TECH HOSTS PROGRAM ON DRUG AWARENESS

SPARTA -- Drug awareness and teen drug abuse was the message at Sussex
County Technical School when the school hosted a intensive two-hour program
sponsored by the Sussex County Coalition for Healthy and Safe Families
Wednesday.

With a relatively sparse turnout of 50 to 60 parents and teens, the
coalition, along with the Center for Prevention and Counseling, presented a
graphic demonstration of drug use among Sussex County's youth today, which
according to coalition coordinator Becky Carlson, amounts to an enormous
social and health problem affecting the entire county.

"We have three objectives here tonight," said Carlson, "which are, what
drugs are most used today, what are club drugs and what do the drugs look
like? Where can you go for help?"

County Prosecutor Dolores Blackburn, co-founder and chairman of the
coalition, spoke with pointed statistics that claim a frightening
progression in the use of drugs by the county's youth.

"In 1997, we found the first powdered form of heroin in a small package,"
said Blackburn. "It grew that year, but by 1999 we had 200 similar finds
and the rate continues to increase."

Blackburn said the death rate from heroin overdoses in the county continues
to climb due to the drug's ready availability, low cost, and purity.

"It is a popular drug today," she said. "South American cartels have made a
business decision to target our children and market heroin instead of cocaine."

According to Blackburn, heroin is not what it used to be. The heroin of the
'60s and '70s was 30 percent pure, unlike the drug today, which has a 70
percent purity rate, she said. Crime is on the rise in the county as well,
due to juveniles burglarizing area homes, she said.

Ecstasy, ketamine, LSD, and PCP are readily available within county
schools, making drug use more endemic than alcohol abuse.

According to coalition Executive Director Barbara Adolphe, candy, Altoids,
crushed soda cans, empty water and apple juice bottles, Vicks stick and
Vicks vapo rub, cough medicine, Chapstick, vanilla extract bottles, a glow
stick, and a pacifier on a string are all signs of teen drug abuse.

Ecstasy can be hidden in candy; drugs can be smoked in crushed cans and a
liquid drug can be stored in vanilla extract bottles because the brown
glass keeps the drug from degrading.

Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are gateway drugs, she said.

"Many people say, 'Thank heavens that my kids are only drinking,'" said
Adolphe. "They don't realize that these gateway drugs open the door for the
ecstasy, LSD,PCP, and heroin by loosening inhibitions." A slide
presentation warned of new drugs to come.

"A new drug, Tripstasy, a combination of LSD and Ecstasy is causing much
trouble in Ohio right now," said Adolphe. "It should be hitting the
Northeast very soon."

Leslie Malnak and clients of High Focus, a drug rehabilitation center in
Sparta, spoke of the devastation the illness has on the family,
demonstrating key symptoms of the disease, such as denial (not my kid) and
enabling, which allows people to protect the drug user from negative
consequences.

Two families currently participating in the High Focus program shared their
experience, strength, and hope for recovery citing what parents could do to
save their children.

A mother said, "Evaluate their friends carefully, be an unpopular mother,
be consistent, be a snoop, and if they have a job, find out where they are
spending their money."

A father's message encouraged everyone in the audience to consider that
your child has experimented with drugs already. Adolphe said, "There is no
surefire way to keep this from happening, but you can cultivate awareness
and there is recovery."

Lenape Valley High School student Nicole Spaldo said, "I think there is a
drug problem in the county and it won't be stopped unless parents ,
teachers, and adults in the county are aware of the signs and symptoms of
drug and alcohol abuse." The coalition is devoted to bringing community,
schools, parents and youth together to prevent alcohol, tobacco and other
drug use, as well as the prevention of violence, said a coalition flier.