Sources Of Booze Have Increased Since 1999 Survey About the same percentage of local kids are using drugs and alcohol now as in 1999, but more of them report that they can get booze from many sources. Meanwhile, students are more likely to use marijuana than tobacco. These are some of the more significant findings from the California Healthy Kids Survey administered to local students in the fall of 2001. It was the second time local educators have given the survey, which aims to gauge the health and lifestyle of county youth. [continues 941 words]
Parents, Counselors And Others Join Discussion On Kids' Excessive Partying San Luis Obispo -- A parent quoted from an Oscar-winning film about the drug war to describe the local battle, during a panel discussion Monday on drug use by local teens. "'We're fighting this war in our own living rooms,'" said Lori La Vine, borrowing a line from "Traffic." La Vine is co-chair of the Tiger Parent Network, a group of San Luis Obispo High School parents that formed two years ago to address excessive teen partying. The group hosted a panel at the school Monday that featured local people who work with teens and an audience of a little more than 50 people. [continues 484 words]
Discussion Will Include Talk By Recovering Addict Parents will get the opportunity Monday to hear straight talk from a local 17-year-old boy, who is a recovering addict, and his mother. Both declined interviews before they share their story at a panel discussion on the use of alcohol and other drugs by teens, titled "What Can We Do?" But they are expected to provide the drama on a panel of experts convened by the San Luis Obispo High School Tiger Parent Network, a group of parents that formed two years ago over concern about teen drug use. [continues 434 words]
Uniforms, drug tests for athletes, and a slew of new teachers will greet some of the county's students when they head back to school this week. At Templeton High School, first-year athletes will be subject to mandatory drug testing for the first time this year. That policy was adopted by the school board in July and calls for random testing throughout the different sports seasons. Templeton becomes the second district in the county to test its student-athletes. Shandon adopted a similar policy last year. [continues 237 words]
Trustees Will Consider The Proposal At Meeting Thursday Night Cambria - Coast Unified could become the third school district in the county to start using a dog to sniff out drugs and weapons on campus. Trustees will take up the issue Thursday night, and Superintendent Pamela Martens said it has the support of the board. So-called "drug dogs" already are used in the South County's Lucia Mar district and Templeton trustees last week gave preliminary approval for administrators to pursue such a plan. [continues 421 words]
Templeton students may soon see a friendly, tail-wagging pooch on campus. However, this dog wouldn’t be looking for pats on the head, it would be sniffing for drugs and gun-powder. Superintendent Curt Dubost calls it the district’s latest effort to prevent drugs and violence from escalating on campuses, but at least one detractor calls it a step backward for individual rights. Last month, the school board unanimously approved a mandatory drug-testing program for all student-athletes beginning this year. [continues 306 words]
The county's schools are getting safer and the number of crimes on local campuses is generally lower than the state average, according to statistics from the county Office of Education. Still, there is room for improvement, particularly in cases involving battery and drugs or alcohol. In both areas, the countywide average has exceeded the average statewide. The statistics have been compiled in a report conducted by the state Department of Education that will be released today. The report, the "California Safe Schools Assessment," is expected to show crime rates are falling on most local campuses. [continues 1439 words]
School's declining drug use reflected in football team's best season ever Shandon student-athletes are the first in the county to undergo mandatory drug testing, a program school officials and students contend is already helping to steer kids from drugs. And so far, the policy has received very little criticism in this small town in the northeastern corner of San Luis Obispo County. Many at the 96-student high school credit it with playing a significant role in the football team's best season ever. [continues 1306 words]
SHANDON -- Mandatory drug testing of student athletes appears to have widespread support in Shandon, but is it legal? The U.S. Supreme Court says yes. Two months ago the high court upheld a ruling allowing such policies at high schools in Indiana, reaffirming its groundbreaking decision in 1995. The latter case involved the mandatory drug testing of athletes at the high school in Vernonia, a small logging town in northwestern Oregon. An official with the California School Boards Association said he knew of no lawsuits filed to challenge school drug-testing policies in this state, but said schools in other states have run into trouble when they tried to expand the policy to include students in other extra-curricular activities such as band. [continues 503 words]
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- The roughest part may be over for the 88 high school dropouts at the Grizzly Challenge Academy at Camp San Luis Obispo, but plenty of other obstacles remain. A third of the way into the 22-week program for youths age 16 to 18, the cadets have survived the two-week ordeal of boot camp, and have learned how to march and follow orders. They are all who remain of the 131 who started the rigorous program nearly eight weeks ago. [continues 884 words]
'I could not do life and drugs at the same time' SAN LUIS OBISPO Even though Kristen Mautz comes from what most people would consider a "good" middleclass family complete with two parents, she was not immune to the allure of methamphetamine. The 22yearold Cuesta College student said March will mark her fifth anniversary of quitting meth. She often shares her story of addiction, recovery and hope with local teens as an Americorps mentor. Mautz spoke last week to about 60 Paso Robles High School students, after counselors asked her to help them deal with a growing crisis of meth use among teens. [continues 569 words]
Methamphetamine use at Paso Robles High School has reached epidemic proportions, according to some recovering teen addicts. "It's out of control," said Melissa, a 14yearold freshman who said she's been drug free for nearly three weeks. "At least 30 percent use meth." Jane, a 17yearold collegebound senior, put the figure at closer to 40 percent. Jane is also a recovering meth addict who, like Melissa, agreed to talk on the condition her real name not be used. School counselors say the problem is so widespread they can't even venture an accurate guess how many students use what is now considered by many the drug of choice among teens. [continues 2047 words]
