A Stranger In The House, Part 5

FIGHTING THE BATTLES IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Solutions To Complex Issue Are Complex Themselves

Away from home, away from parents, away from authority and regardless of
the law, some teen-agers live by their own rules in Edmond. They revel in
clandestine circles.

Bill attended a number of teen-age "field" parties halted by Oklahoma
County sheriff's deputies.

He said the parties were full of social drinkers, jocks, honor students,
drug addicts, curiosity seekers, and even youth combining drugs with casual
sex.

Large groups of Edmond teen-agers meet at 15th Street and Hiawassee Road,
which is in Oklahoma City, just beyond Edmond's eastern border, said the
18-year-old former Memorial High School student.

"I know they're still having parties out there and are not getting busted,"
said Bill, who asked that his real name not be used. "What (the sheriff's
deputies) would do is say, 'OK, everybody clean up and everyone go home.'
The only time kids would get arrested was if it was a small party. During
big parties, cops just don't (bother) with it.

"I remember at many parties, all four of my friends would hop in this car.
We would all be completely trashed. We'd be drunk. We'd be stoned on
marijuana. On the way out, they just had a blockade. They'd have the cop
come up, look at the driver, put the flashlight in his eyes and go, 'Look
at the light. Are you drunk?' My friend would say, 'No.' You could be
completely wasted and it would be, 'OK, drive safely.'"

Bill's mother said she never received a phone call from law authorities to
pick up her son.

David, who graduated from North High School last year, said teen-agers get
drunk in Edmond near the railroad tracks at Broadway and Covell Road, where
youths "four wheel" up and down dirt slopes.

Society's response to the mixture of youth and illicit drugs has been
termed the War on Drugs. Tougher laws, better education, parental
involvement and intervention are weapons in the battle to protect youth.
Others say the decriminalization of drugs would help. As the battle
continues, so do needless alcohol-related traffic deaths and youngsters
robbing people to support their drug habit.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, 32.4 percent of high school students reported
having been a passenger in a car with a driver who had been drinking
alcohol one or more times. And 15.8 percent indicated they had driven a car
after consuming alcohol more than once, according to a study conducted by
the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. More
than a third of the youth reported having their first drink of alcohol
before age 13.

Arrests Depend On Observation

Substance abuse for teen-agers seems to surface during the ninth grade,
said officer Paul Sinclair of the Edmond Police Department, who works as a
resource office at North High School. He regularly receives intelligence
information from teachers, parents and students about illicit drugs.

"Some (teen-agers) are ignorant. They make (field party) flyers and pass
them out, stick them on cars in the parking lot," Sinclair said. He will
call a county sheriff when a field party falls out of the Edmond Police
Department's jurisdiction. "The kids are getting smart enough not to do it
in Edmond."

Typically, 50 to 100 youth from all three high schools will attend a field
party at 15th Street and Hiawassee Road, but the numbers swell into the
hundreds during the summer, Bill said.

Arrests depend on what an officer is able to observe, an Edmond undercover
officer said. A warrant is not necessary on private property if the police
know a teen-ager is in possession of illegal drugs or alcohol. But lack of
manpower hinders police from keeping tabs on all the parties, the officer
said. Police and deputies have to prove possession of illicit drugs for
prosecution.

"There's usually only one or two officers out there. You can only stop so
many at a time. In the fields, they see you before you get close. They take
off before you can get there," he said.

The majority of field parties occur after high school football games on
weekends, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.

"As a matter of practice, if we find young people in possession of alcohol,
we will make an arrest or call their parents," he said. Calling parents to
the scene is the most effective way of dealing with the problem, Whetsel
added, because they can provide needed discipline.

"The young person has the influence of law enforcement and family."

Whetsel also said many teen-agers are ignorant that a 0.02 blood alcohol
count, which is the equivalent of drinking one beer or less, puts them in
jeopardy with the law. In Oklahoma County, 6,775 juveniles were arrested
two years ago, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Of
those arrests, 11 percent were directly related to drugs, including 393
arrested for alcohol.

"(About) 80 percent of the people we book in the county jail according to
the tests conducted, have in their system alcohol or the multiple of
alcohol and drugs," Whetsel said. "That in itself should send a message to
kids."

'I Was Robbing People.'

Statistics indicate that 10 percent of violent crimes in Oklahoma are
committed by a juvenile. Adult crime can be traced to an early use of
alcohol or illegal drugs, said Ben Brown, director of the Oklahoma
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

And substance abuse can, at times, be triggered by being the victim of
child abuse or neglect, other experts say.

Brian ran away from home -- away from his parents and the combativeness
made more complicated by his methamphetamine addiction.

"They didn't want me in their house doing drugs," said Brian, who asked
that his real name not be used. "I was robbing people." So the 17-year-old
Midwest City youth opted to move in with a friend, and together in their
garage, they made methamphetamines.

Brian said he would have hurt anyone who got in his way during a robbery
attempt. After he burglarized an ATM, a bank agreed not to press charges if
he underwent extensive drug-related treatment. He has been arrested eight
times during the last two years, he said.

After two months, he was expelled as a resident at the House of Life, an
in-house drug recovery center in Arcadia. It was his first day back in the
facility when he was interviewed for this article, and he said his appetite
for methamphetamines lingers.

"I think I'll be recovering for the rest of my life. It was fun getting
high but I was going nowhere in life," Brian said.

Substance abuse is a factor in 85 percent of all homicides and 80 percent
of all prison incarcerations in Oklahoma, according to statistics provided
by the state. Half of all traffic fatalities relate to driving under the
influence of alcohol.

The average age that Oklahoma inmates started drinking beer is 13.
According to the Governor's Task Force, there are 17,000 teen-age and
190,000 adult alcoholics in the state.

"Public policy says you can't buy cigarettes until you're 18. You can't buy
beer until you're 21. But enforcement is hardly on the map," Brown said.
"But I applaud the efforts of the Edmond Police Department for what they
have done."

The police department investigates new leads daily. "We are taking an
aggressive stance on the drug aspect as well as the sale of beer to
minors," said an undercover Edmond police officer assigned to special
investigations. A weekend police sting operation in January busted 19
Edmond businesses for selling beer or liquor to a minor.

Report Unusual Chemical Odors

Edmond police deal with an increasing number of meth labs and arrests, the
officer said.

An increase in prescription fraud is also on the rise, another undercover
officer said. "People are using false names, identities, even false
checks," he said. "And a lot of times, they even get their hands on the
blank scripts from doctor's offices."

Seven meth labs were investigated last year and several search warrants
have been issued during the last six months, said Edmond police
spokesperson Glynda Chu. And officers take special precautions in avoiding
"booby traps" before entering a suspected meth lab.

"Now these labs are becoming mobile. People are putting them in trunks of
cars and moving them around. It's becoming more advanced as years go by,"
the undercover officer said. "There's a huge profit. It doesn't take much
to start them out."

Kaymie never had to purchase methamphetamines. The 16-year-old House of
Life resident said meth was freely given to her by adults running a meth
lab. The youngest person she knew of running a meth lab in Oklahoma City
was 14 and he had little fear of being busted, she said.

"The gases are bad. When you walk out of the house you smell like
chemicals," said Kaymie, who did not want her real name used. "You'd think
after you saw all that was going in to it, you'd wonder what you're putting
in your body. I just wanted more."

Drug dealers are of all ages. "We come across juveniles all the time," the
officer said.

Cleaning up a meth lab costs the state $2,500 per site, according to Gov.
Frank Keating's office.

Edmond police urge residents to contact them to report any suspicious
behavior, including unusual chemical odors in their own neighborhoods. A
possible indication that drug trafficking is going on in a neighborhood
might be an inordinate amount of visitors going in and out of a house.

Nothing Beneficial About Methamphetamines

Meth use is pervasive in every social stratum and is getting worse, Keating
told The Sun. It's cheap, virulent and addictive.

Keating's comment is in agreement with Tulsa criminal defense attorney
Rabon Martin, who serves on the legal committee of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"(Martin) called me and he said, 'I have represented cocaine dealers. I've
represented marijuana dealers. I have made a lot of money representing
dopers. And I have done it my entire career. I have never seen what is
happening now. Cocaine dealers, marijuana dealers -- most of them are
pretty nice people. They're business people. They don't use it themselves,
generally,'" Keating said.

"Methamphetamine (dealers), he said, on the other hand are totally
different. (Martin) said they use it themselves. It has a profound impact
on their minds. They are very, very dangerous. He said, 'I feel very
uncomfortable having them in my office. I'm afraid of those people.'"

"People are violent. They will abuse their children. They will abuse each
other. It is the worse thing that has ever happened to Oklahoma," Keating
said Martin told him.

The governor included Martin in a discussion with top mental health and law
enforcement officials in the state to outline the need for aggressive
enforcement of methamphetamine laws.

Marijuana has been cited for having medicinal benefits in reducing nausea,
Martin told The Sun. But Keating cautions that marijuana is a gateway drug
to harsher chemicals, while adding there is nothing beneficial about
methamphetamine.

Gateway To Disrespect

The billions of dollars the government spends fighting an "85-year-long
drug war" should be returned to its citizens, said Richard Prawdzienski of
Edmond. The retired Air Force weapons acquisition and logistics planner
serves as chairman of the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma.

He said children can purchase drugs easier than a pack of cigarettes.
However, he disagrees that decriminalization of illicit drugs will increase
consumption.

"Why are we constantly fighting to make drugs illegal? Why don't we bring
them inside the law?" he said. "If you bring them inside the law, you can
control (the product)."

Legal manufacturing and government inspection of methamphetamine would
ensure the purity of the drug, he added, and users could purchase drugs at
a controlled substance store, much like a liquor store.

The government hides reports about drugs and speaks in "half truths" about
their consequences, Prawdzienski said. He doesn't believe in the gateway
theory that claims that the use of marijuana and beer leads to other types
of drug abuse.

"The gateway is (when) the person doesn't have respect in themselves,
didn't learn how to love life, no matter whether it be marijuana or
airplane glue." Marijuana use is more of a gateway to disrespect the law,
Prawdzienski said.

"How do I as a politician say, 'Parents -- you guys failed'? How do I tell
the ministers -- 'You failed'? They'll kill me if I said something like
that. But the real truth is the parents are failing to educate their child
to respect themselves. The churches are failing. The schools are failing.
So what do we do? We go out and blame it on drugs."

He suggests users sign a legal statement guaranteeing they have adequate
health insurance. They would assume responsibility not to become a ward of
the state, he said.

"All the newspapers, all around the states are talking about the easy picks
- -- 'Let's go show them how many meth labs there are -- show them how many
people are being hurt,' rather than (writing) 'What are the real, real
reasons. Where are the philosophers? Where are the psychologists?' We're
quoting governors and we're not quoting the philosophers. Why?"

Martin agrees that no one should ever be incarcerated for using or having
in their possession a drug. However, he does not support over-the-counter
selling of methamphetamine or drugs such as heroin. Meth is dangerously
seductive, he said.

"Meth comes along and gets on top of you like an OSU wrestler and you're
pinned and don't realize it," the attorney said.

"I have mixed feelings. Logically, I would absolutely decriminalize all
drugs because the criminalzation is an absolute stupid way. It doesn't
work," Martin said. By outlawing the sell of drugs, an alternative
manufacturing network is created of "seedy characters," he added.

"My right hemisphere, my emotional side goes, 'I could never support meth
over the counter. It's like selling a loaded 357 magnum to a 4-year-old.'"

Sheriff Whetsel opposes decriminalization, pointing out decriminalization
is a failure in European countries with more liberal laws. "If we ever get
to that point, then I will think we have probably truly have lost our
country," Whetsel said.

Education Is Best Weapon

"We spend an ungodly amount of money fighting the war on drugs. And that's
what it's going to continue to be -- the war on drugs," said Andy Waner,
House of Life program director.

"And a permanent solution isn't going to be treatment. ... Intervention and
education is the most important tool we can use, because as long as profit
margins are around for drugs, it's going to remain just that -- a war on
drugs."

The medical field has identified addiction as a disease. So society
shouldn't simplify the matter by saying addicts "should have known better,"
Waner said. People going to prison with an addiction problem are not going
to have a lot of their recovery needs met, he added, because being in
prison comes down to safety and survival.

"Honesty can get you killed in prison," Waner said. "Honesty is a
requirement in getting clean with yourself and others. So what kind of an
environment are you going to be able to be honest in? Not in prison."

Oklahoma mandates a life sentence without the possibility of parole for
anyone convicted of a third drug-related felony. Inmates are more likely to
repeat criminal behavior if they don't address their substance abuse. Crime
is usually a symptom of a substance abuse problem, Waner said.

"But there's just not a lot of money in the state for adolescent programs,"
he added. "Our kids are our future, and it's sad."

Today, more than 80 children are on a waiting list to get into two of the
substance abuse facilities with which the state contracts, said Linda
Green, substance abuse services specialist at the Oklahoma Department of
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

A nationwide survey of 5,388 clients of public treatment programs provided
by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
found that drug use, crime and welfare rates dropped dramatically after
treatment, and that health care improved.

A year after treatment, marijuana, cocaine and crack use had declined by 50
percent; arrests decreased by 64 percent; employment jumped 19 percent;
homelessness declined 42 percent; welfare receipts were cut 11 percent, and
alcohol/drug-related medical visits dropped 53 percent

Serve More Time

Some youthful offenders, ages 16 and 17, who traffic and manufacture
narcotics are prosecuted in district court by the narcotics division of the
district attorney's office, headed by Assistant Oklahoma County District
Attorney Marc Pate.

The Edmond resident will fight for an adult sentence to be imposed on the
youth, and generally, the offender files a motion for the case to go to
juvenile court, he said. Two meth labs have been busted in Edmond this year.

However, Pate's office does not prosecute many teen-age drug traffickers.
Traffickers are usually adults entrenched in manufacturing.

"Generally, when we prosecute someone (it's an adult) that's selling --
they're either going to be selling to a police officer or undercover
officer or someone who is a confidential informant," Pate said.

People convicted of possession of an illegal narcotic for the first time
rarely do jail time. They will likely be placed in a treatment program,
Pate said. But traffickers and manufacturers are incarcerated on a first
conviction. Cases are easier to prosecute when drugs are sold to a police
officer. But confidential informants, because of the drug-related lifestyle
they have chosen, are not always the most dependable people, Pate said.

"Meth is kind of anomaly in the sense that it used to be thought (they)
manufactured it for money -- they weren't necessarily using the product,"
he said. Most manufacturers of meth make the drug to satiate their
addiction, he said.

Nearly 27 percent of the state's inmate population is there because of drug
convictions, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Furthermore, distributors serve an average of only 31 percent of their
sentence.

Today, only manufacturers of illegal drugs serve 85 percent of their
sentence due to a law that went into effect in July. And Pate's office
suggests that distributors of illegal drugs serve an 85 percent minimum of
their incarceration time. Those convicted of aggravated manufacturing
receive sentences of 20 years to life in prison and simple manufacturing
convictions range seven years to life sentences.

"I think there's a lot of people naive about what's going on with labs
nearby and drug deals going down. It may be in the next car of the fast
food place they're at," Pate said.

A Family Disease

Few children in the custody of the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs have
been cited for drug-related offenses.

"They have drug histories. They have substance abuse problems, but they
aren't identified as a problem in the community in those terms because
they've never been picked up for a drug-related crime," said Mary Jo
Sullivan, substance abuse coordinator at the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile
Affairs.

But most of their crimes are drug related in the sense that they burglarize
for money to support their addiction.

Once a child enters the juvenile justice system, he or she assigned a
juvenile services worker. The probation and parole counselor follows the
case from beginning to end. Services include drug and alcohol treatment and
assessment. Juvenile Affairs provides services for youth including
counseling, mentoring, education advocacy, tracking and supervision until
the day they exit the system. And the child and family can either choose to
take advantage of services or they can be ordered by the court to be involved.

A culture of poverty contributes to criminal activity, Sullivan said. Yet,
there's a myth that suggests most upper class youth don't rob to support
their habit because they can afford to purchase drugs.

"I think if you check statistics, you will find the number of drug-related
arrests are becoming every bit as common in the more affluent communities
as they are in more poverty-stricken communities," she said.

She believes the public's perception that poverty breeds crime exists
because the poor tend to be incarcerated at higher rates. However, they are
not arrested at a higher rate, she added.

The Office of Juvenile Affairs is lobbying for increased federal funding to
strengthen services in impoverished communities. Higher arrest rates are
partially due to a lower rate of services available to low-income families.
Impoverished parents cannot afford to send their children to a treatment
facility, she said.

Meanwhile, the courts are creating additional ways to get parents into
treatment because substance abuse is considered a family disease, she said.

"If you leave out the family and you work intensively with this child and
then return the child back to the family in the same situation, it's all
forgotten," said Rhonda Burgess, Juvenile Affairs spokesperson.

'I'm Going To Have To Win'

Eddy, 17, had never had treated for drug abuse before being committed to
the House of Life. But he had been placed in juvenile detention for selling
drugs from his house. Detention was filled with negative activity, he said,
including gangs. He is disappointed that he wasn't offered counseling in
the Oklahoma City detention center.

"It really makes you want to use," said Eddy, who asked that his real name
not be used.

His mother turned him in to the police, he said. "She knew I was smoking
weed. She kind of thought I was on something because I was losing a lot of
weight." But she was unaware that he was a meth addict, Eddy said, even
though he would disappear and return home to stay awake for days at a time.

Finally, she found evidence of drug paraphernalia -- straws and plastic
bags of cocaine.

"I had a lot of resentments towards her for a long time. I was on meth
(when arrested). When you're on meth, you have mood swings. You get real
violent. I started pushing my mom when she got hold of my friend. He was
trying to run and she was grabbing hold of him. I was going nuts. I was
spinning out. I had been up for a week and a half." Some of Eddy's friends
are in prison for selling narcotics. When he is released from treatment,
his old familiar surroundings and friends will tempt him to use drugs
again, he said.

"I really don't know how I'm going to do it once I hang around with my
friends again. How am I going to remain sober? It's just going to be a
battle that I'm going to have to win."