More than 'Just say no'

BURLINGAME, CA -- When it comes to drugs, parents want teens to "just say no." But to truly help their children make sound choices, parents need to be more aware, experts say.

More than 100 parents of local teens packed the Burlingame Intermediate School auditorium on Thursday night to hear police, school officials, counselors and drug experts talk about current drug use, abuse and trends at a community-wide education forum on teen drug and alcohol use.

And on the heels of the Ecstasy-related death of a Belmont 14-year-old earlier this year and the recent arrest of three Burlingame High School students on Ecstasy-related charges, parents, increasingly nervous about what their kids are doing behind closed doors, say they're grateful for any advice.

"The death in Belmont was an alarm," said BIS parent and organizer Joanne Garrison. "Parents need to know what's going on out there. It keeps changing. We can't assume that what's out there when we were kids is what's out there now. It's not the same environment. I graduated in 1970. I don't even know what Ecstasy looks like."

It was a sentiment echoed repeatedly by parents as they wandered wide-eyed through a graphic display of drug paraphernalia showcasing everything from marijuana pipes, to bricks of cocaine, to photos of arms infected from heroine injections.

Next to perennial issues with marijuana, narcotics officers said methamphetamine and Ecstasy are becoming increasingly popular with teens.

"Drugs and alcohol are part of our society, and they aren't going to go away. They've always been here," said Officer Rick Harman, the Burlingame Police Department's school liaison.

With that in mind, the core advice experts offered parents was the old truism: Talk to your kids.

"If we don't talk to them about drug and alcohol use, the message they get is that they can't talk to us," said Dr. Robert Weiss, former director of the adolescent alcohol and drug rehab center and Peninsula Hospital.

Meanwhile, teens know far more about the what, where and how of drugs, especially when it comes to misusing over-the-counter products such as Coricidin Cough and Cold medicine. But for many, the question of why teens turn to drugs is often equally baffling.

"Why do you think kids do [drugs]?" asked one local teenager. "Is it peer pressure, academic pressure, athletic pressure?"

The answer narcotics experts provided is complex yet simple -- "yes."

Link Here: http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cf...i/112204n_drugs

"Why do you think kids do [drugs]?" asked one local teenager. "Is it peer pressure, academic pressure, athletic pressure?"

The answer narcotics experts provided is complex yet simple -- "yes."

Sounds like someone who knows shit loads about drugs and what they do but have never tried them. Honestly..starting drugs because of peer presure, academic pressure, or athletic pressure is sad. I started because i wanted more then be sober could provide. When i first smoked weed it was because i wanted to, not because or peer presure. Peer presure is a pussies way out of saying why they were on drugs if they were caught.