STUDIES FIND MORE TEENS ABUSING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

DAYTONA BEACH -- Marlee Hull got high before her swim meets and
practices last school year.

She often went home to smoke marijuana and take anti-anxiety pills
she got from a friend, then to the pool to swim for the Seabreeze High team.

She tells how once after an hour in the pool she vomited and coughed
up blood in the bathroom. The 16-year-old knew the drugs were
damaging her body but she didn't care.

Hull was depressed with life's problems, including those that come
with having divorced parents; a childhood friend also died. She
wanted to forget.

When she was with her friends, she wanted to feel like the "life of the party."

Instead, the slim, 5-foot-8 inch blonde 10th-grader -- who before her
addiction made A's and B's -- just got more depressed, lost weight,
was kicked off the swim team and eventually, while failing her
classes, out of high school.

"I couldn't think. I wasn't fully there," she said.

Now, after three months in a residential drug treatment program at
the Stewart-Marchman Center, Hull is a "leader and a role model." She
has a new outlook and is trying to educate other teens in the
center's Residential Adolescent Program about the dangers of drugs.

"It's not worth it at all. This is a big wakeup call for me," said
Hull, who hopes to graduate from the program in a couple of weeks. "I
realized I didn't accomplish anything in the past year except doing
more drugs."

While marijuana is the local drug of choice for teens, followed by
alcohol, state and national studies show prescription drug abuse,
from pain medication to attention-deficit drugs, are on a steady rise.

One national study of children older than 12 shows there are just as
many new abusers of prescription drugs as there are for marijuana.

State and national officials say teens seem to ignore the dangers of
prescription drug abuse -- from seizures to coma to death -- with the
thinking that pills prescribed by a doctor must be safe.

But more and more teens, officials say, are taking pills from the
medicine cabinets of their parents, grandparents or friends' parents
and using them while drinking alcohol and smoking pot. Nearly half, a
national study says, get prescription drugs for free from a relative or friend.

Bill Janes, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, is
pushing for a state database to monitor the amount of prescription
drugs being dispensed to people.

"Parents don't understand the proliferation of this problem," Janes said.

A new national study released last week also says at least once a
week more than 5 million teens report witnessing illegal drugs used
at school, including prescription drugs.

Parties are also common, local and state officials say, where teens
bring various pills, drop them in a large bowl or bag and then grab a
handful not knowing what they are getting. One term used to describe
the party is "pharming," a state official said.

National Drug Czar John Walters is working on advertising campaigns
that will air next year to target children and parents about the
dangers of prescription drugs and the need for medications to be locked up.

Addiction Begins

Hull said she had her first drink and smoked her first joint at 12,
during a Fourth of July party with friends where adults were also drinking.

She later started abusing prescription drugs -- mainly the
anti-anxiety medication Xanax -- along with marijuana. At first she
was just taking a few pills on the weekends, but then "my weekdays
became my weekends, too."

"I was doing stupid stuff," Hull said. "I was more into drugs than
school or anything else."

She said she'd get the pills mainly from friends who would either get
them from their parents or take them without the parents knowing.
Many times, she said, her friends' parents knew, but thought, "they
are going to grow out of it."

Sometimes Hull's friends would give her the drugs for free. Other
times, she paid $5 a pill with money from various restaurant jobs.
She often compared the engravings on the pills to those on the
Internet to "make sure I didn't get ripped off."

"It wasn't for my safety," she said. "I didn't care if I died or not.
I was so depressed it didn't really matter."

Hull said she was depressed "about anything and everything." She was
dealing with stress from her broken family and hadn't gotten over the
death of a childhood friend. She also bounced around, sometimes
living with her dad, and then her mom, and then her boyfriend's parents' house.

She also thinks she did drugs "just for the lifestyle I guess."

"I wanted to be the life of the party," she said. "I liked it when I
could get drugs for people."

In school, she would see other teens pass drugs to each other under
the table or in between a piece of paper to make it look like a note.
At one point, she said, she took some of her dad's pain pills without
him knowing, but it made her sick.

Her father, Michael "Scott" Hull, a local optician, said he abused
morphine and OxyContin after being prescribed them while dealing with
cancer treatments. He went through detox at Stewart-Marchman Center
almost two years ago.

"I knew I had made a mistake. I knew I had to come off strong
medication," he said.

He was surprised when his daughter got caught up in "bad choices."

"I didn't think she'd go that route because of her gifts and talents
and what she could do," he said.

Now he's seen a complete turnaround in his daughter, who he visits
weekly. She's also going home on some weekend visits now.

Her father said parents need to pay attention and communicate more
and don't "give up and get complacent and think that's just the kid
being a kid."

Lessons Learned

Ben Navarra, 22, who is at a Serenity House treatment program, said
he started abusing prescription drugs at age 16. After first using
marijuana at 13, he then started using pain pills, Lortab and
Percocet and moved to OxyContin and heroin. It began with one or two
pills a day and then he was taking about eight.

"I couldn't function without it or I'd get extremely sick," said Navarra.

Navarra said he would steal, rob and was arrested for breaking into
homes to get money for drugs. He's been in and out of juvenile
commitment programs, jail and treatment.

He now says he's clean more than 18 months and recently started a job
while continuing treatment. He eventually wants to go into real
estate, he said, like his family.

"My life was just going nowhere. I realized I was killing myself,"
Navarra said. "I put (my parents) through a lot. They were always
asking me how they can help me, but I wasn't trying to hear it. I
would just rather get high."

Elizabeth McQueen, clinical director of adolescent programs at
Stewart-Marchman Center, said prescription drug abuse has increased
in the past two to three years. She estimates about 70 percent of the
nearly 120 young people in the agency's three programs have tried
prescription drugs once or twice while about one-third are diagnosed
with having abused them.

McQueen said their reasons are to get high, forget problems with
their parents or relationships, and pressure from school.

"They are struggling with depression and oftentimes are trying to
self-medicate something," she said. "We try to help them realize the
unmanageability of their life and motivate them to change."

Hull said she never wants to go back to where she was. Now, she does
pottery and other activities and sees that "life is fun without
drugs." She's also learned "to love myself more."

"We're not high when we're doing (these activities) and it's so much
better," Hull said. "It's genuine happiness instead of fake happiness."

When she talks about the future, she sees it as being wide open.
She's hoping to go to a private high school away from old friends and
hasn't decided what she'll do for her career. But she has lots of
ideas -- a massage therapist, an art teacher, a veterinarian
assistant or a nurse.

She's worried, though, how things will be outside the structured
program. On one hand, she thinks it will be easy "because I'm going
to be happy" and she'll have structure at her dad's house. She'll
also be on probation until she's 19 and if she violates it she will
be sent to a six-to eight-month residential program.

But then she also says, "I'm scared.

"In here, it's easy to say 'I'm not going to do drugs again,' " she
said. "I don't know how it is going to be when I get out."

Tips For Parents

If you're worried your teen may be getting high on marijuana or
alcohol, don't forget about your medicine cabinet. Drug officials
warn parents that prescription drug abuse is becoming more common
Here's some advice for parents:

GET EDUCATED: Learn about and teach teens and other family and
friends about the risks. Prescription drugs can be just as dangerous
and as addictive as "street drugs."

PAY ATTENTION: Keep track of pill quantities at home and ask other
family members your teen visits and the parents of your teens'
friends to do the same. Keep prescription drugs locked up.

OBSERVE: If you find your teen is quickly going through cough syrup
or you find empty bottles and pill packages among your teen's
belongings, let them know the health risks, listen carefully and
determine if there is a problem.

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS Use prescription drugs only as prescribed.

OLD MEDICINE? TRASH IT: Discard old or unused medications, mixing
them with something unappealing such as kitty litter or coffee
grounds. For environmental reasons, never flush any medications down
the toilet or drain. Remove any personal information from the bottle.

ONLINE TIME: Monitor online and cell phone use. Drugs can sometimes
be ordered online without a prescription.

SET AN EXAMPLE: Find productive ways for your teen to relieve stress
and have fun. Help them find constructive ways to pass time.

SOURCES: Office of National Drug Control Policy and the National
Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

Recovery Month

September is the 18th annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Recovery Month. The month highlights the benefits of treating
substance abuse. Locally, agencies will be distributing materials
regarding prevention. Other events planned include:

. Throughout the month, a photography exhibit by people who have been
in treatment at Stewart-Marchman Center will be on display at the
Holly Hill Library, 1066 Ridgewood Ave. The library is open from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Patrick Van Dusen, a
senior professor at Daytona Beach Community College, will speak about
the project at four events at the library -- Sept. 7 at 3:30 p.m.;
Sept. 12 at 3:30 p.m.; Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 3:30 p.m.

. Sept. 29 -- Grand Finale Concert at the Daytona Beach Bandshell
from 4 to 7 p.m. behind the Ocean Walk Shoppes. Michael English,
contemporary Christian recording artist will perform along with other
musical acts, dramatic performances and testimonies from people in recovery.

For more information on recovery month, go to RecoveryMonthNEFL.org
or the national site at RecoveryMonth.gov.