Enforcement Officers Describe Youth Drug Subculture

By Andrew Gorosko

Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association (NEOA) members this week informed about 50 parents at Newtown Middle School about the perils of youthful substance abuse, highlighting recent trends among young people in the use and abuse of various illicit substances.

Tom Janette, NEOA’s community affairs director, and Scott Duva of the Trumbull Police Department provided a dual presentation, accented by television, film, and music clips to illustrate their points.

NEOA is a nonprofit educational organization founded in Connecticut in 1968.

Marijuana, heroin, PCP, and pharmaceutical drugs such as OxyContin, Dextromethorphan, and anabolic steroids, as well as “designer drugs” such as Ecstasy and GHB, were described and discussed at the seminar presented on the night of November 7 in the school auditorium.

Students were not present, as the NEOA sought to provide details to parents about the symptoms of substance abuse, as well as the methods of drug concealment and manufacture.

Printed information on the varied aspects of substance abuse was available free to those who attended the session sponsored by The Parent Connection, a local support group keyed to helping parents address the problems posed by youthful substance abuse.

Donna DeLuca of The Parent Connection said the group’s anti-drug efforts will not stop until the tragedies posed by substance abuse stops. During the past six months, five local young people have died due to substance abuse, she said.

Substance abuse problems may occur in any family, she said. The public must be informed of the perils, she stressed.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe endorsed the NEOA’s efforts to inform the public about substance abuse, explaining that the organization contains experts who are well-versed in the problem.

Richard Stook, a former Newtown police detective who was a local law enforcement officer for 27 years, addressed the gathering. Mr Stook is now a state investigator for the court system.

Messrs Janette and Duva provided a spirited presentation to the audience, describing the language, methods, and behavior of substance abusers, informing parents what to look for if they suspect their children are experimenting with drugs.

For every dollar that is spent by drug users to obtain illicit drugs, only one cent is spent by society in seeking to prevent drug abuse, Mr Janette said.

Reasons that youths experiment with drugs include that they experience high stress situations, they are bored, and they possess too much spending money, according to NEOA.

Children are saturated by drug advertising on television, which creates a social climate in which taking drugs appears as normal behavior, Mr Janette said. A “fine line” exists between the use of legal drugs and illegal drugs, he said.

Mr Duva pointed out that children are introduced to drugs via the Internet.

Popular music contains many drug-related messages, said Mr Janette. Popular songs such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, and White Rabbit, all address the drug experience, he said.

Mr Janette explained to audience members the argot used by music rappers containing various hidden meanings. Rock music lyrics also contain a host of hidden meanings, he added.

The NEOA member said films often glamorize drug usage. He provided an example from a Walt Disney film, which he said portrayed drunkenness among a group of animated circus clowns in a positive light.

Besides overtly illegal drugs, teenagers experiment with both over-the-counter drugs and prescription medications, Mr Duva said.

The two NEOA members presented the audience with a wide variety of examples of how drug users obscure their drug-related behavior and conceal drugs. Such methods include hiding drugs in candy packages, sneakers, jewelry, lipstick containers, water bottles, stuffed animals, and tennis ball containers. They also described the use of underwear with secret pockets employed as places of drug concealment.

If parents have concerns about their children experimenting with drugs, they should consult with Chief Kehoe or with Police Youth Officer Dana Schubert , Mr Janette said.

The police are more concerned about helping children with drug problems than with arresting them, Mr Janette said.