PARENTS MAY BE SURPRISED BY SCOPE OF METH PROBLEM IN AREA

A Brainerd lakes area father, who asked to be unnamed to protect his teenage son's identity, said part of the meth problem is school officials do not want to admit how serious the drug problem is.

Brainerd School District Superintendent Jerry Walseth said in response there is a significant problem in society and school officials realize that and take it seriously.

However, Walseth said it sounds simple when people say the school district should talk to elementary students about the dangers of drugs.

Walseth questioned whether just saying "no" to drugs worked by itself or if there was still a drug problem in America.

"Obviously, I see their point," Walseth said of parents' concerns.  "I recognize there are problems."

Walseth said with student learning and testing requirements, schools cannot continuously add stand alone curriculum and still be held accountable to levels of learning and testing.

The school system currently houses Crow Wing County Community Collaborative workers employed by the county who work with at-risk children on an individual basis.

For the general school population, Walseth said he is open to taking a look at ways drug education could be integrated into the present curriculum should someone be aware of a program.

Walseth pointed to the Lions' Quest program in the school that begins with first grade and focuses on basic decision-making.  The program is not specific to drugs.  But Walseth said decision-making applies and part of it is how to get information.

A question can be where the information is coming from.

At www.streetdrugs.org, a resource used by Crow Wing County Social Services, a current trend includes meth in a tablet form called yaba, Thai for "crazy medicine." The tablet, which appears to be marketed toward a young audience particularly at raves or parties, tastes like candy and comes in orange, grape and vanilla flavors, streetdrugs.org reported.  The Drug Enforcement Agency confirms the tablet trend.

An informal roundtable discussion with people involved with drug issues and the effects on Crow Wing County families brought together social workers, legal guardians and chemical dependency counselors.

They agreed the drug use problem is more prevalent in the community than people understand.  They agreed marijuana is more powerful now than the pot of the 1960s and 1970s.  They agreed parents can have a "not my kid" kind of drug awareness.  And they agreed younger children -- younger than many people expect -- are involved.

A Brainerd Regional Human Services Center program license was dropped down to include those age 12.

The child protection workers said anything available in the metro areas -- heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, THC - the active chemical in marijuana -- can be obtained in the lakes area although heroin can be more difficult to acquire.  And there are still keggers with alcohol.

New kids trying to fit into the area can find the drug-users group the easiest one to get into and a good drug pusher can pick them out.  Drugs are often free to start.  Girls who are willing to trade sex for drugs may never have to pay money to support their habits.  Addicts may begin stealing at home and later expand to the community.

For the Brainerd lakes area father, his concerns also stemmed from treatment programs he said are less than adequate, in part because follow-up meetings can be targeted more at adults than teenagers.

Putting his son in a locked facility for treatment was an eye-opener.  Behind the steel door shoelaces and belts were taken.  The treatment facility provided parent and student meetings.  And there were many stories of meth.

The father said one of the most important aspects is early education in the school and it has to include education of parents.

"There isn't a kid ( in Brainerd ) that can't get a nickel bag for you in half an hour -- that's pretty amazing."

In a fair number of families the drug abuse starts with adults and children who start by using drugs at home, Crow Wing County Social Services reported.  Truancy is often involved.

Walseth said the Brainerd School District attendance rate is close to 96 percent for the entire system and 93 or 94 percent for the high school.

"We haven't seen a significant variation at least for the last few years," Walseth said.  "We work closely with the county attorney on truancy."

Crow Wing County social workers and chemical dependency counselors said there are good treatment options in the county that allow students to have family support.

But, they said, for some people an expert in the subject will be anyone who lives more than 50 miles away.

The lakes area parent with concerns about his son said one of the interesting things he learned -- through the process of finding a treatment program and talking to counselors -- was how to argue with kids.

In counseling, he said parents were taught to say: "This is how I feel.  When you go out I am scared every night.  ...  They can't argue with your feeling."

They can call it stupid, he said, but it sticks with them.