THE INVISIBLE DRUG CULTURE

Cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD and a slew of prescription drugs are readily
available on the average high school campus, according to teens and
youth workers.

While the teens labeled "stoners" are easily recognizable, the
"invisible drug culture" is not, said Joanna Olson, Mendocino County
Youth Project program director for Project Share and School Based Services.

The Mendocino County Youth Project runs the teen crisis line
countywide. Crisis workers receive calls weekly regarding issues such
as drug and alcohol use, homelessness, grief, family conflict, peer
conflict, runaways, etc.

"Anything that a teen can experience, we get calls about 'cause that
is what we do," Olson said. "But in the last two years we have become
more and more aware of the invisible drug culture that exists in
highly successful students," she said, noting these students range in
age from freshmen to seniors, and many of them come from stable
families. Many students know this invisible culture exist, but few of
these users are recognized by authority figures, according to Olson.

"We have a fine pulse on youth activity and they self-identify to
us," she said, noting the students might get in trouble and they
either call the crisis line, or their family or friends do. Many of
the parents who call the confidential crisis line don't want their
children to be in the "known system," she said, so that's why they
don't call the police or tell school staff.

"The invisible drug culture that my staff has become aware of is that
which exists among highly successful students, who are successful
academically, socially and in extracurricular school activities. Some
even have jobs and many are college-bound.

"What makes them invisible is they aren't in trouble in any area;
they can't be identified as standing out by having school problems,
and most have fewer problems at home.

"What we have found is that there's a great percentage of these
students using prescription drugs, cocaine and party drugs, as well
as alcohol and pot. Alcohol and pot were the gateway substances that
they used prior to their use of prescription drugs and cocaine.

"What we have also found in our work with youth is that the
substances are readily available on campus -- not just at Ukiah High,
but at Willits, Laytonville, Fort Bragg and Mendocino high schools
too," she said.

Asked approximately how many Ukiah High students are using drugs,
Olson said: "It's not an epidemic; it's a trend on the rise."

Asked if there were more than 50 students using these drugs, she
said, "Yes, definitely. We estimate 50 or more use habitually, and
double that number, or more, use recreationally."

Beyond the County Line

Experimentation with prescription drugs goes far beyond Mendocino
County, however.

In a recent online article titled "American Kids Getting High on
Prescription Drugs," Boston author Jason Szep wrote: "Teenagers are
increasingly experimenting with legal drugs like OxyContin, widely
known as Hillbilly heroin,' and Vicodin, often bought online or taken
from medicine cabinets, even before trying marijuana or alcohol,
health officials say," he wrote, quoting several from around the
country, including Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on
Drug Abuse, an arm of the government's National Institute of Health,
who said "Last year, painkillers were the No. 1 drug for people
taking drugs for the first time."

"Among the most dangerous experiments are pharming parties,' where
children meet after scouring family medicine cabinets and dumping
what they find into a bowl. They stir things up, dip in, randomly
pluck drugs out and swallow them," Szep states.

"They literally do not know what they are taking,' said Michael Rich,
director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's
Hospital in Boston. They can overdose or take medications that
counteract each other or interact with each other in dangerous ways.
When you combine the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin for example with
alcohol, they work in the same way and can very much lower the
threshold at which you stop breathing,'" Rich said.

A Glimpse of Ukiah High

Several Ukiah High School students, speaking Tuesday on condition of
anonymity, echoed Olson's sentiments about drug use locally.

Of the almost three dozen interviewed, all said marijuana was easily
accessible on campus. About two-thirds of the randomly selected
interviewees said they know someone using -- or had been approached
by someone wanting to sell -- prescription drugs. A few students said
cocaine was a big issue and some students were reluctant to answer
one way or the other, when asked if drugs were easy to obtain on the
high school campus.

"Oxy is really big, and Vicodin and painkillers in general," said a
sophomore girl. "Some students even go off campus at lunch and shoot
heroin and come back to school, and teachers don't even notice," she said.

"Half the junior class is on Coke," said a girl with her. "Mostly
girls, because of the whole skinny pressure thing," she said, noting
she would never admit this if the interview weren't anonymous.

Asked if anyone had ever offered them drugs, these girls, and a
friend with them, all said "yes" and noted most of the offers come
from people they know.

And, said one of them, "You can just go to the bathroom and say, Hey
do you know where it is?' Some people even hide it in the library and
say, Hey, it's on this shelf.'" Besides, she added, "You just know
the certain people that have some."

A group of about a dozen freshman and juniors said they hadn't been
offered any drugs, but one student said she's seen students taking
drugs at school.

"I've seen it. I saw the kids taking pills in class." Asked what kind
of pills, she said, "I've heard Vicodin is really popular right now."

"It's really easy to get drugs at school," said yet another group of
ninth- and tenth-graders.

Asked how they knew this, one student said, "Because I've seen other
students with cocaine and pills. They take out little bags and stuff."

A junior boy said he, too, "knows people who sell it." He said he's
been offered Norco, Vicodin and marijuana.

Three other juniors interviewed Tuesday said drugs are easy to find
on campus. These students said cocaine is not popular, but pills are.
Asked how they knew this, one said, "You just know people that do
it." A boy standing nearby said "it's pretty easy" to find drugs on
campus if you want to. "If I wanted to get some marijuana I know who
to ask. . Muscle relaxers are also easy to get. ... I could ask her
and she'd ask somebody," he said, as an example. "You can get
anything you want; if you've got the money you can get it," he said.

Some youth steal prescription drugs from family cabinets, Olson said.
And, she said, drugs are also introduced to high schoolers by young
adults who are out of the high school population at a party or via
the dating scene. Older cousins and siblings, too, can be a source of
drugs for a high school student.

Asked how teens can afford cocaine, Olson said: "A lot is free from
older males to high school females. Secondly, students who can afford
it are either employed or come from affluent families, or the teens
who give it away come from money."

Students are in denial that drug use is a problem, that they are
dangerous, that they can get addicted, Olson said, noting this is
pretty typical of teens because they often live in the here and now.

"They feel invincible and invulnerable. What scares them is meth, but
they are not at all fearful of becoming addicted to prescription
drugs or cocaine. In fact, some of the students who used cocaine
daily didn't think they had a problem," she said. Cocaine use, pill
popping ... "it's there," she said. "It's invisible; the kids know
about it, but the adults may only suspect. You can't smell it on
them, so what do you look for? ... Changes in their behavior, weight
and sleep pattern changes, maybe pupil dilation or constriction.

"There was a kid we worked with recently that was passing out at
school. He was sent home and it was because he was pretty much ODing
on prescription drugs. They were putting him to sleep; he could
barely even walk. His parent called us 'cause he told her what he had
been using."

Ukiah High School Principal Ken Montoya said "if there is a problem"
at the school, he wants to know about it so it can be addressed. Back
in the '80s when he worked in the Los Angeles school system, cocaine
use was a huge issue, Montoya said.

"It messed up a lot of lives, but up here, if it is here, I would
like to know and I would like to have a lot more input to do what we
need to do to help kids and talk about the risks and the dangers.
Cocaine is extremely addictive," he said.

"I have heard about OxyContin and some of the students have been
using that to get high; it's very dangerous," Montoya said, noting
the district has taken its usual stand and those who get caught using
are referred to Project Success Program -- a joint venture with AODP
and Ukiah High that provides drug and alcohol counseling for students.

Ukiah Police Capt. Trent Taylor said law enforcement is not aware of
there being a specific problem at the high school. "Prior known
incidents of hard drug use or anything to do with prescriptions has
amounted to a very small number of students in the population as a
whole," Taylor said, noting Ukiah High School has almost 1,900 students.

However, he said, "I would encourage anyone aware of the problem
existing to contact police so we can investigate it. We need
specific, factual information to pursue."

The Mendocino County Youth Project 24-hour crisis line is 463-HELP.
Calls are confidential. Free educational materials are available by
calling the MCYP at 463-4915.