PARENTS GROUP TACKLES TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Parents: City gave $10,000

EDMOND -- When Pat Nichols found out his child was involved with alcohol and
drugs, he didn't know what to do.

"My child was dual-addicted in the mid-1990s," he said while at the Edmond
Parents Helping Parents office. "I had no one to turn to, no idea what to do
and no one to explain what I should do."

He said he made "all the mistakes a parent could possibly make" because
there was nobody there to tell him differently.

In 2001, Nichols founded Edmond Parents Helping Parents with three other
parents of drug- and alcohol-addicted teens to make sure others in the same
situation would have someplace to turn.

Two years later, the group has 22 parents on its board of directors and
recently received a $10,000 grant from the city of Edmond's social agency
budget.

"We get parents from all over the state," Nichols said. "We've been very
successful at getting parents to take early intervention and put them on a
path that leads their kids away from alcohol and drugs."

A 2002 survey by Edmond Public Schools showed 71 percent of high school
students said they had used alcohol and 37 percent had used marijuana.
According to the survey, 23 percent had been offered, sold or given an
illegal drug on school grounds within the last year.

Alcohol and marijuana are the drugs most used in Edmond, Nichols said.
Statistics show that users are getting younger.

Nichols said that 10 years ago, the average age of people seeking treatment
for marijuana was 34; today it is 16.

"When an adolescent starts using and the mind is still developing, it
creates a disturbance in the growth of the brain," he said. "If you're not
dealing with it early on, it leads to addiction.

"That's when your whole world changes."

More than 120 families are actively seeking help from Edmond Parents Helping
Parents now, he said.

The $10,000 grant from the city will be used to send informational
newsletters to parents of teens in Edmond schools.

Debbie Garner, assistant to the city manager, said Edmond officials realize
what a devastating problem adolescent drug and alcohol use can be and that
problems can be solved when parents have "a family to turn to."

Nichols said the first and most important step a parent can take is to get
information on drug and alcohol addiction relating to adolescents.