JUVENILE DRUG SPECIALIST SCARES KIDS STRAIGHT

TAMPA - Maritza Ortiz has an 8-by-10-inch photograph of a dead
man.

The body, bloody and mangled, lies next to a small white car --
wrapped around a concrete post.

Ortiz shows the picture to high school and middle school students to
teach them about the dangers of drug use. She also showed it to her 9-
year-old son.

The man in her photograph was struck by a 15-year-old girl driving a
stolen car while drunk and stoned.

As a juvenile drug court specialist in Hillsborough County, Ortiz, a
soft-spoken 36-year-old, makes sure the youths before the court are
complying with their ordered drug treatment and that they haven't been
arrested again.

In her spare time, the mother of two children speaks to students about
drugs. Her job and volunteer work provide a window on the state of
teenage drug use in Hillsborough County. Ortiz doesn't preach to them
to stay away from drugs; she shows them what can result from using
them.

The drug court has 269 active cases of juveniles arrested on drug
charges. Its primary focus is rehabilitation, but those convicted can
face community service, probation or, as a maximum penalty, detention
until their 19th birthday.

Drug court defendants are getting younger, Ortiz said. A quick flip
through her monthly arraignment calendar listed 30 offenders,
including seven 14- year-olds, four 13-year-olds, and an 11-year-old
facing marijuana possession and weapon charges.

Many of the youths, she said, tell the court they first tried alcohol
or drugs at 10 or even 9 years old.

"Most of it is alcohol and marijuana," Ortiz said, "but we've seen
a lot of cocaine."

Ortiz said she never realized how little students and their parents
know about drugs until she talked with them.

Parents "always seem to be surprised at drug use in the schools,"
Ortiz said. "They don't know how big it is. I don't know if they are
just naive or in denial."

The students, she said, don't know the laws and don't know the many
ways they can get in trouble, even if they aren't the ones doing the
drugs.

"They don't know that if they hold someone's drugs they can get in
trouble for it," Ortiz said. "They don't know if they are in a car
with another kid who has drugs, they can get in trouble for it."

In her presentation, Ortiz displays a series of jail mug shots
demonstrating the downward progression of a heroin addict. The first
photo shows a youthful 16-year-old girl holding a jail identification
card. By the final shot, taken 14 years later, the same woman is
bloated and much of her hair has fallen out. Her eyes are swollen and
squinting. The woman died not long after the final picture was taken.

Ortiz doesn't know whether any children have taken her advice, but
she's hopeful. She keeps a stack of thank-you letters from her students.

The shock level of Ortiz's talks is tailored to her
audience.

Last year, before a group of second-graders at Tampa Downtown
Partnership Elementary School, Ortiz gave a more subdued version of
her speech. Brian Jones, their teacher, said Ortiz and a judge gave
the students a glimpse of what could go wrong if they make the wrong
choices.

This summer at the Central City YMCA Child Development Center, Ortiz
kicked it up. Director Sandra Jennings said Ortiz's stark words made a
necessary point with the students, many of whom come from abusive
homes or are children of a homeless person. Both groups, Jennings
said, are at high risk for drug abuse.

Despite her knowledge of the drug culture, Ortiz never has taken
illegal drugs, she said. She attributes her clean living to strong
discipline.

"My father had eight kids, and that was just a taboo," she said. "I
don't even know how to smoke."