HOOSIER TEENS SHOOTING UP DRUGS AT RECORD RATES

Rate Increased By 25 Percent In One Year, According To Survey

The number of Indiana high school seniors who say they have shot up
heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs has hit an all-time high,
according to new Indiana University findings that are backed by drug
counselors.

About 2.2 percent of 12th-graders surveyed by IU's Indiana Prevention
Resource Center this spring admitted trying intravenous drugs, which
users turn to for a more powerful high. That's an increase of more
than 25 percent from a year ago, according to the 16th annual IU
survey, to be released today.

While the overall head count of reported IV drug users is small, it
shows "there is a subgroup of schoolchildren that are heavily into
drug use," said Barbara Seitz De Martinez, the center's deputy
director. "If they are using heroin and other injection drugs, you
don't start off with that. You graduate to that over a period of
time." IV drug use has been linked primarily to older adults, but
drug counselors say more teenage addicts are showing up in clinics.

Larry Henry estimates about 20 percent of his young patients at
Fairbanks drug treatment center in Indianapolis are addicted to IV
heroin, cocaine or OxyContin. The children, who come from all walks
of life, find drug suppliers in urban areas and on college campuses,
Henry and others believe.

"I had a kid from Pittsboro, Indiana, using heroin every day," Henry
said. "Where do you find heroin in Pittsboro, Indiana?"

They also have noticed that drug education in schools doesn't include
much about IV drugs, the use of which is a primary way to transmit HIV.

Drug prevention efforts in schools and communities over time have
stepped up to include, for example, random testing of teenagers. But
the efforts primarily zero in on cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana.

"We began to see some decreases" in those areas, said Carolyn Snyder,
a Crawfordsville nurse who heads the Indiana Association of School
Nurses. "The problem is, students find other drugs. We're finding
differences in drugs of choice, so that's a real problem."

When Santina Sullivan was growing up, there was only one real drug of
choice: marijuana. Now that the Indianapolis woman's daughter is
ready to begin her freshman year at IU, Sullivan is surprised to hear
about harder drugs such as heroin in high schools and colleges.

"That seems like a really hard-core, addictive, terrible thing you'd
see in a really bad neighborhood," Sullivan said. "It's hard for me
to think about an upper-class kid with a needle in their hands."

For its findings, the IU center surveyed more than 131,000 students
in Grades 6-12. Children in about a quarter of Indiana public and
private schools participated, although researchers did not identify
them. Money from the federal Health and Human Services Department
foots the survey's bill.

IU researchers did not attempt to analyze the survey findings, which
are instead used to shape state and local drug prevention efforts.

"I don't know why children are injecting," Seitz De Martinez said.
"This is a good wake-up call to let us know to what extent we still
need to be on top of these issues like HIV and drug use in general."