LISD RAISING AWARENESS ON TEEN DRUG USE

The Lewisville Independent School District recently posted a letter to
parents on their Web site concerning teen drug use.

"As we begin this New Year, the Lewisville Independent School District
is embarking on a renewed effort to better educate and assist students
and their parents in the area of drug and alcohol prevention," is the
first sentence in the letter to parents.

According to school officials, 31 percent of students in fourth
through sixth grades, and 71 percent in seventh through 12th grades
reported using some type of substance in their lifetime.

"In the police department's experience, we've seen that any school in
any city a student can probably score what they want either today or
the next day," said Richard Douglass, Lewisville Police
spokesperson.

It's because of that fact that LISD is taking steps to combat the
problem.

"We have just started the education process, but before that it was
something we were looking at," said Tohma Morrison, LISD
spokesperson.

The goal of the letter, he said, was to inform parents, and is not in
response to any one incident.

Some of the steps that will be taken are: designating a Safe and Drug
Free Coordinator to oversee the district's program including direct
assistance for families who are experiencing the trauma of drug or
alcohol use, initiating a school/community task force to address the
issues of drug and alcohol use in the LISD communities and creating an
online presence for staff, parents and students specifically related
to drug and alcohol education.

Along with the steps that the district is planning, parents are also
urged to take steps of their own.

The first recommendation is to talk to children about drugs and the
consequences of using them. Parents are also urged to lock up
prescription drugs so children will not take them to school.

Prescription drugs are an easy, dangerous way for kids who want to get
high to do so. Many adult cabinets have many types of prescription
drugs in them, Rebecca East said.

East is the mother of Michael Damien Anderson, a Marcus High School
student who died of an overdose in December of 2006.

East walks into his room where a computer still hums, and posters of
bands hang on the walls. A black guitar sits on a stand near Damien's
bed.

East points to a corner between the bed and the computer.

"This is where I found him," she said.

She was not able to find her son one morning and went looking for
him.

"As I went into his room and called his phone, that's when I saw his
legs," she said.

East says that Damien was an "A" student, and not one that people
would normally associate with doing drugs.

"They say to watch for the signs, but there were no signs. His grades
were great. He had never been in a fight. Damien didn't show the
signs," East said.

Admittedly still dealing with her son's death, East says she is
willing to fight to let other parents know what is going on in the
schools.

"The most miserable thing is to not have your child," she
said.

Marilyn Harbour knows that pain all too well.

Harbour lost her son, Josh, more than a year before Damien died.
Harbour said she has been waiting 13 months to hear exactly how her
son died, but she knows it was drugs.

"When you lose your child, you almost become stuck in time," Harbour
said She sleepwalks through the days, but works to keep a roof over
her head, she said.

Harbour show pictures of her son at his 17th birthday, which was his
last. She has pictures of the two of them at concerts and on vacation.
The two were close, she said.

East said there are so many things that run through her head now that
Damien is gone.

"There will be no college, no guitar playing, no grandchildren," she
said. Both boys liked playing music, and both liked to write. Damien
was interested in journalism and Josh liked writing songs and poetry.

"There is nothing greater than what we have been through," Harbour
said.

East and Harbour both think that there is a problem with drugs in the
district and the city; however, they say they do not blame anyone.

"We both lost children. We think the drug problem is pretty bad,"
Harbour said.

East and Harbour say their goal is to educate and inform parents of
teens what is going on. They say that many parents do not know that
teens will take prescription drugs to get high or take part in things
like "the choking game." In "the choking game," teens will find a way
to cut off the supply of oxygen to the brain until they pass out,
after regaining consciousness, the teen, allegedly, feels a high.

Harbour said she found out Josh was doing this, and says that is where
parents need to be informed about these trends.

Tohma Morrison agrees with the two mothers.

"We're not naive enough to think that there are no drugs in the
schools," he said.

The district is recruiting parents and civic leaders for their support
in their quest against teen drug use, Morrison said.

"We have to do this as a partnership. Schools can't do this alone," he
said.

A major piece of that is educating parents, he said.

East agrees, and that is why she and Harbour have made it a point to
do their best to inform parents as much as possible.

"Wake up parents before your children don't," East said.

Both have decided to use their tragedy as motivation to help others.

"Losing the children is worthless unless we save some," Harbour
said.

At noon on Feb. 11, East is sponsoring a bike run which will start at
Canuck's 1102 Texas Street in Lewisville. There will be nine different
stops, and those without bikes will be able to ride in a decorated
trailer. The fee is $10 per person with the proceeds going to the LISD
Drug Awareness program.