ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT HELPS TEENS IN TROUBLE

Youths Seem Calmer Since Acupuncture Began At Juvenile Hall

Santa Cruz County began offering acupuncture in July.

Some teenagers with substance abuse problems credit the county's
programs with helping their bodies cope with sobriety.

One by one, dozens of hair-thin, copper-colored needles are expertly
angled into ears, scalps, hands and necks. Lights are dimmed,
curtains drawn and the breathy voice of Enigma fills the room.

Sound like a trendy acupuncture clinic for the Silicon Valley stressed-out set?

It's actually Santa Cruz County's answer to helping troubled teens
charged with everything from arson to carjacking to drug abuse.

At a time when the criminal justice system wants to treat teens like
adults, Santa Cruz County has become the first in the country to
treat them to acupuncture -- not to mention yoga, poetry and
contemplative community meetings.

Juvenile halls in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties have long taught
teens hip-hop and swing dancing. And Contra Costa County offers art
and pet therapy. But Santa Cruz is unique in offering acupuncture to
juveniles, ages 12 to 18, in custody.

It's too early to tell whether the program is helping teens deal with
drug addiction, hyperactivity and anger, but staff members say the
youths are calmer and less likely to act out since acupuncture was
introduced in July. They are more focused in the classroom and
sleeping better at night, said Michelle Finch, the hall's director.

``At first they go in as a goof, as a social club,'' staff member
Fernando Vegas said. ``Then they get results and it surprises them;
it surprises me. They mellow out and open their minds.''

Every Wednesday and Friday afternoon, one of the hall's classrooms is
transformed into an acupuncture clinic for an hour. Desks are dragged
to the corners of the room and extra chairs serve as foot rests.

Acupuncturist Nikki Cutler, who typically treats groups of about
eight, arrives armed with cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, relaxing
music and packs of sterile needles.

Pricking various points on the ears, hands, neck and scalp stimulates
the secretion of natural mood elevators like endorphins, Cutler said.

``I'm not going to fix all their health problems,'' she said, as the
teenagers swabbed their ears with alcohol. ``But when they're here,
they can relax and know what it's like to feel good without drugs.''

For participants like Joey, the 10 tiny needles placed with precision
in the peaks and valleys of his ears didn't provide instant relief. A
month of treatment, he said, combined with yoga and Narcotics
Anonymous meetings, eventually helped him relax and sleep without
heroin.

``It doesn't take away everything. It had to come from me, too,''
said Joey, who couldn't fall asleep sober when he arrived at the
center six months ago.

The 18-year-old once faced a second-degree murder charge and a
possible stint in youth prison. He'd been in detention twice before
on heroin charges and relied on the drug to cope with stress, anger
and boredom.

``My body didn't know how to sleep without heroin,'' Joey said,
sitting on a concrete ledge in the hall's courtyard of whitewashed
walls.

About 90 percent of the youths at the Santa Cruz detention center
arrive buzzed from drugs or alcohol, anxious and underweight, Finch
said. Many experience withdrawal symptoms or have attention-deficit
(hyperactivity) disorder, which makes it difficult to concentrate.

Ginger, 17, shied away from acupuncture at first, thinking ``how
freaky,'' she said. But she was desperate to fight the heroin
cravings and lower back pains that kept her awake.

``It makes the urge go away and you stop thinking about it,'' said
Ginger, whose confident smile, black-cherry-dyed ponytail and calm
demeanor belie her past trips to detention for assault, battery and
drug charges.

Not everyone is an instant believer. George, 16, who's been accused
of car theft and making terrorist threats, was a reluctant first-time
participant.

``This one hurts,'' George said, scrunching up his nose as Cutler
inserted the needles. ``I can feel this ear going boom, boom, boom.''

Since the 1970s, the ancient Chinese art of piercing the body with
needles has become a popular treatment in more than 700 U.S. drug
courts and rehabilitation programs to stem the cravings and pain that
accompany withdrawal from narcotics.

Preliminary results from an ongoing study of the drug court program
in Clark County, Nev., are promising, according to its director, John
Marr. In the first six months of 2000, adults and teens assigned to
acupuncture by the drug court were more likely to stay in treatment
than their peers in non-acupuncture programs. They got straight
faster and stayed clean longer, said Marr, whose program is being
studied by the Crime and Justice Institute of Temple University.

Admittedly, Santa Cruz's juvenile detention program is more relaxed
than some of its counterparts in the Bay Area. Students take off from
academic classes every Wednesday afternoon for community meetings to
discuss everything from gang tension to requests for softer
toothbrushes and hair gel from teenage boys who say they need to
``look good'' in court.

Warrior yoga, which stresses flexibility and endurance, is offered
twice a week for two hours. And chess is in such high demand that the
juvenile hall decided to purchase special tables with drawn-on chess
boards.

Santa Cruz doesn't use taxpayer money to pay for its programming.
Instead, profits from vending machines and pay phones cover the $100
a week to teach yoga to about 17 kids and $1,600 for two months of
acupuncture treatment.

``We try to make this time worthwhile,'' Finch said. ``A lot of our
kids like this better than home. They're clothed and fed, and they
don't have that when they leave.''

Putting a bunch of potentially violent teens together with needles
may sound reckless. To participate, the juvenile hall requires a
parent or guardian signature for anyone younger than age 18. And
Cutler and staff members keep a close count of the needles used at
each session.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved the acupuncture
program without opposition. Even the group that vigorously supported
Proposition 21, which made it easier to try minors as adults, was
encouraged by Santa Cruz's unique approach.

``If they're in harmony with themselves, then they're probably going
to be in harmony with the community when they're released,'' said
David LaBahn, deputy executive director of the California District
Attorney's Association. ``It sounds perfect, and that's what we all
expect from a place like Santa Cruz.''