The new heroin
Texas battle lines should be more clearly drawn

Gloria Terrell has been fighting drug use among kids for as long as she
can remember.

Ms. Terrell was a member of the drugrelated service team at the Dallas
Independent School District for years. A decade ago, she was one of the
founders of DrugFree Youth in Texas, a successful prevention program
commonly known as "DFYIT." Currently, she's a social work professor at
Eastfield College and substance abuse counselor.

Ms. Terrell has seen drug trends ebb and flow in this area. She's deeply
disturbed by today's currents.

"My students at Eastfield talk about heroin," she said. "Many came from
the Dallas schools. They say that smoking rather than injecting heroin
has made it more acceptable."

Ms. Terrell is convinced young people don't realize the consequences of
heroin usage. "They see it as a downer to take after coming off the high
from cocaine," she said. "That's really frightening to me."

Elzada Mays, program coordinator for the Alameda Heights Center in
southern Dallas, agrees. "Heroin is coming on the scene," Ms. Mays said.
"I'm very concerned about it."

Alameda Heights runs a drug intervention program for about 125
teenagers. Client privacy prevents her from discussing specific types of
drug problems the youngsters have. "Let's just say that we do see and
hear about heroin," Ms. Mays said.

The reemergence of heroin has happened so quickly it isn't even on
questionnaires used to keep track of juvenile drug trends. The Texas
School Survey of Drug and Alcohol Usage, which is the most authoritative
source of drug information for public schools, asks no questions about
heroin.

But Jane Maxwell of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse said
her agency is aware that heroin has become a more popular choice for
young people.

Ms. Maxwell said the commission has received reports of children as
young as 12 selling heroin in west San Antonio.

"The number of heroin overdose deaths in Bexar County has continued to
rise," she said. "In 1992, there were 12 heroin overdose deaths. In
1996, there were 32."

The Dallas school district has more than a dozen programs aimed at
educating students about the dangers of drugs. They run the gamut from
programs that build students' selfesteem to the DrugFree Youth in
Texas project, which requires participants to undergo unscheduled drug
testing.

The central theme is basically the same that teenagers would not be so
interested in using drugs if they had the knowledge, leadership skills
and peer and parental support to find better alternatives.

And, indeed, an impressive number of students take part in these efforts
to develop character and change negative thinking.

In addition, Redirections, a school aimed specifically at Dallas
students from the seventh through the 12th grade who have had problems
with drugs, will open in the fall.

But with the emergence of drugs that can damage young people even more
quickly, there have to be intervention as well as prevention programs in
all urban and suburban school districts in Texas.

Gloria Terrell believes that teachers need to be better educated about
what to look for in youthful drug users. And the school districts must
be willing to move in quickly with licensed chemical dependency
counselors when they see a student has a problem.

Dallas school officials have developed a solid strategy for tackling
gateway drugs such as marijuana and alcohol. But there's a new threat on
the streets. School leaders, teachers and parents must be watchful and
prepared to meet the challenge.

Sixth of a series