ANTI-DRUG TEEN GROUP BLOSSOMS

A large group of students in Helena want their peers to know that not
everyone smokes pot.

"You don't have to do pot in school as a teenager," said Allie Keleti,
a sophomore involved in a student group against drunk driving,
drinking and drugs at Capital High. "There are many more people who
aren't doing it ... you'll be just fine."

Keleti says many students get peer pressured into thinking everyone is
doing it, and since voters approved medical marijuana, it's more
abundant in high school.

Mentoring Teens Against Drugs started many years ago at Helena High,
and over 100 students at both high schools are now involved. "It's
encouraging for me to know that so many kids aren't (using drugs or
drinking)," Helena High senior Sara Cooley said during a recent
meeting at lunch.

At the Helena High MTAD meeting, the group discussed athletes getting
MIP citations and what to do about the "yellow parking lot," which is
known on campus as the pot smoking zone.

MTAD members agreed that since athletes sign a contract agreeing to
not use any substances, if they break that agreement they shouldn't be
allowed to play the sport. They also say sports help students avoid
such unhealthy choices because of the contract.

It's unclear what to do about smoking in the parking lot since it's
already policed, and students agreed that the best way to change it
may be to create an environment where it's simply not accepted.

Helena High sophomore Stephanie Zarling said the contract also means
not being involved in activities in which people are using or buying
alcohol or other drugs.

The group holds school activities to promote positive peer pressure
like selling goodies with the campaign slogan, "Don't get high, and
eat a pie."

"It's a way for us to come together and say we can have fun without
drugs or alcohol," junior Brandi Thompson said.

Capital High recently launched a "Find Your Spot" campaign with
colorful hoodies, water bottles and T-shirts for any students who
agree not to do drugs.

Kim York works with the students at Capital. Her position is funded
through a four-year, $5.3 million Safe Schools Healthy Students grant
from the U.S. Department of Education and Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration the district received in 2009. The
money helped launch programs and mobilize community members to help
curb violence, decrease substance abuse and risky behaviors, improve
mental health services and referral programs, and increase support for
infants, young children and their families.

York has already given away 250 shirts in the first few weeks of the
campaign. She said it's giving drug- and alcohol-free students a voice.

"It's empowering the kids who don't do substances, where before they
didn't have a way to express they are non-using students," she said.
"(The clothes) are giving them a voice to say, 'I don't use pot and
I'm one of many in the school, and I'm proud of it.' "

One student recently told York that the group is changing the image
around the school in a positive way.

No matter how the message is delivered -- lunch-hour meetings, evening
activities, pie sales or Finding Your Spot apparel -- Helena High MTAD
president Taran Denning says it's about practicing what you preach.

"We have to lead by example," he said. "We are showing there is a
large chunk of us that don't. We don't just go rub it in their faces."