Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jun 2005
Source: Markham Economist & Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005, Metroland Printing
Contact:  http://www.yorkregion.com/yr/newscentre/markhameconomistandsun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2360
Author: Martin Derbyshire, Staff Writer

FROM HONOUR ROLL TO SKID ROW

Alcohol, Drugs Can Lead To Ruin, Street Survivor Warns Students

Five years ago, Jessica Weihrich was a straight A student from an
upper-middle class family without a care in the world.

No one would have suspected she would soon be strung out on heroin and
crack and selling her body to feed her addiction.

"I was a normal teenager. I had it all and I threw it all away for
drugs," the Ottawa resident told a smattering of concerned parents and
teenagers at a drug and addiction forum in Aurora Thursday night.

Now 18 and clean for the past year, Ms Weihrich said her downward
spiral started with a few drinks on Christmas, New Year's Eve and her
birthday.

Like a lot of teenagers, she smoked pot a few times in Grade 8. She
tried ecstasy and started having sex with older guys. Later that year,
she became pregnant.

She had an abortion, but missed a lot of school and her grades
suffered.

In Grade 9, there would be more pot and even LSD, but the big changes
came when she made friends with street kids in downtown Ottawa.

"I always used to put all this pressure on myself to do well in
school. I looked at these street kids and it was like they didn't have
a care in the world," she said.

She found a boyfriend on the streets, dropped out of school and
started getting into harder drugs such as PCP.

One night she overdosed and it took her two weeks to start speaking
normally again, but it wasn't enough to scare her straight.

It wasn't long before morphine and heroin became her drugs of choice
and the street became more than just a place to hang out, it became a
home.

In and out of several drug treatment programs and back on the streets,
she spent the better part of three years using heroin daily until she
added crack cocaine to the mix.

When panhandling wouldn't pay for the drugs, she turned to
prostitution.

"I came from a normal middle-class family. People who knew me back
then would never imagine I would be living like this," she said. "But
I'm here to tell you it can happen to anyone."

Jessica's story is the extreme of what can happen when teenagers
experiment with drugs, said Carin McLean, a youth outreach services
supervisor with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

But if York Region parents think their children won't be faced with
some of the same choices, Ms McLean said they should think again.

The last Ontario Student Drug Use Survey showed 66.2 per cent of all
high school students have experimented with alcohol.

Almost 30 per cent have tried pot, 19.2 per cent tobacco, 4.1 per cent
ecstasy and 1.4 per cent heroin.

According to the survey, teenagers are most likely to try drinking and
smoking when they're 13 and marijuana at 14.

The survey shows two thirds of teenagers will try drugs while in high
school, yet less than a dozen parents attended the forum Thursday.

While you may not stop your child from experimenting, you can help
make sure they don't abuse drugs by talking to them about the issue,
she said.

If your goal is complete abstinence, you're probably going to fail, Ms
McLean said.

A more realistic goal would be just making sure your teenager is
making an informed choice.

"Scare tactics and telling your children to just say no isn't going to
work," she said. "The chances are you're not going to be there when
your kids are faced with these choices."

Jessica's mother, Heather Hilts, said she never talked to her daughter
about drugs until it was too late.

"That's the best advice I can give," she said. "Educate yourself early
and talk to your kids. Don't wait until you think or know you have a
problem."

For more advice on talking to your children about drugs,visit
http://www.camh.net
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin