PARENTS: TIME TO FACE THE FACTS

Meeting Spotlights Drug Abuse Among Lewisburg Teens

LEWISBURG -- "Please do not leave here tonight thinking drugs aren't
here in Lewisburg. Crack, heroin, opium and cocaine are sold here;
and not by the guy in slouchy jeans, but by preppy, good-looking,
well-educated, normal looking people."

This was the testimony of Laure Gargano, currently one of two
drug/alcohol intervention specialists at Lewisburg Area High School,
during Monday night's informational meeting for parents of students
at Eichhorn Middle School.

Gargano may have been the final speaker of the evening, but her
message was the most alarming. Through 13 years experience at the
White Deer treatment facility and as the facilitator of several
student groups at the high school, Gargano knows first hand what
drugs students in the Lewisburg area are using, and that kids are
ending up in treatment facilities. She was very clear that parents
need to hold their children responsible.

"If my daughter shows up at your house with a pot pipe, I expect you
to call me, as uncomfortable as it may be," Gargano said.

She added that parents need to know their neighbors, know their
kids' friends, the friends' parents, where their kids are going and
who they will be with when they leave the house. She responded to
questions regarding the source of drugs for middle and high school
students by asking parents to look into their own homes.

"Many of the kids that end up in addiction programs have their first
cigarette, first joint or first drink at home with Mom and Dad
present." Gargano related a frightening scenario of students raiding
their parents medicine cabinets, "then going to a party and emptying
heart medication, barbiturates, blood pressure medicine and more
into a big bowl and eating it throughout the night." She warned
parents to even watch their students after an adult party, as kids
will "help out" by downing unfinished drinks.

The information she gave, along with the other presenters, painted a
picture of a growing problem in Union and surrounding counties.
Lewisburg Police Chief Paul Yost, East Buffalo Township Police Chief
Barry Hosterman, and Gargano's associate, Patricia Wertman, all
made the point that kids are leaving school, driving to Philadelphia
to pick up cocaine or heroin, and returning to school before the end
of the day.

"It's only a two and a half hour drive each way," noted Yost.

Megan Will of Clinical Outcomes and Teens Against Tobacco reported
that although cigarettes don't always lead to other drug use, "a
majority of cocaine and heroin users also smoke." She also pointed
out that a pack of cigarettes "cost the tobacco companies about 12
cents to make, so at about $4 retail, they make a big profit." Will
made the point that additives to cigarettes increase the body's
absorption of nicotine, addicting kids even faster.

More than 60 people attended Monday evening's meeting, and they
asked questions, and were given materials to educate them about drug
and alcohol use in teens as young as 11- to 13-years-old. Among
other things, they learned that even middle school children can be
getting heroin, for as little as $5 or $10 a bag, and that up to 25
percent of kids report their first drug experience was heroin.

Tracy Krum, Eichhorn principal, said afterward that the questions
parents asked will guide her in planning future presentations.

"I'm very glad that so many people came out," she said. "I think
they learned that there is a very real problem here in town."