PARENTS MAY BE SURPRISED BY SCOPE OF METH PROBLEM IN AREA

A Brainerd lakes area father, who asked to be unnamed to protect his
teenage son's identity, said part of the meth problem is school officials
do not want to admit how serious the drug problem is.

Brainerd School District Superintendent Jerry Walseth said in response
there is a significant problem in society and school officials realize that
and take it seriously.

However, Walseth said it sounds simple when people say the school district
should talk to elementary students about the dangers of drugs.

Walseth questioned whether just saying "no" to drugs worked by itself or if
there was still a drug problem in America.

"Obviously, I see their point," Walseth said of parents' concerns. "I
recognize there are problems."

Walseth said with student learning and testing requirements, schools cannot
continuously add stand alone curriculum and still be held accountable to
levels of learning and testing.

The school system currently houses Crow Wing County Community Collaborative
workers employed by the county who work with at-risk children on an
individual basis.

For the general school population, Walseth said he is open to taking a look
at ways drug education could be integrated into the present curriculum
should someone be aware of a program.

Walseth pointed to the Lions' Quest program in the school that begins with
first grade and focuses on basic decision-making. The program is not
specific to drugs. But Walseth said decision-making applies and part of it
is how to get information.

A question can be where the information is coming from.

At www.streetdrugs.org, a resource used by Crow Wing County Social
Services, a current trend includes meth in a tablet form called yaba, Thai
for "crazy medicine." The tablet, which appears to be marketed toward a
young audience particularly at raves or parties, tastes like candy and
comes in orange, grape and vanilla flavors, streetdrugs.org reported. The
Drug Enforcement Agency confirms the tablet trend.

An informal roundtable discussion with people involved with drug issues and
the effects on Crow Wing County families brought together social workers,
legal guardians and chemical dependency counselors.

They agreed the drug use problem is more prevalent in the community than
people understand. They agreed marijuana is more powerful now than the pot
of the 1960s and 1970s. They agreed parents can have a "not my kid" kind of
drug awareness. And they agreed younger children -- younger than many
people expect -- are involved.

A Brainerd Regional Human Services Center program license was dropped down
to include those age 12.

The child protection workers said anything available in the metro areas --
heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, THC - the active chemical in marijuana --
can be obtained in the lakes area although heroin can be more difficult to
acquire. And there are still keggers with alcohol.

New kids trying to fit into the area can find the drug-users group the
easiest one to get into and a good drug pusher can pick them out. Drugs are
often free to start. Girls who are willing to trade sex for drugs may never
have to pay money to support their habits. Addicts may begin stealing at
home and later expand to the community.

For the Brainerd lakes area father, his concerns also stemmed from
treatment programs he said are less than adequate, in part because
follow-up meetings can be targeted more at adults than teenagers.

Putting his son in a locked facility for treatment was an eye-opener.
Behind the steel door shoelaces and belts were taken. The treatment
facility provided parent and student meetings. And there were many stories
of meth.

The father said one of the most important aspects is early education in the
school and it has to include education of parents.

"There isn't a kid (in Brainerd) that can't get a nickel bag for you in
half an hour -- that's pretty amazing."

In a fair number of families the drug abuse starts with adults and children
who start by using drugs at home, Crow Wing County Social Services
reported. Truancy is often involved.

Walseth said the Brainerd School District attendance rate is close to 96
percent for the entire system and 93 or 94 percent for the high school.

"We haven't seen a significant variation at least for the last few years,"
Walseth said. "We work closely with the county attorney on truancy."

Crow Wing County social workers and chemical dependency counselors said
there are good treatment options in the county that allow students to have
family support.

But, they said, for some people an expert in the subject will be anyone who
lives more than 50 miles away.

The lakes area parent with concerns about his son said one of the
interesting things he learned -- through the process of finding a treatment
program and talking to counselors -- was how to argue with kids.

In counseling, he said parents were taught to say: "This is how I feel.
When you go out I am scared every night. ... They can't argue with your
feeling."

They can call it stupid, he said, but it sticks with them.