Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 2009
Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2009 Asbury Park Press
Contact:  http://www.app.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26
Author: Jennifer Bradshaw
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

COUNSELORS TO PARENTS: HELP US FIGHT DRUG WAR

MIDDLETOWN -- According to student assistance counselor  Rosemary
Richards, heroin has made the jump in recent  decades from a drug that
was predominantly an  inner-city problem to one that has spread into
the  suburbs.

The youngest case of addiction she's dealt with was an  eighth-grade
student who was getting the drug from his  sister.

On Thursday night, the school district presented  "Substance Abuse and 
Teens: What Every Parent Needs to  Know," to discuss the warning signs of 
drug and alcohol  abuse.

Held in the wake of the drug-related death of a High  School South
senior in April, the program discussed  signs of abuse, intervention
tactics and the  implications of parental enabling.

"Once you hand the power over, through enabling, it is  really tough
to grab it back," said George Obermeier,  another student assistance
counselor.

Obermeier, along with colleagues Richards and Terry  Columbo, stressed
the importance of parental awareness  and intervention, particularly
focusing on parental  communication with kids, and willingness to seek
  professional help when a child is showing warning  signs.

"During the course of one week, I talk to more parents  than are here
right now," Obermeier said to the fewer  than 100 parents gathered in
the High School North  auditorium.

The district is fairly well versed in drug awareness.  Middletown was
one of the first districts in the state  to adopt random drug testing
policies, and this year  expanded the random drug test to include
prescription  drugs such as Oxycontin.

Awareness programs also are held annually for students,  particularly
around prom time, and their prom contract  recently has been
reinforced with stricter penalties  for being caught using drugs or
alcohol during these  events.

According to statistics provided by the Centers for  Disease Control
and Prevention, in 2007, 31.8 percent  of surveyed students in grades
9-12 had used marijuana  one or more times; 13.3 percent of those
students had  used an inhalant, such as breathing aerosol fumes, 7.2
percent had used a form of cocaine, 4.4 percent had  used
methamphetamines and 3.9 percent had illegally  used steroids.

Pot's not the same

Marijuana is no longer as innocent as the drug used by  many parents
in their youth, Richards said.

"The THC content is much higher than anything available  in the '70s,"
she said. Additives like heroin and  formaldehyde may be mixed in as
well, she said.

The counselors offered informational handouts about  support groups in
the area, counseling and crisis  management teams that offer
reasonably priced support  to families, and crisis numbers to call.

They also stressed that the counselors in both the  middle and high
schools are a confidential source to be  utilized by both parents and
students to discuss drug  use, depression and suicidal tendencies in
students.

Counselors will do everything they can to keep students  safe, but
parents need to take the lead in the war on  drugs, Columbo said.

"We cannot do this alone. I can't be more worried about  your child
than you are," she said. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D