Series: 10 Of 10

WHEN WORDS AREN'T ENOUGH

Meth's Misery: Local Prevention Groups Say Drug Education Strategies Need
To Change

Editor's Note - Today's story on drug abuse prevention efforts among teens
concludes a four-day series examining the methamphetamine problem in
Douglas County.

It wouldn't have been possible without a candid account of the life of a
meth addict and extensive interviews with the district attorney's office
and law enforcement officers, who allowed us to photograph the remnants of
a meth lab. Reporter Christian Bringhurst, whose beat includes crime
reporting, conceived the idea of the series after hearing about the drug's
involvement in so many local crimes. He spent nearly three months
interviewing and writing the series, while also reporting stories for the
daily editions.

We're interested in your thoughts on the series. Feel free to e-mail your
comments to newsdesk@newsreview.info

or mail them to The News-Review, P.O. Box 1248, Roseburg, OR 97470.

- City Editor Vicki Menard

Growing up, children are taught to "just say no" to drugs. They learn that
drugs are bad, that they can kill and that only losers use them. These
messages are branded in their brains before they're old enough to host
their first slumber party or use the oven without supervision.

But some community members contend children aren't learning enough. They
say young people don't know why drugs are bad or how they can affect the body.

According to the 2001 results of the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, which was
completed by roughly 5,000 high school students, drug use is a problem.
According to the report, 48 percent, or 2,365 students, admitted to getting
drunk for the first time between the ages of 9 and 17. Between these same
ages, 39 percent, or 1,929 students, reported trying marijuana for the
first time.

Methamphetamine use, however, is low. More commonly used by adults, only 5
percent, or 287 high school students, said they had experimented with the
substance.

The Baily Day Foundation and the prevention teams from Joseph Lane and
Fremont middle schools in Roseburg, though, are determined to lower the
statistics. By setting kids straight on what drugs are and what effects
they can have, they're hoping students will become better equipped to make
informed choices.

"Kids need to know what to expect and the long-term effects. They need to
know why," said Terry Day of Roseburg, organizer of the Baily Day
Foundation. "Everyone is ignoring the problem. We need to educate."

Baily Day Foundation

Day admits he wasn't aware of the escalating drug problem among teens --
until it took his child's life last February.

At that time, his 17-year old son Baily, a junior at Roseburg High School,
was sleeping over at a friend's house. In the evening, he took two tablets
of methadone he had recently purchased at a Roseburg High School basketball
game. By morning, he was dead.

"My son had asked his friends, 'You don't think I'll die do you?'" Terry
said. "He then went to sleep and never woke up. If people knew the symptoms
of what to look for, this would never have happened."

Terry said his son was a good kid, someone who never dabbled with drugs
until that night. And even then, he was lured into thinking methadone was
safe because it was readily prescribed and didn't have the stigma of
illegal drugs. Traditionally, methadone is used to treat heroin addiction.

"He wasn't a drug user," Terry said. "He was an athlete and well-liked. ...
Baily was an adrenaline junky and fun to be around. One thousand people
attended his funeral. That says something. He wasn't a sleaze ball."

After his son's death, Terry said his true education on drugs began. He
learned prescription medication, despite wide-held beliefs to the contrary,
can be lethal. He learned young people, no matter what their interests or
social standing, aren't immune to negative peer pressure.

He also learned that there are countless people who would rather pretend
there isn't a drug problem than acknowledge their own children could face
the same fate as his son. This realization prompted Terry to start the
Baily Day Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating teens about
the hazards of recreational and experimental drug use.

"When you take a person's child, you're taking away their future," Day
said. "My future is gone. I need to make sense of this. This (foundation)
keeps me going."

Although still forming, Terry said his organization's mission is to revamp
existing drug education curriculum. He wants kids to know what drugs are
out there, what's in them, and how they interact. He also wants them to
recognize the danger symptoms, in case they're in need of medical attention.

Everyone, not just kids, he said, must know these basic principles.

"No one is informed," Terry said. "If you are not a part of the solution,
you are a part of the problem. Complacency feeds the problem."

Daniel Jeremiah, a senior at RHS, agrees change needs to take place. A
friend of Baily's, Jeremiah is now one of the 30-plus active members of the
Baily Day Foundation. He joined because he wants to help curb drug use
among young people -- an act that won't shift, he said, until kids are
presented information in new and innovative ways.

"The current programs don't work," Jeremiah said. "They're too textbook.
They just say drugs are bad. With the Baily Day Foundation, we can inform
them in different ways, ways they can understand."

Jeremiah said his goal is to educate teens so they know what they're doing.
Although he may not be able to convince drug users to quit, he'll at least
be able to inform them about their actions so they won't overdose or
experiment with dangerous combinations.

He also wants to spread word of the foundation's existence. This is now
being done through the making of bumper stickers, T-shirts and other
merchandise that will soon be available for sale. Proceeds will go toward
research and the creation of new drug education curriculum, which Terry
hopes to introduce to area schools in the near future.

"You have to start somewhere, and we're starting here," Terry said. "If you
don't dream big, you won't get anywhere."

Prevention Teams

Marlene Petersen, the Roseburg middle school coordinator of safety and
prevention programs, shares Terry's ambitions. She believes the key to
decreasing drug use is to include kids in the quest for a solution. By
giving them a voice and a sense of empowerment, she said, they'll not only
be less likely to use drugs themselves but will be able to provide insight
as to why their peers choose to experiment.

"We need to respect and value the intelligence of our youth," Petersen
said. "They have gifts of enthusiasm we've lost as adults. They don't see
barriers, they see what our successes can be."

With this goal in mind, she created the Joseph Lane Middle School
Prevention Team last year and is now forming a similar team at Fremont.
Funded through a federal Safe and Drug Free Schools grant, the program is
populated by students elected by their fellow classmates. About a dozen
students are involved in each group.

The teams work on prevention activities throughout the year. They talk to
classes about the importance of staying substance free, they share their
views with adults and they attend camps and fairs where the issue of drug
abuse is stressed. At Jo Lane, the students also distributed a survey
asking what their classmates think of drugs.

The results spoke volumes, Petersen said. Of the 450 eighth-graders who
took the survey, about 39 percent admitted to riding in a car with a driver
who'd been drinking. The other problems revealed by the questionnaire
include a significant number of students using marijuana, drinking,
bullying and having a lack of respect for themselves and others.

Now the group members are exploring ways to address these problems, and
they're beginning by clearing up misconceptions about drugs.

"Now smart people are getting high and parents don't expect it," said Chloe
Ruffin, an eighth-grader at Jo Lane. "They're doing it, and they're getting
away with it."

Ruffin said adults and teens alike have an image of drug users as being
kids who don't belong, who get into trouble and who perform poorly in
school. But that isn't always the case. Drug users can be popular. They can
be athletes, and they can even be earning straight A's.

Ruffin and ninth-grader Drew Terhune agree teens may not have good reasons
to try drugs. They may want to experiment, they may do it to combat
boredom, they may even try drugs to rebel.

"They do it because they can," Terhune said. "A lot of teenagers feel they
are invincible and so much smarter than their parents."

By informing kids about the alternatives to drugs and by convincing them to
become engaged in something -- whether it be band or sports -- the Jo Lane
prevention team believes positive differences will result. Ultimately,
though, they admit people must take responsibility for their own actions.

"You can only do so much," Terhune said. "In the end, it comes down to you."

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SIDEBAR

Drug Prevention, Education Programs

The following is a partial list of local drug prevention and education
organizations: .Baily Day Foundation - www.bailydayfoundation.com .The
Oregon Partnership - www.orpartnership.org - helpline: (800)-923-HELP;
youthline: (877) 553-TEEN .The American Council for Drug Education -
www.acde.org; (800) 488-DRUG .Joseph Lane/ John C. Fremont Middle School
Prevention Teams - Marlene Petersen, 440-8278 .ADAPT Prevention and
Training Program - Pauline Martel, 672-2691 .Glide Together ! - Sam Moore,
672-2691 .Sutherlin Together! - Zada Wright, 459-8262 .DC CAPS (Douglas
County Communities Aligned to Prevent Substance Abuse) - Pauline Martel,
672-2691 .Douglas County Early Childhood Planning Coalition - Matt Brausam,
440-4794 .Douglas County Commission on Children and Families - Gillian
Wesenberg, 957-4622 .Douglas County Health and Social Services Department -
Marilyn Carter, health educator/ health promotions, 440-3563