Sunday, February 17, 2008
WESTLAKE, Ohio (AP) — Student arrests at a suburban Cleveland high school during a heroin bust do not indicate widespread abuse of the drug among teens in Cuyahoga County, authorities said.
Police last month arrested an 18-year-old female student at Westlake High School who they said was high on heroin and who was carrying some of the substance. Two 17-year-old male students were later arrested on drug-related charges, and the mother of one of the boys was also arrested.
A recent survey by the Center for Adolescent Health at Case Western Reserve University showed less than 2 percent of teenagers in Cuyahoga County said they had tried heroin, compared with 34 percent who said they had tried marijuana.
Joshua Terchek, the center’s data manager, said the survey is conservative because student heroin users are less likely to be in school to take the survey.
But the survey’s findings support what Cleveland-area law enforcement agencies say they are finding on the streets — substances like OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that is an opiate like heroin, is much more prevalent.
“It’s a small pocket, a random occurrence,” Mike Matoney, a residential drug-treatment program for teens, said of teen heroin use. “There are young people in Westlake and all over the Cleveland area who are experimenting with heroin, but they are not necessarily addicted.”
Anne Meese, director of Windsor-Laurelwood Hospital, a drug-treatment facility, said she sees heavy abuse of ecstasy, alcohol and marijuana among teens, and not much heroin.
Still, school and community leaders in Westlake are holding a series of public meetings to confront the issue.
“Until the community addresses this issue, you will continue to have drug busts like this,” said Dani Altieri Marinucci, president of the Westlake Parent Connection.
Westlake schools superintendent Dan Keenan has said the school plans to work with police to eliminate drug use.
The cases of the 18-year-old and the mother have been turned over to a grand jury. The cases of the 17-year-olds are under review and will probably go to Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court, police said.
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