High Times at Tesoro High
November 19, 2008 – 9:24 amThere is a drug problem in our community. And it’s not just affecting the lonely, troubled edgy kid who never seems to say anything in class. It’s affecting every demographic. The jocks, the AP students, the slackers, the ASB kids, the girls, the boys, the band kids, the party kids, the clean cut, the preppy kids, the dark punks - every demographic.
If anyone knows about the issue, it’s our own Deputy Christensen, a local policeman who is deployed at various schools in order to monitor the behavior of students and attempt to make the schools at which he is a deployed safer. “I take a regional group of kids, meaning everyone in Coto, in Ladera Ranch, in Las Flores, parts of Mission Viejo…[drugs] are hitting every demographic; whether you’re coming from a wealthy neighborhood or a poor neighborhood, it’s hitting everyone equally.”
Drug problems of past generations were polarized, seeming to only significantly affect a small group or clique. This division has been demolished.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, in a 2003 survey, 40.2 percent of students in grades nine through twelve said that they used marijuana at least once; 12.1 percent had used inhalants; 11.1 percent had used ecstasy; 6.1 percent had used illegal steroids; 3.3 percent had used heroin.
Deputy Christensen confirmed that these statistics hold true for Tesoro students. “Over the past two months [October and September], the main drugs of choice that we’ve had instances within our school community have been ecstasy, heroin, and marijuana.” With extreme drugs like these, one would believe that catching a student under the influence would be easy.
However, Deputy Christensen states that students are taking more extreme and creative methods to conceal their drug use. “We have several kids now that are at a point where they are shooting up heroin, and the injection points for these kids are on their feet. They’re going for veins in the feet because they can conceal the puncture marks; it’s not as readily visible as the arms…there’s synthetic urine that they’re buying online, they’re trying to buy different detox products, sometimes they’ll hide what they’re doing just by their mannerisms and daily activities…if you saw these kids, you wouldn’t believe it. I mean clean cut, good grades, very nice looking…you just wouldn’t expect it.”
And yet, there’s a counter argument to this — the voice of two Tesoro drug users who reject that smoking pot is a problem. For students who abstain from drug use, it is difficult to understand where a drug user is coming from and, to them, the users simply become another sad number in the previously mentioned statistics.
Before this investigation, we made it a priority to hear both sides of the issue - to discover the opinions of both the cop and the drug user. We were able to interview two of Tesoro’s drug users under one condition: they would remain completely anonymous and any hints to their identity would be removed. The students will be referred to as Student A and Student B.
“My first experience with illegal drugs was in 6th grade. I was just with older kids and that’s what they were doing, so that’s what I did,” Student A recalls.
The story is not so different for Student B, who was also influenced by his elders: “I have older brothers, both of whom have experimented with marijuana. I was pretty eager to be like them, and one night my brother had some…that’s when it started.”
In any debate, in any conflict, in any issue there are opposing views. And the drug users have theirs.
Student A questions the legitimacy of the dangers put on drug usage: “I think it’s a problem if you get into the harder things, but just smoking pot isn’t bad because it’s not addictive.” Student B agrees: “I get why people go to jail for killing people, for stealing things, but when someone is sent to jail for getting high it’s just stupid. I don’t advocate smoking pot every day. But when it comes to our government, I think they play too big of a role in our lives. Getting high is someone’s own choice…it’s as legitimate as chewing tobacco or doing shots. Does the government restrict an adult’s alcohol consumption or tobacco consumption? No. And in many ways, alcohol and tobacco are far worse than marijuana. A no tolerance policy will never work.”
As to whether or not the effects of drugs extend beyond the immediate, Student A consents to long term effects: “I think socially,[my drug usage] has made me less socially awkward, but academically…yeah, it has probably hurt me academically since it’s a distraction.” On the other hand, Student B denies any long term effects: “It’s relaxing, makes you have a deep appreciation of music, movies, etc. Overall, I’d say it’s almost widened my perception of people and things, and to question what authority beats into you.” These arguments are just a few heard from those who want to legalize marijuana. While a call for legalization has been around for decades, the movement appears to be truly taking off in activity and influence in recent years. It seems more and more people are experimenting, and medical marijuana dispensaries are popping up around California. Convincing or not, unregulated marijuana has yet to be legalized and therefore these students are still involved in illegal activity.
Yet the fear that marijuana is simply a gateway drug to more serious, fatal drugs remains. Deputy Christensen has this fear: “If you see enough of your friends go through this, eventually you’re going to wake up. The problem is it depends at what point: is it the point where you have a vehicle roll over and your friend has died? Or is it the point where you see your girlfriend snorting cocaine? At what point are you going to wake up?” Student A admits that he has indeed tried other, “harder drugs” because of his introduction to marijuana. However, Student B claims, “I can tell you I’ve been smoking [marijuana] for a while, and never have touched another drug.”
For many, there is no argument for illegal drugs. And for someone like Deputy Christensen, whose job is to keep kids safe and clean, the use of illegal drugs and underage drinking can not be tolerated. While the drug issue is clearly out of control, Christensen still has hope. Christensen explained that Tesoro has seen a decrease in instances of alcohol and illegal drugs at school.
“We’ve seen a significant improvement in the number of arrests at our football games as well. It’s gotten to the point where there is only about one per game, a great improvement from last year,” Christensen adds. There is still work to be done, and Christensen hopes that the Tesoro student body steps up to the challenge to improve the situation: “You’ve got to have some kids that are willing to be a champion. They need to be a champion for their core group, for their friends. They need to stop following—we have too many followers. There are too many kids just bringing themselves down, and there are too many others that are just watching.”
By Mark Riley, Vinay Joshi and Justin Brown, Staff Writers
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