PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE AMONG JUVENILES ON THE RISE

Prescription drug abuse among area juveniles is on the rise and local
officials say solving the problem should be a community effort.

In 2008, nearly 200 Onslow County juveniles were arrested on drug
charges, according to data from the Onslow County Sheriff's Office and
Jacksonville Police Department.

So far in 2009, 157 juveniles have been charged with drug offenses.
"We have been trying to curtail that by having the DARE program in our
grade schools so that when they get up in the upper ages they will
know better and know to say no to drugs," said Onslow County Sheriff
Ed Brown. "That is a key program that has been going on for some time."

There were 70 possession of a controlled substance incidents at Onslow
County Schools during the 2007-08 school year, according to
information provided by Onslow County Schools.

Information for the number of controlled substance incidents for the
2008-09 school year will not be available until March 2010 when the
North Carolina Department of Instruction releases the data, Drop Out
Prevention and Safe Schools Coordinator Keba Baldwin said.

"The major issue is the unauthorized possession of prescription
drugs," Baldwin said.

Brown agreed saying the prescription drug problem "is a major uprise
for not only the schools but for the state."

"The abuse and the issuance of prescription drugs ... is one of the
key problems in today's society and that is and has been on the
increase for a while now in the schools," he sad. "Most of it has to
do with prescription drugs that they have access to either through
their parents or another family member in the house. Some of these
drugs are drugs that the child themselves may be legally taking and
then taking them to school and sharing them with their friends and
selling them to their friends." Trudy Allen, a JPD detective in the
juvenile division, said the accessibility of prescription drugs is a
major part of the problem. "It's easily accessible; we all have drugs
in the cabinet," she said. "Any child can go into the cabinet and get
drugs that are readily available. ... They can easily go into mom and
dad's medicine cabinet that may not be secured and take out whatever
they want to use."

In order to deter the presence of drugs on Onslow County School's
campuses, prevention is key, Baldwin said.

"It may be in the form of assemblies, small group or individual
discussions about using, possessing or distributing drugs on campus,"
Baldwin said, explaining that it is also addressed in the healthy
living curriculum. Intervention comes next, he said, explaining that
it may involve small groups of students that may be "at risk of
possessing, using or distributing drugs." "It takes a community to
handle drug problems," Baldwin said. "The possession, usage and
distribution of drugs do not always occur on school campuses. Students
in negative environments outside of school have firsthand experience
in these actions. Drug use is an issue at all socio-economic levels.
The excessive use of prescription drugs affects all ages." Brown said
he believes the solution does not lie with schools but, rather, at
home. "I don't think the issue is for schools. There's a saying, 'It
takes a village to raise a child.' I disagree with that. It takes
parents to raise children," he said. "The discipline with drugs and
whatnot starts at home. Schools can't raise the child. (Law
enforcement) can't raise the child and we can't break habits or
behaviors that the family doesn't get involved in and try to deter."

Keeping the community's children safe is the bottom line, Allen said.
"It's just a community effort for us to protect our children, we're
all responsible and as long as we work together we have a common
goal," she said. "We're all in it for the main goal and that's to
protect the children."