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Cocaine doesn't only destroy people. It destroys a country

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A hole in the ground

Adhesive simulating a hole in the ground, placed at several entrances at Mackenzie University.

Cops say legalize drugs. What do you think about?

Say not to pot!

Confront child drug use, parents urged

By Laura Legere

Police Officer Tom Ksiazek stood in front of a table covered with drug paraphernalia in the Abington Heights High School foyer on Wednesday night as dozens of parents inspected the array.

"All this is a gateway to the serious stuff," he said as he waved his hands first over issues of High Times magazine and a bong made from a Gatorade bottle, then paused over crack pipes, tinfoil and a teaspoon.

The "serious stuff" is what brought hundreds of parents to the high school to listen to doctors, judges, lawyers and treatment specialists talk about the problem of local students using heroin.

In February, when a recent Abington Heights graduate died of a heroin overdose, there were more than 15 Abington Heights students in rehab, School Board Director Cathy Ann Hardaway said.

According to high school assistant principal Michael Beamish, that number is higher today.

Lackawanna County Court Judge Michael Barrasse, whose office helped organize the event, explained the prevalence of drug abuse both in and around the Abingtons. He began the night by noting that one person in the county dies of a drug overdose every 10 days.

"It's not something parents should run from," he said.

Much of the night's discussion focused on the common pathway from prescription drug abuse to heroin use. It also focused on the treatment options available to teens.

Joseph Anticoli, of the Lackawanna County Commission on Drugs and Alcohol, explained the similarities between prescription narcotics and heroin. While the prevalence of high school students using traditional "gateway drugs" has dropped in the last decade, he said, the rate of prescription painkiller abuse has "risen at an alarming rate."

Dr. Karen Arscott, from Marywood University, encouraged parents to be tough and clearheaded with their children if they suspect them of using drugs: She suggested that if they administer an over-the-counter drug test, they should make sure their child does not use bleach to skew the results.

"If you want to be serious, I'll tell you what you've got to do: Hold the cup," she said.

The speakers, who said the gathered group was one of the largest they'd addressed on the subject, commended the audience for their willingness to confront the problem and accept that it exists.

"This school has not put its head in the sand and not hid and said we don't have a problem," Judge Barrasse said. "The reality is, every school district has this problem."

Kids against Drugs

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