SCHOOLS RIFE WITH DRUGS, YOUTHS SAY

Got five bucks? You could get a nick of marijuana. And for 30 or
fewer, you can have an ecstasy pill.

For some teens, it's that easy. Ask them -- almost every high school
student knows youths who smoke weed in the bathrooms. Or drink from
water bottles filled with vodka. Or scoop seeds out of apples and
replace the core with pills, from Percocet to Valium.

About 30 teens at South Hills Village on a recent weekday afternoon
discussed drug trends in their schools with a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
reporter.

They made it clear that they're exposed to an active drug culture.

Most of the students knew what drugs were popular, and more than half
had a detailed knowledge of the substances, from prices and
availability to effects.

Marijuana is by far the most popular drug these days, the teens said,
as it was in 1979.

"Kids are smoking weed, mostly out of bongs. They suck marijuana
[smoke]out of balloons," said a 14-year-old from Beechview.

"I have one set of friends that [doesn't] use and one set that does,"
she said. "It's about 50/50."

And drugs are readily available. "I've been offered marijuana so many
times, it's not even funny," said a 15-year-old girl from Baldwin.
"There's so much going on, but schools think they have it under
control."

A Brookline 14-year-old and several of her friends rattled off the
names of drugs they'd encountered. Ecstasy. Weed. Acid. ("That's big at
raves." ) Painkillers such as Vicodin, Percocet and Valium. Special K
("It's cat tranquilizer. That's big at colleges. It makes you feel like
you drank a giant case of beer."). GHB. Shrooms (mushrooms).

"People get high every day. They get high at school. They do it with
friends."

Two Mt. Lebanon teens called ecstasy "the new cocaine." It is the most
popular of the club drugs, and 8 percent of U.S. high school seniors in
a recent national survey this year had tried it.

The teens at the mall said many kinds of drugs were available from
friends. If not, they can get them at raves -- all-night dance parties.
But for those without the connections, there are other ways.

"People want to be cool, try things, experiment. They'll chop up a
pill like Percocet and sniff it," said the Beechview girl.

"You can get high on anything with fumes," added a 13-year-old Mt.
Lebanon girl. "Highlighters, rubber cement, dry erase markers."

For any drug, anger is a major cause of abuse, the young people
explained. "Kids do it because they're mad at their parents," said the
Baldwin teen. "It's pressure, stress. Girlfriend-boyfriend issues,
teachers."

And the teens said parents and school administrators weren't watching
closely enough.

"Kids here have the money for it," said a 15-year-old girl from Upper
St. Clair. "Their parents are more focused on their jobs than on family
life."

The problems and temptations teens feel here are far from unique. Aliya
Mandel, 18, visiting from Van Nuys, Calif., said a friend "goes to
parties to see who can get the highest."

They use mushrooms, acid, ecstasy and just about anything else that
doesn't take a needle, she said.

And a 15-year-old from Queensland, Australia, said marijuana and abuse
of painkillers were as big a problem at home as here.