RECOVERING STUDENT WARNS HIS PEERS

ASHLAND - At first glance, 17-year-old Chad would not appear to be a
recovering drug addict. He is well-groomed with neatly pressed trousers and
a turtleneck sweater.

At his high school, he always got good grades and was even elected to serve
on the student council.

Chad says that's why no one took notice of his growing drug-abuse problem.

"I fit in," said Chad, a participant in the Early Intervention Program at
Pathways. "No one could just look at me and say, 'That kid does drugs.' I
had everyone fooled."

Chad started a daily habit of smoking marijuana when he was a 13-year-old
middle school student. Late last year, as his body grew tolerant to the
drug and it took more of it to get high, his abuse surged to an-ounce-a-day
habit.

He grew depressed and often had thoughts of suicide. He sought new forms of
drugs, thinking that would help.

"At home, I would just sit in my room and cry," he said. "When all of my
friends were out having fun without drugs, I couldn't find a way to have
fun without it."

Chad started "huffing" spray paint to achieve the euphoria he missed. He
soon found out huffing paint was even more addictive than smoking pot.

About a year ago, Chad told his parents he was spending the night with a
friend, but instead went to a "Rave" dance party in Huntington. That
all-nighter made him realize he was in over his head.

"I don't know who was having the Rave, but someone said it was a doctor's
house - it was a really big house," he said. "In every area of the room
there was a different drug on these gigantic platters.

"In one corner, there was a set of scales and they were weighing out coke.
There were different drugs - anything you wanted to satisfy your liking.
Stays, mushrooms, cocaine, pot, kegs, alcohol. I even saw some people
shooting up heroin."

With techno-rock music blaring, teens sucked on pacifiers and snorted on
menthol inhalers. Fluorescent glow sticks bounced around the room as the
teen-agers moved to the beat of the loud music - everyone touching each
other sexually.

As the drug ecstasy began to play on their endocrine system, many of the
teens started taking off their clothes, Chad said. It wasn't long before
some of the partygoers got into a fight.

"So help me, it was the worst fight I have ever seen," Chad said. "This boy
was so high, he peed on himself and these five guys went to making fun of
him. They got him down on the floor and started beating him and throwing
lampshades at him.

"These parties tell us we are going to make friends if we go there, but
then crazy things start happening and you don't make friends. Believe me,"
he continued.

Chad continued huffing and using other drugs until December, when he got
caught huffing spray paint on school grounds.

"I had huffed so much that day, I must have reeked from it," he said

School personnel ordered him into Saturday's drug intervention program.

"I cleaned up on my own," smiled the Northern Kentucky University
college-bound student. "But, it was the hardest thing to break my
addiction. No one can tell you what it's like to quit smoking pot. There
isn't a day that goes by that I don't want it.

"But, at some point I knew it was going to kill me and I don't want to die."

Chad, who hopes to pursue a career in education, wants local parents to
realize that drugs are readily accessible to their children.

"We have Raves right here in Ashland. It is here. You just better look for
the signs."

He also had some advice for teens coping with peer pressure.

"No matter what they tell you, you don't need drugs to have fun," he said.
"I wish I would've known."