EDUCATING STUDENTS ON DRUGS DIFFICULT

Boulder High School junior Megan Silbert isn't impressed with the
information she has gotten on drugs and alcohol in school.

"They've done a lot of educating, but they're more trying to tell you
not to, instead of why not," she said.

That's how she described the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program.

"It was just, 'Don't do this, it's bad,'" she said about the popular
program designed for fifth-graders. "That just got me to know what's
out there. It makes you want to try it. You need to know what could
happen to you, that people can have different reactions."

She said that last fact became clear after the recent death of
16-year-old Brittney Chambers, a former Monarch High School student.

Brittney died after taking ecstasy, drinking more water than her body
could handle and slipping into a coma. Her family took her off life
support Feb. 2. Police arrested five current Monarch High students in
connection with supplying the drug, which police said was purchased
in the school's bathroom.

Silbert said she has never tried ecstasy, but wasn't necessarily
against trying it.

"I've had friends who've done it," she said, adding she sees the drug
differently now that a fellow teen died. "It made me think about it a
lot more."

Getting teens to think about the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol so
they can make better decisions is the goal of the Boulder Valley
School District's health education program.

But because of Brittney's death, parents are questioning whether
schools are doing enough to get that message across.

The response of counselors, teachers and Boulder Valley School
District officials is that when it comes to a problem as complex as
substance abuse, it's unlikely that schools can ever do enough.

"The schools aren't going to solve this," said school board member
Bill De La Cruz at a community meeting after Brittney's death. "These
kids in our schools are programmed out. We're an addictive culture.
We have to deal with that. We have to work together."

Vital Information

Boulder Valley Substance Abuse Prevention Program coordinator Lisa
Cech said schools are holding up their end by focusing on
research-based programs.

"We're doing good things," she said. "We know what's effective. We
could do more."

One improvement in the works is getting more information about
ecstasy and potential dangers of using the drug into the district's
K-12 health-education curriculum.

"It's somewhat outdated," Cech said. But the district is working with
the Boulder County Health Department to make sure students get the
best and most current information, she said.

It's that information that Boulder High health teacher Bill Thibedeau
said is vital.

He has heard the criticism from students like Silbert about drug
education and said he tries to address it by keeping current on the
latest research.

"We're all learning about ecstasy as we go," Thibedeau said. "It just
keeps changing. We try to give students as much information as we can
to reduce harm. Students feel like they're independent enough to make
these kinds of decisions for themselves. If you preach to them, they
will shut you off like a radio switch."

A University of Michigan study found that national teen ecstasy use
at all grade levels =F3 eighth, 10th and 12th =F3 rose sharply in 2000,
while use of most other drugs stayed steady or declined. The results
are based on survey questionnaires completed by 45,200 students in
435 schools.

"Young people have not yet come to see ecstasy as a very dangerous
drug," University of Michigan research scientist Lloyd Johnston said.
"Until they do, it seems unlikely that we will see the situation turn
around."

Thibedeau, who talked with his classes this week about the water
intoxication that killed Brittney, said some students may decide
ecstasy isn't dangerous because water intoxication was the actual
cause of death.

"They are on hyper-alert about people telling them falsehoods," he
said. He plans to continue to focus on how drugs like ecstasy
"scramble our neurotransmitters," he said.

To teach about ecstasy, Thibedeau uses information from the nonprofit
drug awareness organization DanceSafe about how the drug affects the
brain, along with a video of both a "48 Hours" show on ecstasy and
one from MTV.

He plans to add water intoxication to the list of other potential
dangers - overheating, dehydration and possible lasting neurological
changes in the brain - when he starts the substance-abuse unit at the
end of the school year.

'Soul-Searching Time'

Thibedeau said he and other district health teachers talk to students
to stay aware of what drugs are popular.

A recent class talked to him about students who abuse prescription
drugs like Ritalin or antidepressants. Ritalin, they said, helps
teens stay awake to pull all-nighters.

A student last semester also gave a report on the drug GHB, talking
about how he once was so addicted he drank a capful of the colorless,
odorless liquid daily.

Thibedeau said his job would be easier if more parents talked to
their teens about substance abuse.

"Some parents don't think they know enough, or they're scared," he
said. "Then we have parents who smoke up with their kids. Society
sends out conflicting messages. We're a society that pops pills to
get happy. It's not blame and finger-pointing time, but it may be
soul-searching time."

Fairview High School health teacher Mary Ann Briggs said students
also need information about why people turn to drugs and alcohol.

"A lot of kids will say, 'We already know the bad effects. We've read
about it on the Internet. We're being careful,'" she said. "We try to
get down to the root of why are they choosing to use these drugs, and
are there some other ways to have fun without messing with their
brain chemicals."

One semester of health is required at the high school level, but it's
up to students when to take the class. Teachers said many wait until
their junior or senior years.

"It would be great if they could hear that message again as freshmen
or sophomores," Cech said. "We know it's getting lost."

St. Vrain Valley School District is adding a one-semester health
requirement next year for all freshmen for that reason. Currently,
St. Vrain doesn't require health for high school students, instead
using consumer and family-studies electives to talk to students about
substance abuse.

"Students need to have some information at a time when those issues
become more intense," said Russ Ramsey, St. Vrain secondary education director.

But Boulder High sophomore Mariah Tuffy said more than just the
timing needs to change.

The 10 or so days typically spent on substance abuse in the health
class aren't enough, she said. She recommended that drug education
become part of regular classes, such as biology.

"We need a little bit each year," she said. "We need more awareness
and more statistics. When I hear statistics, it makes me think about
it. We can make educated decisions if we know more about it."

Still, she said there's only so much that schools can do.

"People always think, 'It's not going to happen to me,'" she said,
expressing doubts that Brittney Chambers' death will have a long-term
impact. "I'm sure last weekend nobody did ecstasy. This weekend, I
bet they will."

Age-Old Problem

Added to teens' sense of immortality is the age-old problem that
they're more likely to listen to their friends than to their parents,
teachers or other adults.

To address that, health teachers invite teens to their classes who
are recovering addicts, who caused an accident because they drove
drunk - and also those who don't use drugs, to prove it's possible to
overcome peer pressure.

Fairview High interventionist Rose Lupinacci started a
substance-abuse forum in which students can share their experiences
with drugs and alcohol with their peers. Lupinacci is getting student
requests for a support group for those who choose not to use drugs or
drink.

"When students take on these issues themselves, there's a lot more
accomplished," she said.

In St. Vrain, district high schools are looking into a Drug
Enforcement Agency program called Teens in Prevention as part of a
community effort to reduce underage drinking and drug use.

The program is based on training a core group of teen leaders, who
then adopt the elementary and middle schools in their area and are
responsible for running prevention programs and activities. St. Vrain
would be the first district in the state to use the program.

At Monarch High, Principal Bill Johnson wants to start a new program
with the theme that "friends don't let friends do drugs."

The Monarch Student Council started a chapter of Students Against
Destructive Decisions, or SADD. Students also recently listened to a
motivational speaker.

"The speaker talked about bad decisions involving alcohol and bad
decisions involving drugs," Johnson said. Brittney took the ecstasy
just a few days later.

"These are the frustrations school people face," Johnson said.

Boulder Valley prevention coordinator Cech said that by high school,
it can be too late. That's why the district's focus is on elementary
and middle school programs that teach skills.

"It's how to cope with anxiety, to resist peer pressure, to make a
good decision," Cech said. "They have to practice those skills so
that, when they're in that situation, they can draw on them."

Down On DARE

Few communities in either the Boulder Valley or St. Vrain Valley
district still use the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE,
program. Most have replaced it with programs proven more effective by
research.

Boulder schools, for example, use a program called Boulder Cops in
Schools. Those in Broomfield use the Project Alert program, as do
schools in Longmont.

Broomfield Sgt. Dan Schuler, who oversees the program at the three
Broomfield middle schools, said Project Alert primarily targets
seventh-graders, with a three-part follow-up in the eighth grade.

The 14-week curriculum, taught by school resource officers, focuses
on substances that adolescents tend to try first, such as alcohol,
tobacco, marijuana and inhalants.

"It's just been a much better program than DARE," Schuler said. "It's
more interactive. The kids have to do the majority of the work
instead of teachers sitting there talking. They work a lot on
resistance skills."

Research supports the program as well. A study of 6,000 students from
30 middle schools found that the program reduced the number of
students trying marijuana and tobacco by 30 percent.

Cech said seven Boulder Valley middle schools also are considering
the Life Skills program, which is recommended by the University of
Colorado's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.

Candy Hyatt, Base Line Middle School principal, is one of those who
want to try the program next year. But she said one program, no
matter how good, isn't enough.

It takes a schoolwide effort, Hyatt said. "A program is only a piece of it."

Another piece at Base Line is helping sixth-graders with the
transition to middle school by pairing them with eighth-grade
mentors. Teachers work with students on communication, decision
making and social skills through the advisory program as well.

"Information does not change behavior," Hyatt said. "There are some
kids who are ignorant and need more information. But what kids need
more than that is a consistent message from families, community and
the school."