YOUTH SEE SEAMY SIDE OF DRUGS

The high-pitched voices filled the chamber of the Kern County Supervisors
on Friday morning as more than 200 Arvin middle school students vied for
seats.

"Sit next to me," could be heard more than once as girls and boys stole
furtive looks at the opposite sex.

It wasn't long before the squeals and giggles were replaced with long,
drawn out "ohhhhs" and gasps as the students saw pictures of open sores and
disfigured bodies from long-term drug use.

The reaction was just what Kern County Deputy District Attorney David Wolf
wanted from his presentation, "Dope Stinks."

"Anybody want to eat lunch?" one student asked several others during the
presentation.

Wolf, who prosecutes drug cases, offers the drug education seminar whenever
his schedule permits. That usually means only a few times a year.

The program focuses on marijuana as the gateway drug to harder narcotics.

The title of Wolf's presentation comes not from the fragrance of drugs, but
the smell of rotting flesh from the open sores, Wolf said.

Wolf has found middle-school age students, such as those who came Friday
from Haven Drive Middle School, are the right age to hear his message.

Studies show the average age for kids who try marijuana for the first time
is between 11 and 13, Wolf said.

Friday's audience was a prime target.

Ernie Torres, Moses DeLaFuente and Juan Villalpando were among the students
who agreed there's nothing glamorous about the people in Wolf's photos.

"I didn't think people looked that bad," DeLaFuente said.

The trio said they didn't know anybody in their age group who had tried any
of the drugs Wolf talked about, but DeLaFuente said he knows of a few kids
his age who smoke cigarettes and drink beer.

While the pictures were graphic, the language and topics also reminded
students this was no ordinary lesson.

Students giggled when Wolf talked about the prostitute who bruised her foot
walking Union Avenue looking to turn a trick for drug money.

"Come on, we're adults here," Wolf scolded the crowd.

Despite slide after slide of gruesome pictures that made students cringe,
the most powerful message came from the pictures of infants.

Some were born addicted.

One picture showed a crying baby. Wolf said the mother put methamphetamine
in the baby's bottle to quiet the infant.

Wolf told the students it worked.

"That baby is dead," he said.

A collective sound of air being sucked in echoed off the chamber walls and
was followed by silence.

Drugs, Wolf said, are not a victimless crime.