PARENTS PACK MEETING ON DRUGS

50 Turn Out In Long Beach

LONG BEACH - The Long Beach community overflowed USM-Gulf Coast's 600-seat
auditorium Monday night to talk about drug use in their town.

Many were a little surprised to see Long Beach, a community known to keep
its troubles to itself, generate such a turnout for a subject as delicate
as drug use. Organizer and Long Beach businessman Glenn Mueller said
someone had called him and said, "Why are you having this meeting? You're
making Long Beach look bad."

But Mueller, Mayor Robert Bass, Long Beach School District Superintendent
Charles Lyle and other speakers told the 650 residents that "burying their
heads in the sand" is the kind of response that allows the deadly problem
to continue.

"We cannot get into a solution mode until we can get into a recognition
mode," said Virginia Magers, a counselor with Long Beach schools.

The cost of denial is a price many parents say they will pay for a long
time to come.

Jean Rapp, whose 22-year-old daughter Melanie McLaurin overdosed and died
in January, could barely speak without crying.

"It's not our role to be their friend," she told the crowd. "It's our role
to be their parent."

The message of Rapp and the other speakers was delivered gently, but
unequivocally: Drug prevention and treatment is the very hard job of parents.

"The family is the first line of defense against drug abuse," Magers said.
"Don't ignore the symptoms, don't minimize (them)."

One Long Beach father, who asked not to be named to protect his son's
privacy, admitted that he ignored the evidence of his son's drug use. His
son was a high achiever in high school, but drank and used drugs with his
friends. In the years after high school, his drug use increased and he
continuously asked his father for more money. Still in his early 20s, he
was shot in an altercation with a drug dealer. He is alive, but his
recovery is far from over.

"The signs are there," the father said, "But you've got to take your
blinders off. There are so many variables involved. In the meantime, you've
got to look for the signs."

Although most of the burden for drug awareness was put on the shoulders of
parents, the community leaders said they would do their part.

Freddie Ladner, an administrator with the Jefferson Parish School District
in Louisiana, said there is a lot communities can do to help parents.
Communication among schools, parents, law enforcement and other
organizations is the critical step, she said.

Ladner said Jefferson Parish schools worked with the local district
attorney and parents to create a three-tiered system of drug prevention.
The first level is general education for all students, the second level is
more tailored to children who are in families with alcohol or drug
problems, and the third level is helping young people who have already had
problems with drugs.

Ladner said one of the most important task for parents is to get educated
on the drugs their children are encountering.

"Our kids' world is so different from our world, we need a little help,"
Ladner said.