Stagg parents hear of rising synthetic drug use

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Updated: March 15, 2012 8:16AM

While more teens are experimenting with drugs and alcohol, state funding for addiction prevention has declined substantially, parents of Stagg High School students were told during a presentation at the school Monday evening.

Sara Muscato Howe, chief executive of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association, said declining funding comes at a time when teens are faced with a broader selection of relatively cheap, synthetic hallucinogens such as bath salts and products that mimic the effects of marijuana.

Howe, a 1994 Stagg graduate, kicked off a series of what the Palos Hills school calls “Parent University,” which aims to offer experts discussing issues facing high school students and their parents.

Howe’s organization works with community-based, substance abuse prevention and treatment agencies, which are being overwhelmed with demands for services as funding for their work has shrunk.

The Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association also oversees the Operation Snowball substance abuse program that’s taught in high schools.

She said the current state budget allocates $2.6 million for prevention efforts compared with $7.6 million in 2007.

“We know the return on investment is good,” Howe said of substance abuse programs, noting that substance abuse can place major strains on hospitals and the court system.

She said that, nationwide, 75 percent of high school students have tried some type of addictive substance, ranging from tobacco to heroin, and that one in five students meets the medical criteria for addiction.

Howe noted there has been a rise in the use of cannabinoids, products that go by names such as K2 or Spice, which are legal in many places and have effects similar to marijuana.

Another synthetic drug that’s gaining popularity is cathinones, or bath salts, which can cause severe hallucinations among users.

Howe told parents that the point of her talk was “not to scare you about all the things that are potentially out there” and that “research shows most kids are making healthy choices.”