SPRINGS PARENTS TELL OF SON'S POT SMOKING, SUICIDE

WASHINGTON - Ernest Skaggs wore a cowboy hat. His wife, Tanya, wore a
bright, turquoise blouse.

If the Colorado Springs couple looked out of place at a table full of dark
power suits Tuesday, it's because they never imagined they'd take center
stage for a new White House anti-drug initiative.

A family tragedy put them there.

Flanked by President Bush's "drug czar," John P. Walters, the Skaggses
faced a bank of television cameras at the National Press Club and spoke
about their son Christopher's slide into marijuana use leading up to his
suicide last summer.

"We thought we were doing the right things," Tanya Skaggs said.

Christopher was a promising football player with plenty of friends. They
never knew he used marijuana until he was caught one day smoking behind a
school.

They tried random drug tests and put their son into counseling. What they
had taken for normal, teenage mood swings turned out to be a sign of more
serious depression, the parents said.

On July 13, 2004, Christopher hanged himself at the family's home.

"We were naive," Tanya Skaggs said. "We really didn't know some of the
warning signs."

Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, asked the Skaggses to tell their story. The purpose was to
highlight studies suggesting that those who begin marijuana use at a young
age are more likely to end up with serious mental health disorders.

"This press conference is a public health warning," Walters said.

A study completed in 2003 found that 42.9 percent of adults had used
marijuana at least once - almost half first trying it after they turned 18.

The rate of serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, was 9 percent
for the overall population and 10.5 percent for those who used marijuana.
But figures rose sharply for those who first used marijuana at young ages:
between ages 15 and 17, 12.2 percent; between ages 12 and 14, 17.4 percent;
before age 12, 21 percent.

The new White House initiative is an attempt to counter a perception that
marijuana is not a dangerous drug. Twelve mental health organizations are
behind an open letter to parents, "Marijuana and Your Teen's Mental
Health," that will start appearing in national news outlets this week.

Participants in Tuesday's event conceded that the studies only suggest, but
don't prove, a cause-and-effect relationship between marijuana use and a
rise in mental health problems or suicide.

They said some people might use marijuana to "self-medicate" for mental
illnesses they already have, but believe that others would not have
psychiatric problems if they weren't using the drug.

"I wish I could tell you the Skaggs story is an unusual one, but
unfortunately it is not," said Richard Suchinsky, a doctor from the
American Psychiatric Association Council on Addiction Psychiatry.

Ernest Skaggs said parents need to communicate with their kids and look for
early signs of drug use or mental health problems.

"If you have a good instinct about anything, go for it," Skaggs said. "If
you have the slightest hint that they might be using marijuana, go for it."

Tanya Skaggs said she never imagined she would travel to Washington for a
White House-sponsored press conference.

"We just never thought something like this would happen in our family," she
said. "But it did."