SCHOOLS PUT ANTI-DRUG LESSON ON TV

Segment aimed at parents shows how teenagers can get high by
sniffing

Seeking to increase the audience from previously poorly attended
parent outreach efforts, the Waukesha School District took to cable
television this month with messages targeted, at least in one case, to
adult viewers only.

The district's prime-time airing of a 15-minute video that detailed
how children can get high by sniffing everyday household products
brought criticism from one substance abuse expert and support from
another.

The video, which was shown most recently at 7:15 p.m. Thursday,
includes a warning that it is intended for adults only and could
increase inhalant usage if viewed by children.

During the segment, which is lightly peppered with anti-drug messages,
teens and drug counselors lay out a variety of ways to get high by
sniffing everything from paint thinner to spray paint to white-out.

They also tell parents how to identify inhalant addiction and how to
teach their children to refuse drugs.

"Where kids can have access to seeing something, we generally
discourage any explicit explanation about how to do it," said Harvey
Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention
Coalition, based in Austin, Texas. The wide availability of most
inhalants could make such instructions more dangerous than with other
drugs, he said.

"A lot of times kids know about products but they don't know about how
to do it."

Marlene Williams, coordinator of the Waukesha community action team
for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, gasped when the program was
described to her. "Kids are so darned curious," she said.

Williams, however, stopped short of criticizing the programming,
saying she understands how important it is for school officials to
educate parents on such delicate issues.

But Claudia Roska, executive director of the Waukesha County Council
on Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse, commended the district's efforts
in exploring alternative ways to reach parents. And she said she
doubts airing such details will tell any child something they can't
learn elsewhere.

"I do believe that parents have a responsibility for being aware of
what children are watching," Roska said. "But I also believe that kids
that are along that track that are likely to be using inhalants,
they'll find out. They're not going to wait for a video."

Waukesha School District Superintendent David Schmidt said he had not
seen the inhalant program or the marijuana video that preceded it
Thursday night. But he said he has encouraged expanded use of cable
television by his district.

He said he doesn't know how many people are watching the new
parent-education programs, which were scheduled Thursday against shows
like "Friends," "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and the Fox movie "The Nutty
Professor."

"Frankly, I didn't know it was airing," Schmidt said of the marijuana
and inhalant videos. "There's a lot of things that happen in a
district this large that I don't know about. And we have not had
anyone raise the issue."

Last month, Waukesha Mayor Carol Lombardi decided to pull her
prime-time cable call-in show because no one was calling and she
wasn't sure anyone was watching.

But the Waukesha School District's counseling coordinator for alcohol,
tobacco and other drugs, Angela Grenier, said she saw cable as a way
to reach out to more parents and teach them about problems affecting
teens.