Source: The Bulletin, 1526 NW Hill St,Bend,Oregon 97701 Author: Greg Bolt and Jeff Nielson Pubdate: Feb. 8 1998 Contact: 541-385-5802 DRUGS USE OFTEN STARTS AT HOME Born to a heroin-addicted mother, Sarah Doe began her life on a course aimed straight at dependency. It didn't take her long to get there. She started smoking pot on her 10 th birthday, when her older brother got her high for her first time. Her first drink came when she was 12, methamphedamine at 13. Soon she was injecting heroin into her teenage veins. Both Sarah ( not her real name ) and her brother were both born with fetal alcohol syndrome. They were adopted when Sarah was 6, but it was to late to stop their runaway course toward drug abuse. "I took drugs to make my problems go away," Sarah, now 17, said during an interview at the Deschutes County Juvenile Detention Center. " And I had a lot of problems with my family." Not too many kids in Central Oregon find themselves on the kind of runaway train that Sarah rode into addiction, but plenty are on the same track going the same direction. At home, their lives might be only a little better than Sarah's or a lot better, but one thing is almost certain: Somewhere along the line they got a clue from their parents or siblings or a trusted adult that tobacco, alcohol or drugs were okay. Parents don't have to be heroin addicts to set the stage for drug abuse by their children, experts say. In fact, something as seemingly innocent as smoking or having one to many drinks in the evening can lead a child to make a bad choice about alcohol or drugs. It could be an older brother or sister or uncle who thought it would be fun to get the kid brother high. It could be a teacher who looked the other way at a kid who came to class with booze on his breath. Whatever it was, the message was the same. It said it's okay to put things in your body that aren't good for you. And the people who try to get teenagers off the addiction track say it's often the biggest reason kids step aboard. "The single most common element in adolesent drug use is parental use. Not peer preasure. Parental use," says Roger Kryzanek, director of alcohol and drug programs for Deschutes County. " Kids use because mom and dad use." But they also use because mom and dad don't care. That's particularly noticeable among children of baby boom parents, who sometimes have a too-tolerant attitude about drinking and smoking, Kryzanek says. By the same token, having parents or close adults that make it crystal clear that using any drug is not acceptable is perhaps the most effective deterrent to teenage drug abuse. "If a kid has a close relationship with an adult and there's a clear understanding of what that adult's values are, he's not going to want to risk that relationship by making choices that violate those values," says Jackie Matlick, a prevention specialist at Rogue Recovery in Madras. That isn't to say that peer pressure doesn't push kids onto the drug abuse tracks. Children today swim in a culture that too often minimizes, if not glamorizes, drug use, and the choices they must make are far different that what earlier generations faced. Sherry Pressler, who works with first-time offenders as director of the Bend Police Department's YES program, says the middle school years are when youngsters are most vulnerable. It's a time when children are dropped into a new, stressful social mix before they've had a chance to learn the social skills to deal with it. "It's a stage where kids are just kind of flailing about," Pressler says." The biggest fear they have in that group is walking down the hall alone.That's worse than death to an eighth grader." Too often, drugs are seen as a way to bridge that social gap and gain acceptance. "I would put peer presure as a major factor in what moves kids in one direction or another," says Deschutes County Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Porter, the school resource officer in La Pine. Sometimes drugs represent escape rather than acceptance. The stress of trying to fit in at school can fuel depression and a sense of hopelessness, and a child with little hope for the future has little reason to refuse drugs that offer the illusion of escape from the darkness. "For some kids, graduation goals or life on their own is so far down the pipe they can't see it," Pressler says "I've talked to kids who just say ,'I can't see being around when I'm 25,' and that's so sad.