INSIDE THE PUSHER'S MIND

TORONTO (CP) - Here's some advice from a drug dealer: "If a parent really
wants to keep their kid out of here, I'd tell them to make sure their kid
isn't hanging around someone who comes here."

The dealer, who was in his 20s, was among several interviewed by writer
James Lang in a cafe near his home in Kingston, Ont. And his bit of advice
is included in the book A Parent's Guide to Street Drugs: Everything You
Should Know, Everything Your Child Already Knows (Stone Fox Publishing).

Knowledge, says Lang, is a parent's most potent weapon in the war against
drugs, and learning how a dealer thinks is part of the arsenal.

You can't just blame suppliers, though, Lang said during a book tour in
Toronto.

"Many parents feel there's a tough guy in a black car driving by and
preying on kids to give them drugs. But usually it's a classmate or
somebody's friend you have to watch out for."

Lang spoke to dealers, to parents individually and in groups, and worked
with counsellors, the RCMP and U.S. police in the year it took to research
the book. He writes about what turns kids on to drugs, what's on the
street, when to suspect kids are users and how to confront them, and what
they can do to steer kids clear of drugs. He also includes a list of
agencies to help parents of an addicted kid.

During his Toronto visit, Lang, a burly man with a shaved head, visited
stores and walked the streets to find some of the drug paraphernalia
parents should watch for.

He found a fake cigarette which can house a marijuana joint, a tobacco pipe
used for hash, and a pop can with holes in it which acts as a drug delivery
system. Out of his bag, he pulled a soother kids on ecstasy suck on so they
don't grind their teeth.

"It's necessary to be aware of what your child is doing, and part of that
is watching for paraphernalia," says Lang.

Kids as young as 10 in Canada and the United States have an "unprecedented
level of access to illicit substances," which are much more potent than
they were in the freewheeling '60s when their parents were getting blasted,
says Lang.

"Drugs are no longer about fun," says Lang. "They're very deadly."

From his research, Lang learned that drug use among Grade 8 students in
Canada and the United States has risen 150 per cent in the last five years;
and five per cent of high school students use stimulants - uppers like
amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy - which increase energy, heart rate and
blood pressures. Acid (LSD, a hallucinogenic) was used by 8.8 per cent of
Grade 12 students in the past year.

It's not just kids from problem homes who get sucked in. Lang spoke of a
boy who was home-schooled by his father until high school and who couldn't
have had a better parent. Still, the teenager was lured into drugs once he
started interacting with high school mates.

"There's no economic class or social standing immune to kids using drugs,"
warns Lang. "Every family no matter how secure it thinks it is is prey to
drug addiction."

Lang says counsellors find that parents who are on top of their kids'
education about drugs and who they socialize with are more likely to
prevent drug use or help kids who are already using.

Effectively talking to kids about drugs means not preaching "just say no"
and not approaching them with ignorance, says Lang, who includes several
pages of drug slang, jargon and street terms so parents can get an idea of
what their kids may be talking about. A "beamer" is a crack user, to "blow
a stick" means to smoke marijuana, and to be "C.W." means "completely
wrecked," or high, for instance.

"You have to know at least what the child knows so you can say to them, 'I
know about this PCP (phencyclidine, or angel dust) stuff and let me tell
you a little more about it,' " says Lang. "This allows a kid to feel he's
not pulling the wool over his parents' eyes."

Some drug slang, jargon and street terms:

Acapulco red, African black, African bush, ACE, Angola, Aunt Mary, Black
Bart, blowing smoke, blue sage, butter flower, Chicago black, Chicago
green, catnip, charge, chippie: Names for marijuana.

Acid head: An LSD user.

All lit up, baked, blasted, booted, buzzed, out of it, riding the wave,
zonked: To be under the influence of drugs.

Galloping horse, foolish powder, H, Helen, Henry, hell dust, junk: Heroin.

Hustle: An attempt to obtain drug customers.

Ice cream habit: Occasional drug use.

Kick: To stop using a drug.

Merchandise: Drugs for sale.

Nailed: To be arrested.

Skin popping: To inject a drug under the skin.

Spaced: To be unresponsive or unaware.

Straight: To not use drugs.

Tooter: Small, hollow straw-like tube used to snort cocaine.

Source: A Parent's Guide to Street Drugs: Everything You Should Know,
Everything Your Child Already Knows (Stone Fox Publishing,
www.stonefoxpublishing.com).

Tips for parents to help prevent kids' drug use:

- -Become an active participant in your child's life.

- -Help your child with homework regularly.

- -Encourage your child to seek your help on important decisions.

- -Eat dinners as a family frequently.

- -Attend social or religious activities regularly, and make them an
important part of your child's life.

- -Watch for reasons to praise your child, and follow through when they've
done well.

- -Know where your child is after school and on weekends, and what they are
doing.

- -Communicate your values openly, and discuss values regularly with your child.

- -Teach by example. Evaluate your own use of tobacco, alcohol, prescription
medication and even over-the-counter drugs.

- -Look for conflicts between your words and your actions which may influence
your child.

- -Know what you're talking about - become as literate and knowledgeable
about drugs as children are - before setting the limits about drug use.

Source: A Parent's Guide to Street Drugs: Everything You Should Know,
Everything Your Child Already Knows (Stone Fox Publishing,
http://www.stonefoxpublishing.com/ ).