SCHOOL DRUG PROGRAM MONEY TIGHT

Don't tell Kathy Estes that living in a broken home always leads to drug
addiction.

Her mother was an alcoholic, her stepfather a violent drunk who battered
his wife before blacking out on booze.

While growing up in Magnolia, in rural Arkansas, she knew that when her
father was drinking bourbon she had to sleep with her clothes and shoes
on - just in case the family had to flee the man's violent tempers.

Estes said she was on track to becoming an addict but never turned to
booze or drugs, mainly because she received support and guidance from
her school teachers.

Today, Estes is a teacher - a teacher of drug prevention programs for
the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. She hopes to steer
teens away from drugs and alcohol.

"I know because of my story we can turn things around for kids," she
said. "It comes down to personal choice."

In the wake of Proposition 36's passage, educators and lawmakers are
revisiting a strategy researchers have known for years: Educating teens
about the effects of drugs keeps them drug-free.

Educators say drug addiction is part genetic, part social upbringing.
Hence, they believe one of the best ways to prevent addiction is early
intervention - as early as elementary school.

But county educators say prevention programs are inadequate because
money is lacking and schools must focus on academics in order to boost
test scores.

County schools spend $5 per student per school year on drug education
lessons, based on the money they receive from federal Safe and Drug-free
Schools grants. This year, school districts countywide received about $2
million from the state to serve 395,000 students.

"We don't have the funds, so we do what we can," said Karen Fosdick,
curriculum coordinator for the county Superintendent of Schools. "It's
better than nothing."

She said schools statewide are focused on academics and that drug
prevention education - although a major concern - should not be a top
priority.

As mandated by the California Department of Education, each student
should receive at least six hours of drug prevention education each
year.

But that's not happening.

In a few months, the state will complete an inspection of schools
statewide to ascertain whether students are receiving the minimum hours
of instruction.

So far, only about half of San Bernardino County schools and those
statewide offer at least six hours of drug lessons, said D.J. Peterson,
school health education consultant for the state Department of
Education.

"But we don't want to give up on the students," he said.

Peterson, who acknowledged the meager money earmarked for drug
prevention education, said teachers can integrate academics and drug
education. For example, he said, English teachers could ask students to
write essays on drug addiction.

"What we find is that they're so overwhelmed with trying to improve test
scores, they don't think they can do the prevention programs," Peterson
said.

That sentiment was shared by Geoffrey Canada, president of the Rheedlen
Centers for Children and Family in New York.

"Schools are struggling to get kids to read and write," he said. "That's
where the message has been, not on drug use."

Canada said "parents underestimate the impact they have" in keeping
their children away from drugs. Parents, he said, should "open up some
dialogue" instead of lecturing or scolding their children.

"These kids that we see now are going to be statistics if nothing is
done to help them," said Raul Miramontes, executive director of Casa de
San Bernardino Inc., an outpatient treatment center.

The center is working on a campaign to reduce drug use in the west side
of San Bernardino.

As part of the effort, the center conducted a survey in December and
found that 44 percent of 300 participants indicated that peer pressure
was the primary reason people turned to drugs, said project coordinator
Sandy Bonilla.

"Kids need to know how to resist it," she said. "They need to be taught
how to cope better. Kids can be taught social skills so they won't turn
to drugs."

There is hope.

Teen-age drug use and juvenile crimes in California and San Bernardino
County have declined in recent years.

>From 1995 to 1999, the county's juvenile drug arrests dipped about 16
percent, from 1,263 to 1,067 offenses, according to statistics from the
California Attorney General's office.

In a biennial Student Survey released in September, the office found
that use of any illicit drug in the past six months by seventh, ninth-
and 11th-graders statewide had dropped an average of 28 percent since
1996.

Also declining are drug education programs, some county students say.

Nancy Gutierrez, 16 and a junior at Cajon High School in San Bernardino,
said she's had only 30 minutes of drug education so far this year.

The lessons, she said, are useless because they don't offer students
information on where they can go to get help.

Gutierrez said many students at Cajon High School brag about doing
drugs.

"It makes me feel uncomfortable. I hang out with younger kids because of
that," she said. "I didn't know about drugs and alcohol until I got into
high school."

Estes hopes to reach students before high school.

In a class she taught recently at Serrano Middle School in Highland, she
told eighth-graders that children growing up in a violent home have a 75
percent chance of becoming addicts.

"Once you're addicted you're always addicted," Estes told them. "Your
brain is forever broken. You can't rewire the brain once it's broken."

She used a lesson she developed with a colleague called Trip to Las
Vegas, with each stage from San Bernardino to Sin City representing the
stages of addiction.

"For many of our kids there's a sense of hopelessness," Estes said. "I
truly do believe that kids having someone believe in them makes a
difference."

The message got through to 14-year-old Michael Edayan.

"Drugs make you weak in the mind," he said.

He said he's never tried drugs. He once tried a nonalcoholic beer and
hated the taste of it.

Daniel Suarez, 13, said many students don't pay attention to drug
education lessons because they "just want to have fun."

A video Estes showed the class at Serrano about a girl addicted to drugs
brought tears to 14-year-old Jenny Hamlett, who said she feared
addiction could harm her life, family and friends.

"I felt emotional and I couldn't hold it in anymore," she said.

It's people like Hamlett that Estes wants to reach.

Estes has taught drug prevention classes at practically every school in
San Bernardino County. After every class, she said, at least one student
will have been greatly moved.

Estes said awareness about the effects of drugs has gotten better in the
three years she's been on the job. But more teamwork, she said, is
needed among educators, lawmakers, county leaders, police officers and
parents.

"We're all giving 100 percent, but I don't think we are doing it
collaboratively," she said. "We need more collaboration. The needs are
so great."