By Mike Bockoven
[email protected]
Last modified at 12:24 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 2003
For the parents who attended Monday night's public forum on party drugs, they might want to run right home and shine a flashlight in their child's eyes to check for pupil dilation.
"No need," said Chuck Matson, drug recognition officer with the Omaha Police Department.
"When I give you this information you might feel paranoid," Matson said. "Remember not everyone uses drugs. Not every child uses drugs. I'm absolutely convinced young people want information about chemical substances, and they're going to get it somewhere."
The forum was presented by the Central Nebraska Council on Alcoholism Monday night as a way for parents to get solid information about popular drugs known as "rave" drugs. A presentation for counselors, law enforcement and other professionals will take place on Tuesday.
During the event, Matson went over topics including how to identify "rave" drugs, what they are called, where they are found, what they do to the body and the best way to combat them. The answer to the last question, Matson said, is information.
"This is one of the fastest growing drugs our country has ever seen," Matson said. "If we don't give our children that information, they'll get it from some one else, someone whose pushing the drug."
If parents feel far removed in central Nebraska, Matson may have given them cause for alarm. Children in suburban and rural areas are 104 percent more likely than those in urban areas to try methamphetamine.
The dangers of ecstasy, the most common of the "rave" drugs, should also not be underestimated, Matson said. Particularly because of the effects on the brain and the vulnerable position it puts those who use it in, the drug is a fast growing and dangerous issue.
Ecstasy also produces depression, anxiety and paranoia after the effects have worn off.
"Some neurologists are calling this the world's most dangerous drug, and from what it does to the brain, they're probably right," Matson said. "It's more than that. Pedophiles know where to find victims. Ecstasy is a drug that can be used by sexual predators as well."
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/102103/new_rave21.shtml
[email protected]
Last modified at 12:24 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 2003
For the parents who attended Monday night's public forum on party drugs, they might want to run right home and shine a flashlight in their child's eyes to check for pupil dilation.
"No need," said Chuck Matson, drug recognition officer with the Omaha Police Department.
"When I give you this information you might feel paranoid," Matson said. "Remember not everyone uses drugs. Not every child uses drugs. I'm absolutely convinced young people want information about chemical substances, and they're going to get it somewhere."
The forum was presented by the Central Nebraska Council on Alcoholism Monday night as a way for parents to get solid information about popular drugs known as "rave" drugs. A presentation for counselors, law enforcement and other professionals will take place on Tuesday.
During the event, Matson went over topics including how to identify "rave" drugs, what they are called, where they are found, what they do to the body and the best way to combat them. The answer to the last question, Matson said, is information.
"This is one of the fastest growing drugs our country has ever seen," Matson said. "If we don't give our children that information, they'll get it from some one else, someone whose pushing the drug."
If parents feel far removed in central Nebraska, Matson may have given them cause for alarm. Children in suburban and rural areas are 104 percent more likely than those in urban areas to try methamphetamine.
The dangers of ecstasy, the most common of the "rave" drugs, should also not be underestimated, Matson said. Particularly because of the effects on the brain and the vulnerable position it puts those who use it in, the drug is a fast growing and dangerous issue.
Ecstasy also produces depression, anxiety and paranoia after the effects have worn off.
"Some neurologists are calling this the world's most dangerous drug, and from what it does to the brain, they're probably right," Matson said. "It's more than that. Pedophiles know where to find victims. Ecstasy is a drug that can be used by sexual predators as well."
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/102103/new_rave21.shtml
