COUNSELORS TO PARENTS: HELP US FIGHT DRUG WAR

MIDDLETOWN -- According to student assistance counselor Rosemary
Richards, heroin has made the jump in recent decades from a drug that
was predominantly an inner-city problem to one that has spread into
the suburbs.

The youngest case of addiction she's dealt with was an eighth-grade
student who was getting the drug from his sister.

On Thursday night, the school district presented "Substance Abuse and
Teens: What Every Parent Needs to Know," to discuss the warning signs of
drug and alcohol abuse.

Held in the wake of the drug-related death of a High School South
senior in April, the program discussed signs of abuse, intervention
tactics and the implications of parental enabling.

"Once you hand the power over, through enabling, it is really tough
to grab it back," said George Obermeier, another student assistance
counselor.

Obermeier, along with colleagues Richards and Terry Columbo, stressed
the importance of parental awareness and intervention, particularly
focusing on parental communication with kids, and willingness to seek
professional help when a child is showing warning signs.

"During the course of one week, I talk to more parents than are here
right now," Obermeier said to the fewer than 100 parents gathered in
the High School North auditorium.

The district is fairly well versed in drug awareness. Middletown was
one of the first districts in the state to adopt random drug testing
policies, and this year expanded the random drug test to include
prescription drugs such as Oxycontin.

Awareness programs also are held annually for students, particularly
around prom time, and their prom contract recently has been
reinforced with stricter penalties for being caught using drugs or
alcohol during these events.

According to statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, in 2007, 31.8 percent of surveyed students in grades
9-12 had used marijuana one or more times; 13.3 percent of those
students had used an inhalant, such as breathing aerosol fumes, 7.2
percent had used a form of cocaine, 4.4 percent had used
methamphetamines and 3.9 percent had illegally used steroids.

Pot's not the same

Marijuana is no longer as innocent as the drug used by many parents
in their youth, Richards said.

"The THC content is much higher than anything available in the '70s,"
she said. Additives like heroin and formaldehyde may be mixed in as
well, she said.

The counselors offered informational handouts about support groups in
the area, counseling and crisis management teams that offer
reasonably priced support to families, and crisis numbers to call.

They also stressed that the counselors in both the middle and high
schools are a confidential source to be utilized by both parents and
students to discuss drug use, depression and suicidal tendencies in
students.

Counselors will do everything they can to keep students safe, but
parents need to take the lead in the war on drugs, Columbo said.

"We cannot do this alone. I can't be more worried about your child
than you are," she said.