PART OF DRUG PROBLEM IS TRYING TO AVOID THEM

Many students are being raised by parents who have a relaxed attitude
toward drug use, in an age in which everything about drugs and the
substances themselves are available over the Internet. Marijuana has been
called the "gateway drug," and is the leading cause of school expulsions in
Sarasota County. And some believe its pervasiveness stems from parents
using the drug for recreation with their children. "Some parents are
smoking marijuana with their kids," said TRIAD Program Director Steve
Hazuda. "Then the kids begin to expand their horizons (to) cocaine, heroin,
etc." At least two school district reports and two state reports cite a
problem with drugs in Sarasota County. Yet, programs to help either parents
or children are still limited. Parents who use the drug today are under the
impression that the drug from the 1960s is the same. Fact is, the pot of
the 1960s no longer exists. Marijuana today is actually 16 times more
toxic, according to national reports and Norman Shewman, CEO of Home Detox
Inc. and Home Detox Drug Screening in Venice. "Some of the kids around
think it's not harmful," said Capt. Tim Carney, of Sheriff Youth Services.
"Nationwide, the drugs of choice for teens is alcohol and marijuana."
Shewman, however, has not only seen pot. He's seen heroin, cocaine,
Oxycontin -- you name it. Shewman agrees with Carney that the problem is
not just in Sarasota County. "Sarasota County has the highest Oxycontin use
in the state," Shewman said. "Charlotte County has the highest drug use in
the state." Department of Education's discipline data reports show
Charlotte County School's drug problem as twice as bad as Sarasota
County's. Charlotte County had 378 school drug confiscations in the 2002-03
school year, while Sarasota County only had 162. A process involving
student and parent begins once a student is recommended for expulsion, said
Linda Post, Sarasota County schools expulsions coordinator. The student's
public school prepares a settlement agreement to attend an alternative school.

If the agreement is broken, the student is officially expelled and the
School Board votes to approve the expulsion. Problem is, most alternative
schools are overcrowded. Just recently, school officials requested 19
students to be accepted at Gulf Coast Vocational Institute on an altered
schedule.

Those students will attend Gulf Coast from 3-7 p.m. at a cost of $23,750.
The lure In his book, "Dispelling the Marijuana Myth," George Biernson
describes how the toxicity of pot lures most of the new generation of pot
users.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is a psychoactive chemical that stays in a
user's body for more than a month. The high, Biernson writes, only uses a
small portion of THC, with up to 40 percent being stored in the body. Any
student who smokes pot is most likely being dragged "into a state of
continual sedation," he writes. This cycle starts the search for the
highest high. The difference the day make A current TRIAD student wanted
Hazuda to know that his older cousin also attended TRIAD. When the
student's cousin was there, he just smoked pot. Now, at 22, he takes 30 to
40 Oxycontin pills a day, Hazuda said. "Then these kids feel like
failures," Hazuda said. "They just want to quit on life. Deep down they
really do want help." According to Jennifer Walker, program director at
Gulf Coast Vocational Institute, the problem is not limited to a certain
part of society. "Ten years ago you could pinpoint problems to low SES
(socioeconomic students). Nowadays you can't. I've had students from Venice
that live in million-dollar subdivisions," Walker said. "We can't just say
the kid lives here and this is why he or she is having problems. It has no
barriers.

It's not just drugs.

It's who they elect to be with. That peer group is equally important.

How do we combat that?" When family's not enough School Resource Officer
Randy Ruth said drug usage often starts as cliques or groups form in middle
or high school.

By working at North Port High, Ruth has witnessed how high schools develop
their own mini-societies. At North Port, none of the groups could be
considered gangs.

Nonetheless, Ruth is wary. "They aren't really organized gangs.

They're more like factions students break into," Ruth said. "They
experiment (with drugs) among peers." Ruth has either found or known of
drugs on school campus, like a vile of cocaine being found at school, a
local heroin arrest and repeated marijuana usage. "This generation doesn't
scare me, but the next one sure does," Ruth said. "It's just so
sensitized." Internet Those that are not exposed by peers could be educated
by the Internet. Their education comes from a well-known Web site, which
offers tips such as things to add to marijuana to increase the high.
"Unfortunately, a lot of kids are aware of the site," Ruth said. "We got it
(the Web address) from a student." The site accepts memberships and
donations offers a forum for testimonials. "Wow. WOW," wrote one Ecstasy
user. "WOOOOOOOOOOW! Sorry ... Had my first X experience this weekend, and
I though (sic) I'd tell the net what it was like, and also ask a few
questions about this stuff to the people that know more about it than I do."