By Jonathan Cronin
Students, teachers tell of substance abuse
Ann's son was quiet and shy. He didn't do drugs. But he had a hard time making friends. That's why she was happy when he started going to clubs on "teen night."
"I thought that was a good thing," she said of her son going out and meeting new people.
And when he came home smelling of beer and cigarettes, with an explanation that everyone was passing a beer around and he just had a sip, she believed him. "I thought it was a rite of passage," said Ann, who did not want to offer her last name but said she lives in School District 14.
Soon, though, she noticed her son's grades begin to slip and his health start to deteriorate.
Quietly and looking tired, Ann told an audience of 550 Hewlett-Woodmere School District parents her story, as the parent of not one, but three boys who have attended Hewlett High School and been treated for drug abuse. She described in dramatic, heart-wrenching detail how she and her husband had to regain control of their household.
Ann's was only one of the stories told on Nov. 18 during a town meeting on drug abuse in the Hewlett High School gymnasium. Sponsored by the school district, Hewlett High School's Wellness Task Force, Hewlett High School PTA, Tempo Group, Margaret Basner Parenting Center of Tempo Group and Fourth Precinct police, the forum featured speakers and a panel that addressed questions from concerned parents. Ann was part of a four-member panel that drew from their personal experiences with drugs and alcohol.
Ann's oldest son was 15 when his grades began to slip. Her sons had taken over the house by the time she decided to seek help from Tempo Group, a non-profit organization in Woodmere that provides therapy for troubled individuals. There she learned that being the "nice mom" didn't pan out in parenting. There is no gray area while dealing with the use of drugs. "Children love black and white," she said. "I thought it [alcohol] was a rite of passage. I was wrong."
Her oldest son, now 25, and her two other boys, 22 and 17, are now drug-free. Her youngest understands that school is the most important thing in his life, her middle child will be on the Dean's List this semester at the college he is attending, and her oldest has finally decided to go college.
James Hennessy said that during his more than seven years teaching social studies at Hewlett High School, he has noticed an increase in serious drug activity. When he started at the school in 1993, he said, he was shocked to hear from his students that marijuana was present in such a district as Hewlett-Woodmere. Now, he hears from them about cocaine and heroin abuse.
Dr. Marc Krauss, Hewlett High School's psychologist, related a story of a girl he knew at the high school. One day before school she thought she was only smoking pot, but it had been laced with something else. Not feeling well, she went to the nurse's office. Moments later she was in convulsions on the floor. "I would never want to see anything like what happened to that girl happen again," said Dr. Krauss.
Avi, 25, an admitted drug addict who also did not offer his last name, told the audience he is amazed that teenagers are speaking to Mr. Hennessy about drug use. Avi, who attended Hewlett High School and grew up in Woodmere, said he began smoking marijuana in the ninth grade. Speaking freely and apparently feeling unashamed about his problem, he was straightforward with the parents there. "I liked [pot] and I wanted to try everything," he said. He went on to try ecstasy and cocaine, he added.
After getting kicked off his college campus for selling pot and then "failing out," he attended Nassau Community College, transferred out and moved to New York City to attend college there. While living there, he and his girlfriend became addicted to heroin. "The whole time I made the Dean's List in college, I was jacked on heroin," he said. He became so addicted to heroin that, "I needed it to do daily things," he said. Avi said that one day he went to his parents, who noticed that he was high and got him help at Tempo Group. Dr. Krauss, said, "Teenagers are clever; they are good at hiding drug use." Avi agreed, saying, "Your kids are ten times more clever than you were."
Jennie Reisman, a student at the high school and member of the Wellness Committee, said drugs users are "your child, your student; look into your home. Your kids are using drugs every day [and] coming to school high," she said.
Johnathan Bezalel, also a high-school student and member of the Wellness Committee, told parents "drug use isn't selective."
During the question-and-answer portion of the forum, one parent said she lives behind a pizza parlor near the high school, and every day students, on their lunch break, smoke pot behind the restaurant. She asked school administrators what they are doing to patrol the area.
"We don't patrol on a regular basis," said Joyce Bisso, Hewlett High School principal. She said that on occasions when a faculty member visits a local restaurant that students frequent, the teens scatter. Her advice was to call the police.
Fourth Precinct Police Officer Ron Walsh said that he and his partner have monitored that particular location and the students knew they were being watched, so they found another spot.
One woman asked what can be done to stop kids from doing drugs. Avi told her, " I was hell-bent on doing what I wanted to do." He added that those "corny" signs hanging up on the walls of the school that read "Just Say No" or "Drugs Kill" would just make him want to smoke more.
Another parent asked Avi how he got the money to pay for drugs while he was in high school. He said that sometimes with the money his parents gave him on a Friday night to go out to dinner, he would use it to buy drugs instead.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Fowler said that, as an administrator, he sees very little funding for youth programs in the schools to combat the drug problem. Barry Wilansky, executive director of Tempo Group, said he has made it through three decades of "drug du jour." He calls the drug problem among teens a "physical-psycho-social issue." Physically, drugs affect the already changing neurochemistry of teens. Psychologically, they affect behavior. And, socially, that's where the problem begins. Mr. Wilansky said that the country "believes in better living through chemistry." He said that "we will make decisions about drugs until the day we die: we choose what drugs we take to go to bed, to wake up in the morning, and what drugs to take to pay attention." He told parents, "Please resist that part of the brain that says, 'Not my kid.'"
In neighboring Lawrence, which is also concerned about drugs, superintendent Dr. Paul Kelleher said the district has also created a Wellness Committee, charged with finding ways of dealing with the scourge. "It is a very serious problem among teenagers. It's true in Lawrence and in Hewlett-Woodmere. It's defined as a community problem."
