DRUG TEST: PARENTS INSPECT MOCK TEEN BEDROOM FOR SIGNS OF DRUG USE

They got the beer bong, the aerosol air freshener, the angry snowman
T-shirt and the pacifiers.

But when Clarence Watson held up the tube of lipstick parents had
missed while searching a teen's bedroom for signs of drug use, their
reaction made it obvious they hadn't gotten that.

"This is actually a marijuana pipe," said Watson, demonstrating how
the tube could transition from cosmetic aid to illicit
paraphernalia.

An audible "Oh dang" emanated from the audience, followed soon by an
"Oh man" as Watson deftly revealed a similar pipe inside a
fluorescent yellow highlighter.

"Our goal today is, number one, to make you aware of what is
happening in the drug environment today," said Watson, who with Emmy
Sasala works for the Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center in York.

For example, he said, many parents might not be aware that marijuana
today can be up to 10 times as potent as it was when they were young.

Speaking to an audience of about 15 people in Carlisle High School's
McGowan Auditorium Monday night, the two told parents that not all
drug users fit the inner-city stereotype.

"About 49 percent of high school kids in the city try drugs," Watson
said. "About 49 percent of suburban kids also have tried drugs. We
cannot pigeonhole them."

But before they started talking about heroin and crack cocaine, the
two stressed that parents should not take lightly the possibility
that their children could be doing "gateway drugs" -- tobacco,
alcohol, inhalants.

"They are just as dangerous as some of the other drugs," Sasala
said.

She noted that tobacco is the number one preventable cause of death
- -- more than all other drugs combined. It's less noticeable, she
said, because it's more socially acceptable and more slowly
debilitating, but the statistics also offer parents hope.

"If you can get them through high school without smoking, chances are
that they're not going to start," she said.

Inhalants should also be of particular concern to parents, Sasala
said, because although parents tend to see it as the equivalent of
trying a cigarette, the immediate danger quotient of what young
thrill-seekers may call "air blast, bagging, buzz bomb, gluey, hippie
crack, moon gas, oz, snappers and quicksilver" is actually much
higher. A large percentage of people die after trying inhalants just
once, she says, and the typical age for first users is 10 to 13.

Gesturing toward the mock bedroom where participants had identified
about 30 of the 70 drug indicators present, Watson said, "We order
this stuff off the Internet." Many online pharmacies don't require
prescriptions or other forms of verification, he said, and when the
packages arrive in the mail, they don't look like drugs.

Someone in the audience raised a hand and asked, "Who are these
people? Why are they selling these things?"

"This is for tobacco," said Watson, assuming a mock innocent
expression. "I can't believe they're using it for drugs."

They talked about raves, about "pharming" parties featuring
prescription pills, about combinations of Viagra and ecstasy that
often add unprotected sex to the dangers of drug use.

"How much does this cost?" someone asked, and Watson said dealers
keep prices low so they can sell more. "Five dollars a pill, ten
dollars a pill," he said. Even hits of crack cocaine can be obtained
for as little as $5, Watson added.

In addition to educating themselves, Watson and Sasala said, the most
important thing parents can do is to establish and maintain good
relationships with their children.

Afterward, as attendees clustered around the mock bedroom again,
Sasala said that even though they would have liked to see a larger
audience, they consider their work worthwhile if it helps even one
child.

"You never know what's going to happen," said assistant high school
principal Paul Wysocki, "especially when you play between the
holidays." The event was sponsored by the Carlisle Health and
Wellness Foundation in cooperation with Carlisle Area School District.

Bruce Clash, who has one child in middle school and two in elementary
school, said he and his wife decided to come even though they have no
reason to think their children are considering trying drugs.

"I don't think it's ever too early," he said.