SUMMER ANTI-DRUG CLASSES WRAP UP WITH FINAL SESSION

The war on drugs has been around for decades, but the battling parties have
changed.

Antonio Patterson, Scotland County substance abuse education consultant
with Laurinburg Mental Health, has been bringing the anti-drug message to
youth participating in the Laurinburg Housing Authority summer program.

"We've been doing classes at the Laurinburg Housing Authority for eight
weeks and this is the last of the summer sessions," Patterson said. "We
plan to continue afterschool with the housing authority.

"We came up with the idea to go out into the community to educate kids on
drugs to prevent them from using," he said. "If kids know at an early age
the effects drugs have it will prevent them from doing drugs later on."

The attendance in the sessions has ranged from 10 to 40 kids, with Thursday
afternoon's session including about 25 kids.

"We have covered such drugs as marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, crack and
ecstasy," Patterson said. "We have also done some self-esteem and self
building exercises. A lot of kids who live in low-income housing have a
hard time with self-esteem. We are trying to let them know that they don't
need drugs to fit in or feel good about themselves. They should feel good
about themselves just for being."

Thursday's session was on ecstasy. "I decided to talk about ecstasy during
the last session because it is a drug that is just hitting the Scotland
County area," Patterson said. "It comes in all different colors because
dealers want to make it look as much like candy as possible."

Patterson gave a brief introduction before asking the children what they
knew about ecstasy. Responses included that "it is a pill," "it harms you"
and "it's nasty."

A video explaining what ecstasy does to the brain and the feelings involved
was shown. The video included testimony from former users and the family of
a boy who died from an ecstasy reaction. The parents tearfully explained
that their son died from using the durg 10 months after being hospitalized
for a previous ecstasy reaction. The video also included statements by
frequent party and rave attendees about not using drugs because of the
natural high of dancing and socializing.

The impact from the video was apparent in the eyes of the children and in
their reactions. When asked what they had learned from the video, responses
included "it can kill you," "it can mess up your mind," and "it can make
you do things you'll regret."

"Ecstasy can kill you just by taking one," Patterson said. "With other
drugs, you may get the chance to say no after first try, but with ecstasy,
your first chance is your last chance.

"Ecstasy cuts communication from your brain to your body," he added. "Your
brain might be telling your body that you are tired, but the body isn't
getting the message. The brain will shut down and you may have a heart attack."

Children had the opportunity to use special goggles to simulate the visual
effects of ecstasy. They tossed a piece of pool cue chalk back and forth
with and without the goggles. Through the giggles, the message was clear
that the impairments of the drug are obvious.

Patterson pointed out an additional danger for all drugs on the street. "A
lot of the drugs you see people using, you don't know where they came from
and don't know what is in it," he said. "I had someone set down marijuana
and marijuana laced with rat poison. We know rat poison can kill you, but
it looked the same."

While the summer drug information class is over at the Laurinburg Housing
Authority, Patterson hopes to be able to reach additional sections of the
community.

"We are reaching out to churches and other organizations to promote drug
prevention and education," he said.