DRUG TASK FORCE WORKS TO PINPOINT PROBLEM

The Sun Herald, local law enforcement agencies and community leaders
are working together to identify the scope of the drug problem in
South Mississippi and prevent youths from turning to drugs and alcohol.

Participants specializing in drug intervention and prevention and
teenagers volunteered hours of their time to the project by attending
two Task Force meetings during the year. The group discussed why teens
abuse drugs, their definition of drugs and the most popular drugs on
the street.

The teens told the Task Force that some young people don't consider
marijuana a drug. They also talked about drug problems at their
schools and what education officials and law enforcement officers do
to prevent drug use on campus.

Some believe school resource officers are key to keeping drugs out of
schools.

Pascagoula High School student Jeremy May believes alcohol is a big
problem at his school, while St. Martin Jr. High student Ashleigh
Sellers said she believes prescription drugs are common at her school.

"There's a lot of pills at our school," Sellers said.

Although surveys conducted by the Long Beach School District during
the past three years show students in grades six through 11 are using
drugs, officials said they aren't bringing them to school. They
believe the teens are using them on nights and weekends.

Few students are found with drugs in the school, officials said.
However, some students have been caught with drugs in their cars
parked on school property.

Long Beach community leaders and school officials recently began an
aggressive anti-drug campaign after losing seven young people to drug
overdoses. Most who died were older than high-school age.

"Unless we come clean with it and recognize we've got a problem and
face up to it, those parents that are in denial, when they're looking
at them in a morgue somewhere, then it comes home to them in a very
cruel way that they missed an opportunity to save that child," said
Stan Tiner, executive editor of The Sun Herald.

Lt. Ken Broadus of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office described his
experiences with high school teens caught with prescription medication.

Broadus said most of the youths with prescription medication offer the
same response when asked where they got the drugs: "Grandma's medicine
cabinet."

Task Force members hope the series of articles will help send a
message that communities shouldn't be ashamed to admit they have a
problem with drug use and should fight back to keep drugs out of their
city.