HEADLINE: FAMILY
IS CONSIDERED KEY IN WAR ON DRUGS ---FORUM ON ADOLESCENT
NARCOTICS ABUSE
BYLINE: Deborah
L. Ibert, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April
21, 1985, Sunday; Page A-59 (20 in.)
SECTION: NEWS
TEXT:
He started with
marijuana when he was 9 years old. By his
20's, he was addicted to heroin and cocaine. Today,
at 23, Mark Tirico is struggling to stay
straight. "The main thing
for me was that my parents, my mother, stayed
by me," said Tirico, a Lodi resident. "If it
wasn't for the support of my mother, I don't
think I'd be alive today."
Tirico was one of
approximately 100 Bergen County residents
who turned out yesterday for a forum on
adolescent drug use, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robert
Torricelli, Hackensack Democrat.
Tirico voiced
one of the main themes of the meeting: that
parents and family are more important than
law enforcement officials in the battle against
drug abuse.
With the illegal drug
industry yielding billions of
dollars in profits annually, law enforcement
efforts by themselves are doomed to failure, said
Torricelli. He said he would like to see the Reagan
administration pressure the Pentagon into
using the military to halt smugglers at the nation's
borders with boats and planes.
"Law enforcement is
being outgunned," the congressman
said. "Any industry capable of producing $100
billion in profits cannot be stopped by
government alone. We're all responsible for stopping it.
Those of us who use drugs and those of you
whose children use drugs -- we are all part of the
problem."
Drug abuse among
adolescents is a growing problem in New
Jersey, said Richard Russo, head of the New Jersey
Division of Alcohol, Narcotics, and Drug Abuse. He
was one of five speakers invited to participate.
Last year, a survey of 2,000 high
school students in the state indicated that half of them had used marijuana
while at school or during school hours, and one third said they used drugs
before entering school, Russo said. For 92 percent of the students, it was "very
easy" to obtaindrugs or alcohol, according
to the survey.
Russo attributed the
high rate of adolescent drinking and drug use to
the acceptance of those activities within the
society at large. "We need to change societal views
that glamorize the use of drugs and alcohol," he
said.
In response to
questions from the audience, Russo acknowledged that New
Jersey does not have "anywhere near the number
of residential programs" needed to treat young
addicts.
More than 500 New
Jersey youngsters a year are sent to treatment programs
out of state, he said. But he added that the
Department of Human Services is seeking $6 million from
the legislature this year to create a network of
residential drug treatment programs
throughout the state.
Riley Regan, director
of the state Division of Alcoholism, pointed out
that the state needed to do more to help youngsters
whose parents can't afford the fees of private
treatment centers, which run from $4,000 to
$11,000 per child.
"Unfortunately, we've
been a hell of a lot more concerned about kids
who can pay than about kids who can't pay," he
said.
Another speaker, Dr.
Miller Newton, director of the drug-treatment
program KIDS of Bergen County in Hackensack, said
that although his program is private -- the
fee for those who can afford it is $5,000 -- he
will not turn away a youngster and family who
cannot afford it. One third of the 78 youngsters
in the program are charged reduced fees, he
said.
Other speakers at the
forum were Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney
and William Tackman, chairman of the Bergen
County Council on Alcoholism.
Torricelli scheduled
the forum, which was held at the Bergen County
Courthouse, as one of his regular meetings with
constituents. He chose the topic of drug abuse, he
said, because "it's a problem that affects so
many American families today."
<END>
TERMS: BERGEN COUNTY. DRUG.
ALCOHOL. ABUSE. MEETING. FAMILY. YOUTH. STATISTIC. HACKENSACK
EDITIONS: All Bergen
editions: Final. South Bergen. Northwest Bergen. Northern Valley/Pascack Valley.
East/Central
ORDER NUMBER: 858047
NOTICE: Copyright 1985 Bergen Record Corp.