Mending hooked kids

The war on drugs may be dead, but only as a cliché.

For the battles still rage - even as the casualties continue to mount.

Talk to those in the trenches - the counselors, educators, cops, parents, young drug abusers - and you'll come to this conclusion:

Today's drugs are harder, the kids younger, the statistics alarming.

``At any given point in time, 15 to 20 percent of adolescents have serious drug and alcohol problems,'' says Neal Cash, executive director of CODAC Behavioral Health Services, which runs several drug-treatment programs.

What's even more disturbing are the tender ages of today's drug abusers.

``The average age of usage used to be 17 or 18 years old. Now it's 12 or 13,'' says John Leggio, executive director of The Mark, Youth and Family Care Campus.

That downward trend has counselors scrambling for answers - even as schools continue to hit kids with an unceasing barrage of anti-drug messages.

``All these kids come up in the system. They all say drugs are bad and they're never, ever gonna use them. And they MEAN it. And then at some point, something they promised they would never, ever do becomes attractive to them,'' says Wendy Pipentacos, a Seven Challenges drug treatment therapist with PACT/Providence.

Counselors also say to forget yesterday's stereotype of users getting their drugs from shady characters in dark alleys.

``Kids tell me they go to school to get high,'' says Pipentacos.

``That's where all the dealers are. And the dealers are other 14-year-old kids,'' says Deborah Brook, another Seven Challenges counselor with PACT/Providence.

``Getting the drugs has never been a problem,'' says Cash.

``And the idea that kids from good economic areas don't use drugs is a fallacy. It's as prevalent in the foothills as it is on the southside.''

Getting kids straight can cost thousands of dollars.

``For families, even those with private insurance, there are not a lot of benefits,'' says Cash. ``The kids get shorter times than what they need. Then they slide over to the public side, taking resources away from the poorer kids.''

Still, he remains hopeful.

``Will we ever get rid of drugs? No. But we can do a better job to meet the needs of our children.''

In this report, ``Young and High,'' we'll look at the problems of adolescent drug abuse - and how the community is fighting back.