ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (October 22, 2014) Local parents and students were treated to a wealth of informative and thought-provoking material regarding teen drug/alcohol abuse during the Community Forum held at the Rockwall-Heath High School Performing Arts Center Tuesday night.
The forum, entitled “Keeping Our Kids Safe from Drugs and Alcohol,” included presentations from six panelists from Rockwall ISD and Rockwall County, as well as special guest and addiction psychiatrist Dr. Harold Urschel III, MD.
Attendees learned about recognizing the signs of drug use and/or dealing, ways to prevent substance abuse among teens and how to be a responsible parent when it comes to protecting kids from drugs and alcohol.
“It’s okay to snoop,” Rockwall District Attorney Kenda Culpepper said. “Your kids are going to tell you to stay out of their rooms, and you as parents should say, ‘it’s my house, and I’m going to take a look at your room if I want to.’ They’re going to be angry with you, but I’m sure at some point in their life they will love you for loving them.”
According to Culpepper, Rockwall has seen its fair share of drug cases in recent history. Roughly one third (37 percent) of the felony cases tried in Rockwall County are drug related, and about a fourth (20 percent) of its misdemeanor cases also involve drugs.
Attendees also learned how to recognize signs of drug abuse, including behavioral issues such as changes in energy level, unusual stress levels, and uncharacteristic isolation from extracurricular activities. Sometimes the issues may be more physical in nature, such as red, glassy eyes and flushed cheeks, lack of care for appearance or hygiene and an unexplained disappearance of medication.
Rockwall Police Officer Monica Hardman said the best thing a parent can do to keep their kids safe from drugs is communicate and be open to them about it.
“Be nosy,” Hardman said. “Go through their rooms, clothes, mattresses and even their cell phones. Get to know social media. Talk to your kids about drugs, and ask them what they’re seeing. See if you can build that rapport with them to talk to them about what’s going on in their school and in their classrooms.”
Dr. Harold Urschel III, MD, Addiction Psychiatry, pointed out that people don’t understand addiction as a disease.
“They think of it as a matter of willpower or weakness and bad choices. But this is a brain disease, and once you get it, it’s just as traumatic as a head injury or a stroke. If you see someone who has a head injury, they’re not going to be expected to be normal. If you see someone with addiction, you expect them to be normal but they’re not because the brain has been injured.”
Angie Scalf, director of Rockwall County Juvenile Services, informed parents that the county has seen a significant increase in the amount of drug-addicted youth receiving treatment in its numerous rehabilitation programs and services.
In 2004, Rockwall County Juvenile Services recorded 140 new referrals and only 12 youth who received additional services outside of the basic home visits and office visits. Within the past 12 months, that last number has increased substantially, with 178 youth receiving multiple services, anything from drug education to community services like the junior master gardening program, experiential programs, supportive outreach programs and intensive outpatient programs
“In our intensive outpatient program, those kids are with us in group three days a week, and on the fourth day the parents are doing individual family counseling with the child,” Scalf said. “So they are seeing us four days a week in intensive outpatient. It works.”
Rockwall County Juvenile Services has a total of nine employees, including two full time counselors who are dual licensed in social work and LCDC (Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor). Juvenile services also offers a $6, six-panel drug screening that identifies whether your child tests positive or negative for those six different drugs.
Martha Rodriguez, a program counselor working with a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving community health and education called The Concilio, urged parents to reach out to the resources available within their community in order to make certain that children are protected from the dangers of drug and alcohol addiction.
“It’s about all of us working together, creating that network and reaching out to our community, building those relationships, so that we can create a web to ensure that none of our kids fall through the cracks,” Rodriguez said.
Heath Police Chief Terry Garrett hammered home the fact that it’s up to the community as a whole to keep our kids safe, and that it’s important to remember that while our school administrators will do everything in their power to protect students from drugs and alcohol, they can’t be expected to do it alone.
If parents suspect there’s a drug dealer in their neighborhood or at their child’s school, they shouldn’t be afraid to report those suspicions to law enforcement. When it comes to protecting our local youth, taking action is always better than the alternative.
“If you give us information and we’re able to get a conviction, I feel very confident in saying that we’re going to send that person to prison,” Culpepper said. “The city of Rockwall and the city of Heath have officers that are dedicated to narcotics activity, and for those of you who think that if you make a report and nothing will happen, you’re just dead wrong. We are going to do something about it. The police departments are very active when it comes to drug dealing because so many of those dealers are from outside our community, and we want to make sure that they stay outside of our community.”
By Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News staff writer/reporter.
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