METH WILL EVENTUALLY SATURATE SCHOOLS WITHOUT AWARENESS

No matter where you live, what high school you go to, or who you hang out
with, you hear about it in the halls, you see it, or you even know someone
affected by it. There's no escaping it.

As my classmates get older, "partying" seems to become more and more
popular. Kids you wouldn't even imagine are smoking pot and getting drunk
every weekend in the basement with their unsuspecting parents right
upstairs. These kids are making good grades, are involved in
extracurricular activities, and therefore, their parents have no reason to
suspect anything.

There are even some students who have parents willing to buy alcohol for
them. As long as everyone spends the night and doesn't drive home, they'll
take orders. They want to watch over their intoxicated children and friends
rather than have them sneaking around. These parents are telling their kids
that underage drinking is OK.

It would take a strong-willed teen-ager to pass on connections like that.
Especially after you walk through school hearing people talk about how hard
it was to get alcohol. If you have parents who will provide, you have just
made about 20 new best friends.

Drugs and alcohol have always been around. Teen-agers are so used to
hearing kids talk about it and being taught about how bad it is, that it's
almost become socially acceptable. I can remember in middle school when
we'd hear about kids smoking pot or drinking, and we'd automatically label
them as "druggies." It's to the point now where there is no "druggie"
group, because they're evenly scattered throughout every group. There is no
stigma to doing drugs or alcohol. Now when we hear about someone who smokes
pot, our reaction is more like, "Really? I didn't know they did that." And
then we move on.

The community of Owensboro is facing even bigger problems than underage
drinking these days. Since 1998, more than 200 meth labs have been
discovered in Daviess County. When I read that in the paper, I was
astonished. I do not personally know anyone who is addicted to meth, nor
have I heard of any kids in my school that use it. However, I, not unlike
most high schoolers, have stopped keeping tabs on what everyone does when
they "party." It just got to be too much. There is no doubt in my mind that
there are kids at my school on meth, or at least kids who know of people
who are.

The people who have been arrested on meth charges in Daviess County have
generally been an older crowd than mine. At first that was almost
comforting, but when I look back at my grade school days, marijuana was
only something we learned about in D.A.R.E. None of us had ever seen it or
probably even knew what it was until then. Now I have friends who say their
fifth- and sixth-grade siblings are trying it. The curiosity is hitting
kids younger and younger as the years go by. Eventually, meth will have the
same effect. It will trickle down through every age group until it has our
children. Drugs do not discriminate. They will reach every type of person.

Recently I've begun to hear and read about how easy it is to make meth, and
what a money-making business it is. That terrifies me. Next to partying,
having money is the most important thing to many teen-agers. Who's to say
kids won't get involved in this even if they're not addicted to it? All
they have to do is go through a process of six steps, sell it, and they're
rich. Money is very attractive to teen-agers and with many of us owning
cars and counting the days until independence, it might be hard for some
kids to reject the opportunity to make easy cash.

During the "Meth Madness" educational forum held by OCC-TV last May,
Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain went as far as to say, "It has a
stranglehold on this community, and if we don't get a hold of it, it's
going to destroy us." This drug is far worse than underage drinking and
illegal usage of marijuana. Meth has the power to destroy our community. In
a poll taken at this same forum, 94 random people were asked if they knew
anyone who has used methamphetamine. Fifty-five percent (over half) said
yes. These numbers will only rise if we do not raise awareness.

As a community, we cannot let meth become another casual drug high
schoolers hear about all the time. This drug will saturate our schools and
take lives if we do not work on a solution.