti-drug rally of about 800
students at the Bridge of the Americas. Today's activities will
include several panel discussions and presentations by college and
high-school students.