MOST TEENS TRY DRUGS, ALCOHOL

Virtually 100 percent of Santa Clarita high school students will experiment
with drugs or alcohol or both at some point before they graduate, and many
use in their parents' presence, the president of a local anti-drug council
said Wednesday.

Alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamines are the most commonly used and
abused drugs in the Santa Clarita Valley, and in the nation, said Susan
Shaddock, program director for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Dependence of the Santa Clarita Valley.

"I continue to be amazed at the number of teen clients (who) use drugs with
their parents," Shaddock said. "It is way more common than you'd ever believe."

In fact, 63 percent of youth who drink say that they initially tried
alcohol at their own home or a friend's with parents present, according to
a recent study published by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

"Check this out," Shaddock said. "If they do it at home, they're that much
more comfortable doing it elsewhere."

With that in mind, Santa Clarita is in line with the national statistics
that say 40 percent of those who started drinking at age 13 or younger are
alcohol dependent later in life, whereas 10 percent of teens who drink
after the age of 17 developed dependence.

"Any kid you ask (in Santa Clarita) will say, 'everyone's doing it,'" said
Cary Quashen, founding director of ACTION, a nonprofit organization that
provides substance abuse and crisis counseling programs for parents and
teens, .

While more kids are in treatment for marijuana abuse than all other drugs
combined, more kids lose their lives over alcohol-related incidents,
including drunken driving and suicide, Quashen said.

And it isn't just low-income or crime-ridden cities that have kids who are
addicted to alcohol and other drugs, Quashen said.

"That is so far from the case. If you want good drugs, you come to a
community like this where there is more money and the parents work, so
they're not around," Quashen said.

Getting alcohol is not hard, either, with most kids and teens stealing it
from stores or from their parents. They may also stand in front of a
convenience store and wait for someone old enough to buy it for them,
Quashen said.

But there is hope, both Shaddock and Quashen agree.

"If someone thinks they have a problem, they probably do. And if you think
there's a problem with you, see a counselor," Shaddock said.

Both NCADD and ACTION offer counseling groups to those teens needing
assistance getting off of drugs or alcohol.