AGENT TO SHARE ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE WITH TEENAGERS, PARENTS IN SHOALS

Mike Reese, an agent with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control board, has
a message for parents: Be alert in all respects regarding your kids and
what they're doing.

For the past three years, Reese has been traveling the state with his
program for parents and students called Operation Save Teens.

It's a graphic video depiction of true cases of Alabama teen drug
overdoses, even deaths.

Reese has brought his program to the Shoals on different occasions, leaving
each time with numerous requests to return.

He'll present the program in Tuscumbia on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at Deshler High
School auditorium.

Reese will be joined by Carol Hudson, a retired teacher who will share her
family's battle with her son's drug abuse.

The target audience is parents of students in grades kindergarten through
12, although Reese says students in sixth grade and higher need to hear the
information.

He has spoken in numerous schools around the state, where the impact of his
program is highlighted through footage of actual cases worked by the ABC
agency.

"The focus is largely on prescription drug abuse like OxyContin and
methadone," Reese said. "In the last few months, we've seen a tremendous
increase in overdoses and deaths by OxyContin. Undercover (law enforcement)
buys have increased tremendously, and kids are the sellers as well as the
buyers."

Another focus of the program is methamphetamine.

"The number of meth labs has skyrocketed all over the Shoals, north Alabama
included," Reese said. "We're arresting high school students cooking meth.
The cooks are getting younger and younger, and parents need to know about
this."

As the supervisor of the drug unit north of Montgomery, Reese said his
agency, like others around the state, has had to deal with financial blows,
including a lack of grants they've received in the past.

Still, even with fewer resources, "we're going to keep going until we can't
anymore."

He said parents often have the mistaken idea that "you can tell the kids
who do drugs."

"You can't tell nowadays who the abusers are because it's the 'good' kids
doing it," he said. "Parents are finally starting to realize it's their
straight-A students doing this stuff, and sometimes the first-time
experiment kills them."

Reese said national statistics show that 12 percent of high school seniors
have used ecstasy and the same percentage has used methamphetamine.

Deshler Principal Larry Danley calls the program one of the most moving,
heart-wrenching ones he's ever seen.

Colbert County probation officer Dennis Box, who is also a former Tuscumbia
school board member, endorses the program and agrees with Reese that
parents must be educated about what their children are facing.

"The earlier parents are educated about drugs, the more likely parents will
know the signs of drug abuse and can intervene," Box said.

The program will be open to the public. School groups of students, teachers
and administrators as well as all parents are encouraged to attend.