TEENS SAY HARD DRUGS ARE EASY TO FIND

Heroin is being used in the suburbs. Cocaine is no stranger in high school.
Marijuana is as common as book bags and buses.

Ask high school students if drugs are easily available in Northwest
suburban high schools and they sneer in amusement.

"Everything's out there," said Jackie, a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School.

Surprise.

Drugs that were once more taboo than most, like cocaine and heroin, now are
found in homes, at parties and at student hangouts, teens say.

"It's going beyond marijuana," said Jim, a Buffalo Grove High School
senior. "Don't let the suburbs fool you. That's where the money is. They
aren't using the money to go school shopping."

With last Saturday's death of Buffalo Grove senior Ryan Fried, the victim
of an apparent heroin overdose, many might question whether the drug
culture among Northwest suburban teenagers is spiraling out of control.

Besides alcohol, students say, marijuana is still the most prevalent drug
among high school students. Students say many bring it into the building,
smoke it in the bathrooms, deal it in the hallways and go to classes stoned.

"A lot of people don't (care)," a sophomore from Schaumburg High School
said. "A lot of people will go outside and blow off class to smoke."

"They're in class rolling it up," said Martha, a junior at Wheeling High
School. "The teacher ... doesn't know what it is."

Marijuana is easy to buy, too.

"Just go up to the person next to your locker and say, 'Oh, can I have
some?'ae" said Vicki, a junior at Prospect High School.

And harder drugs, like cocaine and Ecstasy, are edging into the mainstream.
Fueled by a rising club scene, "club drugs" like Ecstasy are falling into
the hands of people who aren't even old enough to get into nightclubs.

Students maintain it's easy to get whatever they want, whenever they want:
LSD, nitrous oxide, liquid G, mushrooms, purple X, and the list goes on.

Jim of Buffalo Grove said several people have offered him cocaine at his
local pancake house.

"If you're in the right crowd, you can get anything," said one junior from
Hoffman Estates High School.

And the "right crowd" isn't as exclusive as one might think, explained
another Hoffman Estates junior.

"It's not your athletes or geeks ... it's just them," he said, pointing to
a nondescript boy with a cropped haircut who was wearing jeans and a
T-shirt, reading a book and leaning against a tree.

"Or her," he said, pointing to a girl with a dozen earrings, red-streaked
hair and a tattoo showing from under her shirt collar.

"Or him," he quipped, pointing to the reporter interviewing him.

"People do it. I don't think everyone knows they're doing it, but people do
it," he said.

But heroin use is unusual and even unheard of in some high schools,
according to some students.

Even after last week's incident, the drug continues to conjure up dark
images of run-down neighborhoods, abandoned warehouses and broken syringes
littering the streets and sidewalks.

"I've heard about it, but I don't know anyone who's done it or anyone who's
seen it," said Kelly, an Elk Grove High School sophomore.

"To do heroin, you've got to have the space to do it," said Matt, a junior
at Elk Grove High School. "Not many guys have that. You need a whole day.
If you're going to see your parents, you can't do that."

Though students are stopped for smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, they
don't think police really hassle teenagers about drugs.

"They just go to a party and bust it because there's drinking," said Matt,
a junior at Rolling Meadows High School.

As drug counselors and educators work to warn younger teenagers about the
dangers of drugs, students believe those tactics are misguided.

"They taught us about the drugs and everything, but it doesn't really stop
anyone from doing it," Vicki of Prospect High said.

Most high school students took DARE classes in elementary school. The
classes were taught by law enforcement officers who informed the young
students about drug resistance. Those classes were informative, students
said, but they often stoked their curiosity rather than suppressed it.

"I don't think anyone is going to listen. Even if they know the
consequences they're still going to do it," said a Wheeling High School
freshman. "Telling you 'no' makes it more desirable."

Some think that kind of education needs to be taken a step further.

"I would want to hear the stories about what happens to people," said
another Wheeling High School freshman. "Put the truth out there."

"I would scare the crap out of the kids," said Jim, a Buffalo Grove senior.
"Just show them what would happen. Some think they're invincible."

But unless the tragedy of excessive drug use hits close to home, it may
never sink in at all.

"Counselors are always trying to scare - scare tactics," said a junior from
Hoffman Estates. "They tell a lot of horror stories, what it can do to you,
but I don't think it'll register unless someone you know gets really
(messed) up."

"It's all about responsibility," he continued. "I guess they should stop
telling people drugs are bad - because that's not working - and teach
people to be responsible with drugs."

"I don't think there's any other way," said Matt from Rolling Meadows.
"Mostly it's the message from your parents. When it comes down to it,
though, it's up to you. The parents can say whatever they want, but it
comes down to what you want."

Daily Herald staff writers Mario Bartoletti, Cass Cliatt, Jon Davis and
Erin Holmes contributed to this report.