SYSTEM CURBS DRUG PROBLEM AT GRANT HIGH

DRY PRONG - Nearly a year after it was first implemented at Grant High
School, school administrators say a system for detecting and reporting
student drug use has sharply reduced the drug problem at the school.

"We have cut drugs at the school by 70 to 75 percent in the first year that
Trace Detection was introduced," said Andy Anderson, CEO of Trace Detection
Services of Alexandria and Irving, Texas.

That percentage, Anderson said, was determined by repeated visits to sites
where drug residue was found. Repeated swipes showed a significant
reduction each time, he said.

Anderson credited use of his company's Itemiser drug detection machine
combined with the ChooseToCare.com Web site, which students or teachers can
use to submit anonymous tips about drug use.

The Itemiser can detect the presence of drug traces on a pad that is wiped
over surfaces such as desk tops and student lockers at the school.

Anderson said that word about Trace Detection has spread throughout the
student population.

"These kids are scared," he said.

Grant Parish educators and school board officials, Rapides Parish law
enforcement officers and representatives of the state Department of
Education listened Wednesday as parents and others praised the reduction of
the drug problem in Grant schools.

The drug detection program is also in use at three other Grant schools -
Montgomery High, Georgetown High and Dry Prong Junior High.

The mother of one Grant High student said she didn't see the warning signs
that her daughter was a drug user until someone sent an anonymous tip to
the ChooseToCare.com site.

After failing to properly submit to several drug tests, the teen-ager ran
away from home but was soon found, the mother said.

"She was in a condition that I couldn't believe," the mother said. "It took
her three days to come down from whatever it was she was on."

The teen entered a drug rehabilitation center in another city and is well
on the road to recovery, the mother said.

"She told me that she has been clean for 30 days," the woman said.

James Albert, custodian at Grant High, said there has been a tremendous
change in the students' attitudes since the drug abatement program began.

"I can see the change in the students," Albert said. "They're more friendly
and more open."

John Barnard, a junior at Grant High and president of the school's Explorer
Post chapter said he, too, is pleased with the drug-deterrent program.

"I'm glad that the knowledge gained from these tests will be a benefit to
us all and keep us all safe," Barnard said.

Other speakers praised Grant High and the support the drug program has
received from the Grant Parish School Board and Sheriff Pop Hataway.

Anderson said his company and the Denton, Texas-based ChooseToCare.com Web
site will be entering Rapides Parish public schools in September, followed
by Trace Detection's implementation in October.

Barbara Odom, coordinator of Rapides Parish Safe and Drug Free Schools
attended the meeting and said principals, faculty and students will be
informed of the drug detection programs in Rapides.

"I think it's something that's needed," Odom said, adding that the
information gained from Trace Detection and ChooseToCare will be for
"intelligence" and for "curbing drug use."

The system is already being used in some Texas school districts and may
move into more Louisiana school districts.

Representing ChooseToCare.com at Wednesday's meeting were Russ Rosenberg
and Bill Dolphin. They gave a demonstration on how the site works and keeps
tipsters anonymous.

"Once people know about it, it's a simple concept," Rosenberg said.