TOMA DELIVERS SHARP DRUG MESSAGE

Ex-Cop And Motivational Speaker Got Some Kids' Attention

There was no mistaking David Toma's message to 4,000 Jackson County high
school students Tuesday.

He whispered it. He proclaimed it. He sent it echoing off the auditorium
rafters at the Jackson County Exposition Park.

Drugs are bad, he said. Drugs are destructive. Whether it's alcohol or pot,
meth or ecstasy, acid or heroin, drugs are a fast trip to a wrecked life
and an early death.

"If you drink and do drugs, you're only a hairline away from prison," said
the former New Jersey cop-turned-activist.

And, he added, not enough people are willing to say so.

"The problem in this society is that we're asleep!'' Toma said. "We don't
wake up until there's an epidemic."

Few folks were asleep in the bleachers at the Expo, where Toma reprised a
1981 visit to Southern Oregon. Back then, his appearance helped launch
Southern Oregon Drug Awareness, the community coalition marking the start
of its 20th year.

This time around, Toma was joined by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the retiring
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In brief remarks,
McCaffrey outlined the problem for the audience of 14- to 16-year-olds. Of
the 270 million people in the United States, 13 million are drug users and
5 million are chronically addicted, McCaffrey said.

The time to consider the effects of drug use is now, he told the
youngsters, because adolescents are most vulnerable to drug use.

"Beyond the age of 19, almost no one is stupid enough to start using
drugs," he said. The most worrisome kid is "the 12- or 13-year-old boy or
girl who is regularly smoking pot on the weekends and binge-drinking on beer."

"How many of you have a friend who uses drugs?" McCaffrey asked the crowd.

Nearly every hand in the room went up.

Then Toma took the stage, stepping from a spiffy DARE truck, accompanied by
flashing lights and police sirens. For the next 90 minutes, he lectured,
preached, pleaded and cajoled the kids with scary tales of the toll drugs
have taken on his life.

"I'm doing this now 50 years," said Toma, whose three-day visit cost SODA
some $9,000. "Baby, I know my business."

From his own tranquilizer addiction to his nephews' bouts with street
drugs and the death of his sister because of a drunk driver, Toma spun
stories of awful actions and dire consequences.

There was the girl who smoked pot and gave birth to a deformed baby. There
was the girl who was slipped acid in a soft drink and then went home and
walked off her roof. There were the boys who started drinking and smoking
pot and wound up slitting the throats of cats and dogs.

"They were Satanists drinking the blood of dead animals," Toma said. "If
you're playing with drugs, the same thing will happen to you."

Local drug prevention workers acknowledged surprise that Toma maintains his
strident, take-no-prisoners approach, which was popular two or more decades
ago.

"At that time, 'Scared Straight' was a pretty good strategy for dealing
with kids," said Mark Orndoff, deputy director of Jackson County Health and
Human Services. "We've become more sophisticated since then. We know it's
not enough to scare kids. We know that we have to reach their families as
well."

But if Toma's message reached even a few of the 4,000 students gathered
Tuesday, that's good, Orndoff added.

Indeed, most of the students in Toma's audience heard his tales with
wide-eyed fascination.

A few fidgeted, a few rolled their eyes, a few smirked when Toma's voice
swelled to a shout. A handful of students could be seen yawning and
struggling to stay awake.

But most were like Meagan Weed and Michelle Lunsford, freshmen at South
Medford High School.

"I liked it. I started crying at the end," said Weed, 14. "I liked how he
shared what happened to him."

Added Lunsford:

"I liked how he changed his life around," she said. "He told how when
you're drinking, you do crazy things. I sure don't want to do that."

About a dozen students from several schools interviewed after Toma's talk
all said they gleaned valuable lessons.

"It gave kids a good idea of what could happen," said Jordan Siess, 15.

"I thought it was really good. It scared me straight," said Josh Mathewson, 14.

About the only criticism came from Austin Parish, 14.

"He yelled too much, although I think he presented a clear message that got
to us," Parish said. "I also think that it was an unclear point that using
alcohol leads to animal sacrifices."