Pubdate: Sun, 07 Aug 2005
Source: Parkersburg News, The (WV)
Copyright: 2005, The Parkersburg News
Contact:  http://www.newsandsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1648
Author: Roger Adkins
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TEEN DRUG USE INCREASES IN NUMBERS, INTENSITY

PARKERSBURG - Teen drug use continues to be an issue in the Mid-Ohio
Valley, officials said this week. Patrice Zucker, executive director
of the Mid-Ohio Valley Fellowship Home, said it seems youths are
abusing "harder" drugs these days.

"I have a background in adolescent addiction. I think that it's a very
present problem. If there's a trend I've seen in the last decade, it's
that the amount and the intensity of the substances that are abused
have worsened. They're getting into the tougher stuff quicker," she
said Friday.

The reason for this is the availability of narcotics, she
said.

"Marijuana is a common baseline drug. A lot kids are using crystal
meth. There are a lot of kids using crack cocaine, and a lot of
prescription drugs are being abused," she said.

Zucker said many factors cause drug abuse among teens. Some of the
most common are drug use by parents, peer pressure and boredom.

"If kids are growing up in using homes, those parents have established
it as normalcy for them," she said.

In drug abusing households, it is not uncommon for user parents to buy
drugs for their children, Zucker said.

"I've heard of parents giving marijuana to their teenagers for a
birthday gift. And then they wonder five years later why their kid is
shooting heroin," she said.

Zucker also subscribes to a theory that addiction is a genetic trait;
it is as much physiological as it is psychological, she said.

"I think it's both. You could have two kids experimenting with
marijuana. For the kid who has the genetic tendency for addiction, the
joint's going to mean more. I've seen the difference working with
teens. There is a difference because they have a higher tolerance, the
kids seem to have an addiction from a genetic background. They bounce
back and do it again. Whereas somebody who is abusing may get sick and
hold off for a while," she said.

One method for keeping kids off of drugs, in addition to getting them
away from drug abusing homes, is giving them something else to do with
their time, Zucker said.

"I think a lot of it is we don't offer our kids a lot to do. A lot of
the kids I work with say they were bored and that's how they get into
it. The community needs to put more focus on activities that are cool
and sober. We have a lot for the younger youth, but we don't offer the
teens much in this community," she said.

Another major key to fighting drug addiction among teens is getting
them the help they need, Zucker said.

"People need to understand that youths or any individual who has an
addiction problem isn't a bad person. They're sick people who need to
get help. What happens is when a person uses extensively, they
incorporate that usage into their whole life. When they're happy, they
get high; when they're angry, they get high; when they're bored, they
get high. It's necessary to get them into some support system," she
said.

A good start would be Alcoholics Anonymous or a similar 12-step
program. Zucker's organization offers 12 step programs free of charge
to community members.

Drug addiction affects the addicted and everyone around them, Zucker
said. Addicts need support from the people around them, she said.

"The best description I've heard of addiction is a wet dog sitting in
a living room. Everybody standing around that dog is affected. It's
the same with addiction. People around that person are affected," she
said.

Steve Tuck, of the Gustke Youth Shelter on St. Marys Avenue, said he
believes there has been a creeping increase the number of teens using
harder drugs. Still, he agreed the most commonly abused substances are
alcohol and marijuana.

In general, however, drug use has remained a steady rate among area
teens.

"We're seeing about the same amounts of experimental usage as serious
problems," he said. "As we see it, there is certainly a broader
exposure. There are issues of intergenerational use. A lot of reasons
kids are in the shelter are parents having problems along those
lines," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek