DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR CHILD IS USING DRUGS?

Editorial Focus: Drug Awareness Meeting

One of the best things we can do to determine whether our children might
experiment with illegal drugs is to learn more about them.

That's exactly what next Monday's community meeting at the Bevill Center
will allow us all to do. We encourage parents, grandparents, teenagers,
school administrators and teachers to mark Monday, Aug. 5, 6:30 PM down on
their calendar.

An expert from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency will share his knowledge
of illegal drugs at the meeting, which will be held at the Bevill Center
next door to Wallace Community College. It's a chance to learn what's out
there-and what to look for.

Our reporting on the growing meth problem taught us more than we care to
know about this deadly drug and how widespread its use in Eufaula and
Barbour County may already be.

Parents and teachers need to know, for example, that meth users don't
exhibit the same type behavior as pot smokers or beer drinkers. They don't
stumble around and slur their speech. Their symptoms might sometimes be
just the opposite.

You can't smell the drug, and meth often causes its users to become jittery
and agitated, even paranoid. Its users may appear more in control than a
teenager who slurps down a six-pack, but it's far more deadly.

The DEA says meth is 10 times more addictive than even crack cocaine. A
meth high can last as long as 15 hours, and its use can trigger depression,
weight loss, or worse, liver damage and even stroke.

It doesn't take a chemist to understand why meth, a synthetic drug made in
clandestine labs from toxic chemicals, is so dangerous.

"It's like chugging a bottle of Drano and muriatic acid," Drug Task Force
Commander Todd Register told us in an earlier report.

The seminar will highlight other drugs, too, like the so-called date rape drug.

Don't think those drugs are used in Eufaula? Police reports from this past
summer prove you wrong.

Two meth labs in Eufaula were busted in recent months-one only blocks from
Western Heights Elementary School and a second not far from downtown.
Police also investigated at least one incident in which the date-rape drug
(GHB) may have been used.

The meeting's speaker will also talk about Ecstasy. It's another drug
growing in use in Eufaula, and its effects can be deadly.

We commend the Barbour County Drug Task Force for putting together this
educational meeting. Agent Stephen Hanners tells us he's surprised at how
little some of the teenagers who use the drugs understand just how deadly
they are.

Education about the dangers of drugs alone won't stop the problem. It's
still a start, and community leaders, parents and concerned citizens of any
age should attend the meeting.