EARLY DRUG USE MIGHT BE HIDDEN

Local police aren't bringing in more pre-high school students for drug offenses now than previously, says Randy Rhodes. "We have had very few in the past few years."

But Rhodes, juvenile officer for the 32nd Judicial Circuit covering Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties, said that doesn't mean the problem of youthful drug use might not be getting worse as a recent University of Michigan study asserts.

Many parents could be self-reporting their children to drug and alcohol treatment programs, Rhodes said. "It could just be that there are a lot of resources for parents now."

As director of the Alliance for Personal Growth Center in Cape Girardeau, Larry Holdman has seen "a slight increase" recently in youthful marijuana cases.

The center offers in-patient and outpatient treatment for substance abuse through the Spirit of St. Louis Hospital.

Most of the young people he treats are self-reported.

"We are seeing younger usage," Holdman said. "Some junior high students, primarily for marijuana.

"As far as high school, we're starting to see different drug usage. We've had some crank (methamphetamine)."

Rhodes can back up the assertion about high school usage. "Yesterday I got a kid for possession of crack," he said. "He's 15 or 16."

For Terrie Welch, new parent coordinator for the Cape Girardeau schools' Alcohol, Substance Abuse Prevention program, the job is to activate the educational efforts of the anti-drug teams in each school.

They have noted the University of Michigan survey. "We discussed that at our cluster meeting," she said. "We are working on something to make people more aware of it.

"We're working on the awareness of the problems that are not only in Cape but in the country."