STUDENTS 'DRUG' OFF IN MOCK NARCOTICS BUST

9:05 a.m. - Twenty students pile into a room that on any other day
would be a math class. Instead of a teacher, the group is met by
Chief Probation Officer Doug Swalm who gives a slide presentation
showing the accouterments of mobile methamphetamine labs.

Swalm describes the procedure of how the drug is made and compares
glass air freshener vials to actual glass meth pipes to show their
similarities.

"I think I have some of it somewhere on me," Swalm says as he
produces a baggie with a small amount of white powder from his pocket
and passes it to the students to get a firsthand look.

The first student takes a quick look and gives the baggie to the girl
behind her who stashes it in her bag.

"Whoa - why did you do that?" says Swalm, who directs a deputy who is
conveniently available at the back of the classroom to nab the girl
who has taken the drug.

The girl is cuffed, walked to the back of the room and is patted down
by Deputy Theresa Duffy, who tells her to spread her legs.

Half of the students keep their eyes on the continuing lesson but the
rest take furtive glances to see what is happening to their classmate.

"That was kind of stupid," he said. "Does anyone know her? Why would
she do that?"

"Because you told her to?" offers a student.

"What's going to happen to her?" said Swalm.

The class suggests she will go to juvenile hall, China Spring or
Aurora Pines but in the next few minutes Swalm's question is answered
as the prisoner and other 19 students are led to "detention" in the
adjoining room.

Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School was the scene Tuesday of the Drug Store
Project that was put together by the Partnership of Community
Resources to educate youth about all aspects of drug use - from what
constitutes drug abuse to the consequences to those who abuse them.

Seventh-graders participated in the project that used members of the
sheriff's and juvenile probation offices, as well as members from the
judicial, education and counseling community and parent volunteers.

During the program, students visited stations to learn about
methamphetamine and what would happen if a juvenile is caught with
drugs. There was a reenactment of a student caught "stealing" a
baggie of methamphetamine, was cuffed, held in detention and attended
court - complete with Judge Michael Gibbons and lawyers Kris Brown
and Tod Young.

9:20 a.m. The detention room features a blond teenager slouching in a
chair in a cell made of PVC. He is wearing prison duds of overlarge
orange shirt, green pants and purple deck shoes. He looks
sufficiently morose because this 21st century pillory is part of his
probation. All that is missing is a sign around his neck declaring his crime.

The new prisoner, Chani, is being directed by Donna Tholl, supervisor
at the Douglas County Detention Facility, to stick out her tongue,
declare if she has any piercings, take her jacket and shoes off.

"If you have piercings or any jewelry that can't be removed, we'll
remove it for you. We have pliers," said Tholl.

"You're stripped down. You do a squat and cough to make sure you
didn't bring stuff with you. You're given a cold shower and
everything personal is left at the door," she said.

At this point, Chani's fellow classmates don't show if they believe
the ruse but the situation has definitely captured their attention.

After she is "processed" by Bruce Beauchamp from the Douglas County
Juvenile Probation Office, Chani is put in the PVC cell with the boy
on probation.

"This is very degrading," said Beauchamp. "(Juvenile detention) is
just like the real thing. Most kids think that it's different from
adults but it's not. You guys are no different than adults when it
comes to this."

9:34 a.m. The next step for the prisoner Chani, who is now in the
orange and green prison garb and trussed with a belt with her wrists
attached by cuffs, is to attend court. She and her class proceed to
other stations having to do with drug counseling, debriefing and post
test. It eventually is shown that Chani and the other seven students
who volunteered for the Drug Store Project didn't really steal drugs.

During the debriefing, the students' reactions after going through
nearly two hours of stations was that they had heard almost
everything on the subject of drug abuse already.

Even at the age of 13, the seventh-graders who participated in the
Drug Store Project were veterans of the DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, and GREAT, Gang Resistance Education and Training, programs.

Steven Campbell, 13, said the program could be helpful to some people.

"At first it seemed real," said Steven. "It was the handcuffs that
gave it away. They were old handcuffs."

Raul Castaneda, 12, said that a student being arrested for stealing
drugs from the classroom seemed real at first but doubted the student
volunteers would be thought of as culprits.

"I didn't think they would do that - never, ever in their whole
lives," said Raul.

Another student mentioned all the student volunteers were "goody-goodies."

"In one class they were teaching us how to make a pipe," said Raul.

"And how much meth to put in it," said Steven.

Some in the debriefing room expressed compassion for the "arrested" students.

"It made me feel bad for that person because I actually believed it."

"I was shocked. I believed it until the judge part."

"I believed it until I saw the jail cell made out of PVC."

And what would parents do if they found their children had been
arrested for drugs?

"My mom would kill me."

"I'd be grounded for life."

"They'd be worried."

"I would be dead. A slow, painful death."

And would the next seventh-grade class benefit from the Drug Store Project?

A resounding, "Yes."