'EVERYBODY ISN'T DOING IT'

Drug use by young people is a reflection of adults and all of society
because the problem is far-reaching and not just impacting schools, Huron
High School principal Terry Nebelsick said.

But a local upside to the widespread misuse of drugs and alcohol across the
country is a network of support that links students and their parents with
educators, professional health care experts and the clergy, he said.

It's easy for kids using drugs and alcohol to rationalize their situation,
Nebelsick said.

"Probably the toughest side of this to deal with is that one of the great
lies that permeates in kids when they're in trouble is the self- assurance
that everybody's doing it," he said.

"In reality, everybody isn't doing it."

The drugs of choice among kids are tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and
methamphetamine, said Beadle County state's attorney Mike Moore.

Six months after taking the reins as principal at Huron Middle School, Mike
Taplett said he doesn't yet have a feel for the level of drug and alcohol
use by those kids.

"I think there's some out there," he said. "I haven't come to any
conclusion as to how serious it is."

In a report to the Huron School Board, Gene Miller, juvenile officer in the
Huron Police Department, said drug offenses by juveniles in 2001 included
32 cases of marijuana possession, nine cases of possession of controlled
substances and six cases of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Continuing to increase is possession of methamphetamine, a highly addictive
drug.

Moore said drug and alcohol violations by young people go in cycles. From
1997 to 1999, law enforcement made a lot of arrests, and many offenders
went to jail.

"I think that causes it to, in some respects, decrease in numbers and they
kind of go more underground," he said. "I think people are braver and we're
starting to catch them again."

Like Nebelsick, Moore agrees that the problems with drugs and alcohol cross
all age barriers. Use is particularly seen among 18- to 35-year- olds, he said.

Former Circuit Judge Eugene Martin, who presided here for 23 years before
his recent retirement, said he thinks there's a definite drug problem among
juveniles in the area.

"I think it probably goes deeper than what the average citizen walking down
the street would understand," he said.

"I think there's a lot of kids today who don't think there's anything wrong
with smoking marijuana or doing some drugs," Martin said.

Education is a key to steering young people away from trying drugs in the
first place.

At both the middle school and high school, counselors play a major role in
providing information to kids. School nurses sometimes help in detecting if
someone is using drugs.

Professionals at Community Counseling Services are also a vital resource,
Taplett and Nebelsick said.

"I think we educate - we try to make channels available to the students to
come to," Taplett said.

Different organizations such as parent advisory groups also lend a helping
hand, to show kids there are healthy alternatives, he said.

Federal funding is being requested in order to hire a coordinator to
oversee prevention and educational services in the Huron area, said Shelly
Fuller, community prevention networker at CCS.

Specifically, the goal is to make people more aware of methamphetamine use
and how it's manufactured.

Funding would come through Prairie View Prevention Services and would
establish a pilot methamphetamine coalition.

Drug use can impact the school, community and society in general, Taplett
said. Kids don't always go to their parents when they have a problem.

Just as drugs affect an adult's ability to do the job in the workplace,
they impact how students do in school. As they get deeper into drug use,
paranoia increases and they don't see the establishment as supportive but
think others are out to get them, Nebelsick said.

Parents should pay attention to how their children are doing in school,
know the hours they are keeping and learn who their friends are, Taplett said.

When children get into trouble, the high school tries to connect them with
agencies that can help them, Nebelsick said.

"Children who get the headlines are the ones in trouble and need our help,"
he said.

But the vast majority of Huron's adolescents stay clear of drugs and
alcohol. People and families are committed to staying drug free and setting
goals for their lives, Nebelsick said.

Moore periodically has young people job-shadow with him. He speaks at the
high school and teaches at Si Tanka/Huron University.

"It's good to get out and see that we have a lot of really good kids in
Huron that are assets to the community now," he said.

Martin said he thinks part of the problem with adolescent drug use lies
with the influences they have from music and television.

"You see so many people who are in positions of being an example to other
people - your athletes and those types of people who are recognized in the
media - and so many of them have not been held responsible," he said. "To
me, it's money.

"I think the worst thing about that is, when you look around, who are the
people who are good role models out there that people see on a daily
basis?" he said. "There seem to be very few, from the executive office on down.

"And the kids watch this - the kids are not stupid - they watch and they
see what's fair," he said. "The people are not being held accountable for
what they're doing wrong and it doesn't go unnoticed and pretty soon people
think, 'Well, if they can do it, why can't I do it?'

"It's really very simple in my mind," Martin said.