PARENTS PONDER STUDENT DRUG USE AT PRESENTATION

NEW MILFORD - A baker's dozen of parents wandered around two small
tables in the high school lecture room, looking at water bottles with
hollow bottoms, gum-wrapper type folded packets, wallet mirrors and
tiny stamped pills.

Some were savvy enough to recognize the seemingly common items as
drug paraphernalia. Others were stunned.

All were shaking heads at the statistics related to drug and alcohol
use in local middle and high school students.

At a school-sponsored parent seminar, high school Resource Officer
Donald Woods and Detective Scott Flockhart noted that New Milford is
far from immune to the high incidence of drug and alcohol use
touching teens from every walk of life, everywhere across this nation.

No matter how vigilant schools and communities strive to be, teens
are savvy about how to stay one step ahead to disguise their taste
for temptation, the officers said. So it is parents' collective duty
to stay alert, be open to listening to their children's thoughts
about drug use and to continually be aware of their children's
friends and whereabouts, they said. Sleepovers can be a way for
children to hide forbidden behaviors from parents, they said.

"Love your kids, but don't have blinders on," Woods cautioned.

In one video clip, Flockhart showed a disturbing scene of a rave, a
popular style of late night party with loud, techno music, flashing
lights and plentiful supplies of the extremely addictive,
mood-altering drug Ecstasy. At these parties that happen in this and
other area communities, teens can suffer sexual assaults, violent
attacks, overdoses, long-term brain damage and even death, they said.

Teens, too, often attend unsupervised private home parties where
drinking and drug use are prevalent, they said.

"We're all equally vulnerable," proclaimed parent Dawne Gosselin.

She and several other parents said they find it disturbing that in a
school of some 1,600 students that just over a dozen parents showed
up to talk about a scourge that is affecting the lives of children everyday.

"Drugs are everywhere," Gosselin said, noting she favors bringing
drug-sniffing dogs for spot checks at the high school.

Though the high school does not currently offer that type of
surveillance, Woods said beyond his presence the school provides
security officers, surveillance cameras, counselors, social workers
and other staff who strive to be diligent about tracking down drug
use and apprehending drug offenders.

"We do watch them from the time they come in 'til they go home,"
Woods said. "Kids don't do a lot of drinking and drugs in school, but
we're still watching them all the time."

The school district has a no tolerance drug enforcement policy and
students caught with drugs, most often marijuana, are arrested, he
assured. And as harsh as an arrest might seem to some, it may be what
a teen needs to understand the severity of their actions, Woods said.

Reacting to fact sheets about drug and alcohol use, many of the
parents present were astounded that the average age for such
experimentation starts between 11 and 14. Alcohol, and to a somewhat
lesser degree marijuana, remain the top "gateway" drug for those under 21.

"Why are they starting so much younger?" one mother pondered.

The answers varied from media influences to advanced technology and
lack of parental supervision that allows children more freedom than
may be appropriate. Social We bsites such as MySpace and Facebook are
often how students communicate about drug and alcohol use because
they are aware many parents do not know how to access what their
children are posting on the sites, parents and officers noted.

In conclusion, the officers advised that parents are the best
"anti-drug" because they know their children. Parents just need to
stay aware and as much as possible network with other parents to stay
abreast of what is happening to their children, they concurred.

"I thought this was good information," said parent Robert Cowan. "I
didn't know what to expect, but I thought (the presentation) was valuable."