HEROIN USE 'COMES FULL CIRCLE'

Greg Thomas began working with the Plano ISD at the start of a deadly
heroin crisis that made national headlines. More than a dozen
teenagers died from heroin overdoses.

With a background working in drug and alcohol abuse treatment
centers, he took on the job of educating teachers, students and
community members about drugs and their effects.

Use of heroin among teenagers has fluctuated since then as other
drugs have become more popular, but officials in law enforcement and
those working in local hospitals and treatment centers are seeing a
return of heroin.

"We're pretty much full circle now," he said. "We have to raise the
concern again about heroin."

Now Thomas is part of a three-member team of
substance-abuse-prevention specialists hired by the Plano ISD to
educate students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Last
month's Red Ribbon Week gave them opportunities to lead assemblies
with fourth- and fifth-grade students. They also visit classes, from
sixth-grade science to 12th-grade psychology. They meet with parents,
campus administrators, counselors and teachers.

Thomas deals with students on the east cluster. Carrie Stevens
handles the central cluster, and Tara Tevis contends with the west
cluster. Both Stevens and Tevis graduated from Plano schools.

"There is drug use going on throughout," Stevens said. "It's not rampant."

Every year, they see an up tick in drug use in the spring because of
spring break and prom, but the substance abuse prevention specialists
have noticed a rise in drug use this fall that more closely reflects
what they typically see in the spring, they said.

They are part of a Collin County Substance Abuse Coalition started a
year ago in response to an upswing in the use of heroin and methamphetamines.

"We're back at that point we're recognizing a need to share with
parents again," Thomas said.

Concern arose about a year ago when Gayle Jensen-Savoie, director of
the Seay Behavioral Health Center at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano.
Jensen-Savoie saw enough teenagers become psychotic from using
methamphetamines or "ice" to cause concern. The teenagers were
hallucinating and completely out of touch with reality.

Jensen-Savoie she began talking to other professionals in the field
of drug addiction who were saw the same trends, as well as an
increase in the use of heroin.

The heroin crisis of the late 1990s stopped because the community
came together. The community must come together again, she said. Now
the coalition is working to educate the community and to track
statistics on drug use.

"We all saw an increase, but to get hard and fast numbers, there's no
one source compiling those," she said.

The goal is to foster a decline in all drug use.

A perception exists that drug use happens on one side of the
district, but the substance abuse prevention specialists said what
happens on the east side, happens in the middle and on the west side.

Rumors abound, though. One rumor is that students stand outside of
Vines High School and use drugs, they said. The school is nicknamed
"The Pharmacy."

Although the substance-abuse prevention specialists say the rumor is
not credible, they are not ignoring the issue. Stevens and campus
leaders have worked with students in Peer Assistance and Leadership
on a "T2H" or "Tell to Help" campaign to encourage students to tell
if they of a friend who is using drugs.

"This year, we've had a decrease at Vines," she said.

Thomas said that at every campus, school liaison officers and campus
administrators continuously patrol the campus on foot.

"We have administrators outside every entrance," Thomas said.

Substance-abuse prevention specialists might not know about students
who use drugs several blocks from the campus, but stories of overt
drug use on campuses have proved false, Thomas said.

Often, parents or neighbors will call and report suspected drug
activity. Students actively leave tips with campus Crime Stoppers.

And Plano is not alone. McKinney, Allen and Frisco community members
are dealing with the same issues, as are communities in Houston and Austin.

"You can't stereotype any more," Stevens said.

Teenagers using drugs make straight "A's," take honors classes and
have an appearance that conveys they are well-groomed and charming.

"It's the AP student," Tevis said.

Drug use affects athletes and students from two-parent households,
though the perceptions are that the teenagers using drugs are in
single parent or low-income households, Thomas said. The biggest
indicator of drug use is a radical change in behavior.

"It's not that the kids are bad," he said. "The kids are just kids.
We were once young people, too, that had trials and tribulations."

Students often are referred by parents or teachers who suspect drug
use who have a suspicion. The substance abuse prevention specialists
work to gain the trust of students, and they try to show them that
someone does care.

"You start where the student is," Stevens said. "We're trying to be
an advocate for students."

When they confirm that a student is using drugs, they are required to
inform parents, but they give teenagers a head start to let their
parents know first.

The information does not go into a file, Stevens said. The goal is to
help the student overcome their addiction.

"That's the hardest part, trying to work with parents and getting
them to understand," Stevens said. "We genuinely care about your child."