PROGRAM LED BY MARLBORO POLICE, DEA WILL TEACH PARENTS ABOUT DRUG ABUSE

MARLBORO -- Township police are teaming up with the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, school administrators and the local
municipal drug abuse prevention alliance to teach parents about the
danger of prescription drug abuse by young people.

Nationwide, prescription drug abuse is a problem among people of all
ages, and at Marlboro High School, there are students who are
addicted to prescription drugs, Township Police Lt. Doug Van Note said.

"We noticed the problem in our school," Van Note said. "We're seeing
kids who are actual addicts now. They have to take these prescription
drugs in order to make it through the day."

The drugs also have been sold by students in school, police said.

Van Note said police and school administrators realize there is an
issue and want to deal with it.

"We got together and saw the problem we were having, and we knew we
had to reach the parents," Van Note said. "We want to tell the
parents it happens in our town."

Jerry North, principal of Marlboro High School, said prescription
drug use is not more of a problem at his school than it is anywhere
else. But it is an issue that parents are not always cognizant of, he said.

"I think it's something that's (happening) all over the place," he
said. "What I'm very happy with is, we have a municipal alliance and
a police force (that) are trying to help the schools in the sense of
making an awareness for parents."

The free program will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. April 8 at Marlboro
High School. It is open to parents of all Freehold Regional High
School District students.

Half of the two-hour program will be a panel discussion with experts,
including a local emergency room nurse and the high school's student
assistance counselor. Two students will also be part of that discussion.

The other hour will feature DEA Special Agent Douglas S. Collier,
whose presentation is part of a program called Medicine for Success,
an initiative under the leadership of Gerard P. McAleer, Special
Agent in Charge of the DEA, New Jersey Division.

While marijuana used to be the gateway drug to such narcotics as
cocaine or heroin, prescription medicines have now become stepping
stones to harder drugs, McAleer said.

Many parents have locks on their liquor cabinets, but no one locks
their medicine cabinets, and young people are swiping tablets from
their parents' and grandparents' pill bottles, he said.

Sometimes, young people know what they are taking; other times they
don't. They bring the pills to "pharm parties" and share them with
their friends, he said.

"We're trying to teach parents and educators to be cognizant of what
the kids are doing," McAleer said.

The talks at schools are part of his office's larger approach to
fighting the problem of prescription drug abuse.

DEA agents from New Jersey recently met with executives of
pharmaceutical companies to explain concerns about the diversion of
legitimate drugs, and agents recently spoke at a statewide conference
of the New Jersey Prevention Network.

They plan to speak with pain management doctors at a conference in
May, with pharmacists in the fall and with Drug Abuse Resistance
Education police officers at their convention in April. The DEA also
will hold a training conference in June at Rutgers University for
local, county and state law enforcement.

They also plan to hold more talks at schools throughout the state this year.

Collier said prescription-drug use is second only to marijuana use
among adolescents. Emergency room visits for prescription-drug use
are up by 25 percent nationwide, according to statistics complied by
the Drug Abuse Warning Network.

"It's an issue throughout the state and throughout the United
States," Collier said, noting that his office is not targeting
Marlboro or Monmouth County with the April 8 program.

"We just want to get out there and educate the families in the
community and let them know what's going on," he said. "We're not
there to scare them. We're just going to give them reliable, tangible
information, so they can understand the issue."