spini4
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2003
- Messages
- 795
ST. GEORGE — When parents send their kids to school they expect them to learn, not shoot heroin between class periods.
“I do believe there are more youth addicted to heroin than the community would like to believe. I believe that with all my heart,” said Millcreek High Principal Terry Ogborn.
Ogborn has worked in the Washington County School District for nearly 30 years — most of those years at Millcreek High, an alternative school for youth who struggle in traditional high schools.
Ogborn said she’s seen an increase in drug abuse among the youth throughout the years.
“The access to drugs in the community is amazing to me,” she said. “There’s a lot of drug use, alcohol use and much more homelessness than there has been in the past.”
St. George Police Lt. Gordon McCracken supervises school resource officers. He said one student has been arrested on charges of possession of heroin this year.
“It’s (heroin) definitely on the upswing,” he said. “It’s a trendy drug to do right now.”
McCracken said teachers and officers still confiscate a lot of tobacco, cold syrup and the occasional alcohol and pain pills.
To help prevent substance abuse, McCracken said, officers go into health classes where students learn about problems associated with alcohol and drugs. Officer Travis Brown, resource officer for Snow Canyon High School, is one of many officers who talks to teenagers. Brown said when he goes into a classroom he tries to start with the basics: alcohol and tobacco.
“We talk about how they’re gateway drugs and the mental and physiological affects,” he said.
Brown said he also talks about how addictive prescription medications can be and how they can lead to heroin use.
Read more at: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20101214/NEWS01/101213011/Drug-trendy-among-area-s-youth
“I do believe there are more youth addicted to heroin than the community would like to believe. I believe that with all my heart,” said Millcreek High Principal Terry Ogborn.
Ogborn has worked in the Washington County School District for nearly 30 years — most of those years at Millcreek High, an alternative school for youth who struggle in traditional high schools.
Ogborn said she’s seen an increase in drug abuse among the youth throughout the years.
“The access to drugs in the community is amazing to me,” she said. “There’s a lot of drug use, alcohol use and much more homelessness than there has been in the past.”
St. George Police Lt. Gordon McCracken supervises school resource officers. He said one student has been arrested on charges of possession of heroin this year.
“It’s (heroin) definitely on the upswing,” he said. “It’s a trendy drug to do right now.”
McCracken said teachers and officers still confiscate a lot of tobacco, cold syrup and the occasional alcohol and pain pills.
To help prevent substance abuse, McCracken said, officers go into health classes where students learn about problems associated with alcohol and drugs. Officer Travis Brown, resource officer for Snow Canyon High School, is one of many officers who talks to teenagers. Brown said when he goes into a classroom he tries to start with the basics: alcohol and tobacco.
“We talk about how they’re gateway drugs and the mental and physiological affects,” he said.
Brown said he also talks about how addictive prescription medications can be and how they can lead to heroin use.
Read more at: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20101214/NEWS01/101213011/Drug-trendy-among-area-s-youth

