MANY TEENS USE HARD-CORE DRUGS

The Death of Erica Hicks Highlights the Range of Illegal Substances
Available to Triangle Teens

The night that 16-year-old Erica Hicks died, she and some of her
friends had used ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine -- hard-core
drugs that make typical high-school vices such as booze and marijuana
seem almost quaint. But area high school students, even those who
don't abuse drugs, say that finding a way to get high is pretty simple.

"It's just a phone call," said Jessica Perry, 16, a sophomore at
Garner High School. "Not even that."

Last week, the 15-year-old who allegedly supplied Hicks the drugs was
charged with second-degree murder for her death last fall. Hicks'
sudden death jolted many parents of teens, even those who knew the
children involved. "I was shocked," said Brynn Barquin, whose
17-year-old son was friends with Hicks while the two attended
Southeast Raleigh High School. "Because really, the only thing I hear
. about is someone drinking or doing pot. When you get into the heavy
stuff, I don't hear about that."

Nowadays, a buffet of pills and powdered drugs can show up at teen
hangouts -- everything from painkillers snatched from dad's medicine
cabinet to powder cocaine bought from dealers.

According to a December 2005 survey of 50,000 teenagers nationwide,
half of all teens will have tried drugs other than alcohol by the
time they finish high school. The national survey of eighth-, 10th-
and 12th-graders found that one in 10 high school seniors reported
using a drug other than marijuana in the past month.

Children as young as middle school even know how to get their hands
on drugs. "You could go to any middle school in North Carolina, and
you'll find people who could tell you where to buy ecstasy and
methamphetamine," said Andy Jernigan, a drug detective with the
Clayton police department. Nationally, 40 percent of high school
seniors surveyed last year said they could score some ecstasy. Nearly
45 percent said they knew where to buy cocaine. In the Triangle in
2005, 291 children younger than 16 were sent to juvenile court for
some sort of drug offense.

Like their parents, today's teenagers often say alcohol and marijuana
are the most prevalent drugs among their peers. Southeast High senior
Rebecca Waggy, 17, said drugs aren't common among her friends, nor at
her school. But if someone wanted marijuana or something harsher, she
said, it is just a matter of knowing the right person.

Teen buyers are most often children with spending money, those living
in middle-to upper-class neighborhoods, national experts say. With
allowances for some high schoolers topping $50 a month, it is easy to
understand how they're feeding their habits, they say.

In 2001, when Jernigan worked at Clayton High School as a uniformed
officer, a girl popped an ecstasy pill in the parking lot before
school to try to stay awake. She started stroking a friend during
class; her eyes were glazed. When Jernigan demanded to know what she
had swallowed, she pulled out an identical yellow tablet with a
smiley face on it. She refused to rat out the dealer, Jernigan said.

"Dealers are in it for the money," Jernigan said. "They don't care if
the kid is 8 or 9. If he's got money, they've got a customer." Easy
access at home Perry, the Garner sophomore, said some teens turn to a
friend's medicine cabinet. Pills are shared, or sold, and kids can
use prescription medication such as Adderall or Ritalin, commonly
used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder, as a means to get a stimulant high.

"They pretty much get it for free with their parents' insurance,"
Perry said. From 2000 to 2004, 37 North Carolina teenagers died from
drug overdoses, according to the state medical examiner's office.
Nearly all overdosed on prescription pain pills taken to get high,
said Lisa Mayhew, child death investigator for the Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner. Pain pills such as OxyContin and methadone
slow down the user's heart rate so dramatically that it can stop, Mayhew said.

Teens choose to dabble in drugs for a variety of reasons, experts
say. Some want to fit in, others are bored and a few abuse narcotics
because it numbs them from painful family situations.

"There's always going to be something in the medicine cabinet that
gives you a unique feeling," said Jack Strandhoy, a professor of
pharmacology at Wake Forest University who studies drug abuse. "For a
teenager, that unique feeling is interpreted as high. Whether it's
pleasant or not." Researchers are beginning to understand that teens
may choose to use drugs because their brains are not fully developed.
The human brain's frontal lobes -- areas used in problem-solving and
decision-making -- aren't fully developed until after high school.

"[This] very significantly impacts one's decisions," said Dr. Tad
Clodfelter, a psychologist with SouthLight, a drug and alcohol
counseling center in Raleigh.

And, experts say, when children do start to abuse drugs regularly,
signs appear in troubled relationships or school. Kids become moody
and withdrawn or secretive about their whereabouts and friends,
Clodfelter said. "If a parent has suspicions they need to take their
hunches seriously," Clodfelter said. "We all sort of want, as
parents, to believe that our kids are doing fine and OK. But in fact,
they might need help."