YOUTHS LEARN DRUG DANGERS

Teens who talk to an adult when they are troubled are less likely to
use alcohol, and local police are doing what they can to make
themselves available to teens. The National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse released a study showing that youngsters who were willing to go
to their parents or another adult with concerns about a serious
problem were 10 percent less likely to have drunk alcohol recently.

But police can't force parents to get involved, so law enforcement
does its part to reach out to youths who might be in danger of falling
prey to alcohol or drug abuse, said Sgt. Mike Bible, community
education officer for the Westminster city police.

Bible said he helps with three programs to educate teens about drugs
and alcohol and ways to avoid them.

One program is Drug Abuse Resistance Education, which he teaches to
sixth-graders. That program is designed to give youngsters strategies
that can help them stay away from drugs and alcohol, he said.

Another program is a talk he gives to fifth-graders about the dangers
of drug and alcohol abuse. The students have the chance to enter a
poster contest, and the winning design gets put on a billboard, he
said.

The third program is Reality, a class that's given as an alternative
sentence to young people caught with alcohol or drugs. The class,
which is held on four consecutive Fridays, gives students hard facts
about the effects of drugs, alcohol and overdoses, the dangers of
drunken driving and the potential legal consequences of drug and
alcohol abuse.

Bible said students also have to write out what their goals are for
the future. Then they're asked to write letters to people who have
helped them achieve their goals in the past.

Most program participants are between the ages of 15 and 21, Bible
said. In the four years the class has been available, 837 young people
have graduated, Bible said. Only 3 percent of those have run into more
trouble with drugs or alcohol, he said.

Taneytown Police Chief Bill Tyler said his department also goes in to
schools to tell students about the dangers of alcohol and drug use. He
said he also has his officers talk to young people they see on the
street.

He said teens don't want to be preached to, so just telling them not
to drink or do drugs won't work. Instead, he said, he tries to discuss
with them the pros and cons of drinking and drug use. And, he said, he
hasn't heard a single pro in all his years of police work.

The education is important, Tyler said - without it, enforcement
wouldn't accomplish much. And, he said, education can be much more
effective.

"If we can get [the young people] to think about the advantages and
disadvantages, we've won," Tyler said.