GROWTH IN 'TRENDY' DRUGS SPARKS CONCERNS

Have you heard of jimson weed?

Chances are, your kids have.

The ancient, and occasionally deadly intoxicant has lately been
enjoying resurgence as a "trendy drug," according to Marilyn Belmonte,
co-chair of the Burlington Drug and Alcohol Task Force.

"Middlesex County is seeing a huge problem with heroin, Oxycontin,
prescription drugs and lots of other drugs," Belmonte said.

"There are so many different drugs that kids are abusing, and as a
community we need to work together to try to solve this problem"

Belmonte will be conducting a Citizen Drug Recognition Academy
beginning March 1, at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the theater of the
Wilmington Middle School, 25 Carter Lane.

During the five-week - each Wednesday at 7 p.m. in March - in a
multi-media program, Belmonte will train parents to be on the lookout
for signs of drug use in their children, and give them tools to combat
potential addiction.

Topics will include traditional and plant based drugs, prescription
and over the counter drugs, club drugs including Ecstasy, GHB,
Ketamine, and more, and drug-facilitated sexual assaults. The final
session will discuss how parents can talk with their kids about drugs.

The program is being offered in cooperation with the Wilmington Police
Department.

Belmonte began her career as a drug educator as a volunteer with
Burlington's drug task force. She began taking classes at the
Massachusetts State Police Academy, eventually becoming certified as a
trainer, and working with parents and school faculties.

The program was created, Belmonte said, in order to enlist parents on
the front lines of the drug war.

The need for such a program is acute, Belmonte said, as rates of drug
use and overdosing has been on the rise in local communities.

Helplessly Hoping

"Parents often feel they have no control," she said.

"They don't know enough about the different drugs and they feel
helpless. They tell their kids to pick up their socks and they don't
listen to them, they think they won't listen about drugs."

Belmonte says in truth, parents have a huge impact on whether or not
kids do drugs, "more than they realize."

"Studies show that when kids who don't do drugs are asked why they
don't, they say it is because of their parents. They don't want to
lose their parents' respect."

Belmonte's program trains parents how to spot potential drug use and
abuse by identifying a wide variety of drugs and their paraphernalia,
and physical effects and behaviors.

To find the reason for the dramatic growth in drug abuse, look no
further than your own medicine cabinet, Belmonte said. Kids,
accustomed to self-medicating all their lives with sweet-tasting
medicines, think nothing of popping a few Vicaden or Oxycontin to deal
with the stress of their lives. Since a prescription high gets
expensive, the next step is often heroin, which is terrifyingly cheap
and easy to procure.

"Parents need to be watch dogging their kids," she said. "When parents
are empowered, they can do so much more."

To register for the program, send your name, age and phone number to
Wilmington Police Officer Brian Pupa at bpupa@town.wilmington.ma.us or
call 978-658-5071 ext 222 to have any questions answered.