'WE DON'T USE DRUGS,' TEENS SHOUT ON BILLBOARD

LAKEWOOD - Ashley Shuckerow and James Koltiska are not losers.

Neither are their friends at Teen Institute, a Lakewood High School group
opposed to drug and alcohol use. But group members are tired of
advertisements they say unfairly link teens with drugs.

Yesterday, they launched a campaign of their own - on a 12-by-25-foot
billboard.

"Welcome to Reality ... Most teenagers do not use drugs," blares the
Madison Ave. sign, which features seven students: Ashley and James, along
with classmates Josh Harris, Lisa Filmer, Kenzzie Green, Diane Miller and
Rachel Fichter.

"[People] think that all the time we're drunk and partying, that it's
normal for us all to be drunk," James, a 16-year-old junior, said.

"We hope to send a message to people that most teens don't use drugs,"
17-year-old junior Ashley said.

The students said their frustration level rose when they saw one of the
state's "Loserville" billboards. Attorney General Betty Montgomery's
in-your-face anti-smoking campaign features a teenager with a cigarette and
the slogan: "Welcome to LOSERVILLE. Population: YOU."

Even students who are hard-line smoking opponents find the campaign
negative and demeaning, said Jeannie Hoopes, a Lakewood High faculty member
who advises Teen Institute.

"It has no effect," Josh, a 15-year-old sophomore, said of the Loserville
campaign. "Most people think it's an ugly billboard."

Teen Institute spent the last four months putting together a display with
help from a billboard company and a local photographer. In all, the
teenagers spent $300, canceling a Christmas party to come up with some of
that money. The billboard will be up for six months.

A 1999 survey by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta found that 55
percent of Ohio teens had used alcohol in the previous month, 26 percent
had smoked marijuana in the previous month and 20 percent regularly smoked
cigarettes. Significantly less than 10 percent of teens have ever tried
cocaine, heroin or methamphetamines, according to the study.

But the biggest problems in school have nothing to do with drugs and
alcohol, James said. The main concern of students is balancing school, work
and a social life, he said.