Schools ask parents to help fight drug use

From Correspondent Anthony Collings

FAIRFAX, Virginia (CNN) -- In affluent Fairfax County, Virginia, the new school term has just started, bringing with it talk of an old problem growing significantly worse.

In the past two years, expulsions for using alcohol or drugs in public schools have quadrupled.

"I've heard from cigarettes to anything -- I mean, cocaine, like heroin," said one student, who described the amount of drugs in her school as "just frightening and sad." (10 sec./927K AIFF or WAV sound)

Another student agreed that drug use is up.

"They're walking home from school, high school kids will come and ask them if they want to buy drugs."

That observation isn't unique. Rising drug use is a national trend. To combat the problem, Fairfax County's Robinson High School is trying to get parents involved. When parents showed up Wednesday for the annual back-to-school night, Principal Anne Monday gave them the traditional handshake and an unprecedented plea for help.

"I believe we can turn the trend of increased drug use around, and I know we must turn it around if we really care about the quality of life for all young people in our community. I ask for your help."

The school showed parents an 8-minute tape entitled "Not My Child." It warned that a child using drugs "will not get it under control by himself. You have to intervene in their life." Parents also were urged to study a display on drug use. Some looked. Others walked right by.

Many parents say the stronger emphasis on asking for parents' help is long overdue. "We've had this problem in our family, and it kind of hit us out of the blue. I wish we had known more at the time," said a mother whose son is in a drug treatment program.

Will the school's focus on drugs actually get parents involved? "That's always questionable," another parent said.

Drug testing needed

The school system already gives stern warnings to elementary schoolchildren, who see signs that they are entering a "drug-free zone" every time they enter the school grounds. The principal is equally clear: "We don't tolerate drugs.

At the high school, peer groups discuss ways to "just say no." Yet all of this, say some critics, is not nearly enough.

"We need a real demand reduction and that means identifying drug use and bringing consequences to bear immediately," said Robert DuPont of the Institute for Behavior and Health.

"The only way that's going to happen to teen-agers in this country is with routine drug testing. Absent that, this epidemic is going to continue."

It's impossible to say whether Robinson High School's plea to parents to become more involved will have an impact. It does bring out the new sense of urgency about drug abuse among young people.

"So many people I know have a mind-set, you only live once, that kind of thing," said a Robinson student. "I just wish that more people would focus on the future and think about the consequences."

Related stories:

• Rise in teen drug use hits political nerve - September 20, 1996
• Trendy drug goes club-hopping ... and officials are worried - September 10, 1996

Related sites:

• Drug Enforcement Administration
• National Addictions Hotline
• Cocaine Anonymous

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