PARENTS GET AN EDUCATION ON DRUGS

A group of about 50 students gathered last week at Stoneham High
School, signed in for a class, picked up a handout and filed into the
auditorium.

"Do your kids know you're here?" the program's instructor asked the
audience not of teens, but rather adults.

"Tell them you're getting an education," said Marilyn Grifoni
Belmonte - lessons in how to recognize drugs and symptoms of drug
use. In the first of four sessions, the drug recognition instructor
talked about plant-based drugs, such as heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamine and marijuana.

This week she will talk about prescription and over-the-counter
drugs; next week, club drugs and on the fourth and final installment
a panel comprised of members of the Stoneham Police Department and
School Department will talk about drug issues particular to the town.

It's tough, Belmonte said, for parents to talk to their children
about drugs, mostly because they don't know much about them.

Belmonte said kids are cocky; they think they know more about drugs
than their parents but end up getting a lot of misinformation. She
said by dispelling these drug myths parents could help save lives.

Sound dramatic? When Belmonte was getting a flyer printed, she began
to talk to a boy who worked at the printing shop. He told her he
overdosed on heroin and almost died the night of his high school
graduation. He said he had used Oxycontin all through high school,
she recounted.

"He has a monkey on his shoulder for the rest of his life - an
addiction, said Belmonte. "I do not want to see our kids have that
burden at that age."

For two hours, Belmonte, who presents training seminars for police,
emergency medical personnel, nurses, teachers and drug counselors,
talked about drugs. She said in this part of the country, opiates,
including Oxycontin, Cocaine and Ecstasy are a huge problem among kids.

Belmonte said Ecstasy use is on the rise in the commonwealth, adding
the average age of a beginning user is 15 years old.

Drugs go in and out of style "like pointy-toe shoes," she said.

Belmonte said today heroin is more dangerous than in the past because
it's low in price but high in purity. She said marijuana is also more
dangerous because it's more potent than before.

The four drugs that bring people to emergency rooms in the Boston
area, according to Belmonte, in descending order, are alcohol,
cocaine, heroin and pot.

Belmonte said teens abuse drugs during two time periods on weekdays,
between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. and between 8 and 10 p.m. She said during
school vacation, there is no use "blip" in the morning.

But making drugs illegal doesn't solve the problem, Belmonte said.

You are less likely to see drugs than drug paraphernalia, Belmonte
told the audience. "You will definitely see" physical and behavioral
clues of drug abuse, she said.

With "eyes as the window of the soul," Belmonte listed "predictable
eye clues" for different types of drugs, from narcotics abusers' "pin
point pupils" to the huge pupils of methamphetamine users.

Belmonte said one of the strongest antidotes to drug use is parents.
She said teens don't worry about dying, they think they are
invincible - until something bad happens and realize they're not.

The majority of teens say the greatest risk of using marijuana is
upsetting their parents, Belmonte said.

"Just let your kids know you are not clueless anymore," she said.
"They want - and need - to know you care."

Barbara Arnott, an audience member and parent, said parents need to
be aware, for without information they feel they do not have a clue
about what's going on around them.

Arnott said what Belmonte is encouraging is parental influence. She
said parents have to communicate with their children so kids know
their parents care. Otherwise, Arnott said, they seem to jump to the
conclusion that parents don't care.

Diana Crowe, co-president of the Stoneham Middle School PTO, said she
too wants to be aware of as much information as possible. She said
with drugs all over the place, Belmonte's presentation was everything
parents would want to know.

"She knew what she was talking about," Crowe said.

Blame game is pointless

Parent Eileen Mello, a nurse, said she sees more and more people are
coming in to local hospital emergency rooms under the influence of
drugs. She said blaming local police or schools or parents for the
problem solves nothing.

For Mello, Belmonte's presentation reinforced the negative effect of
the Internet on students, adding parents and residents need to look
at the activities available to students here.

Several parents declined to comment on the program, and give their
names, because they did not want to embarrass their children.

Along with praise for Belmonte and her program, two members of last
Wednesday's audience had one complaint: the size of the audience.

"Even when you think you know everything," Mello said, "There's
always something (new) coming out."

Audience turnout was also low at past programs on Internet safety and
Molly Bish, said Crowe.

"We need to know (about drugs) before (our children) know," she added.

The Stoneham United Council of PTOs and the Stoneham Rotary Club are
sponsoring the program on the four Wednesdays in October.