feature5
wingspan • december 16, 2010
The B’s Knees What happens when the lights come down
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t’s that time of year again — the time when the pile of leftover turkey in the fridge is slowly diminishing, the time when the price of eggnog “spikes” and the time when houses all over the community become wrapped in colorful, blinking lights. It’s also when we feel obligated to make our 80-yearold, widowed Brandi Martin neighbor a pumpkin pie or decide to volunteer at the local soup kitchen, providing the less fortunate a decent meal for the holidays. Some would consider this time of year the most cheerful and merry time of all. Think of all the songs written about being merry. I think I could name 15 off the top of my head. But this time of year also gets me thinking. What happens after all the gifts are opened and the blinking lights and inflated Santa Clauses come down? It’s simple: the majority of us go back to our average lives. We focus on passing our exams, staying out of trouble with our parents and balancing our social lives. Our widowed neighbor goes back to frozen dinners and “Wheel of Fortune” reruns and the soup kitchen tries to recruit new volunteers. It seems that all of the good deeds in the year have been done. They are now locked up in the “holiday vault” and may not be opened again until it’s turkey-cutting time. The holidays have become more of a cop out for us to show generosity that, for the greater part of the year, is covered in to-do lists and our own personal agendas. We’ve forgotten what it feels like to give just for the sake of giving. We’ve forgotten what it sounds like to hear our grandma smile over the phone because a call just made her day. Some of my best memories have been made during these times. Don’t get me wrong, but I’m starting to think that making time for the more important things in life throughout the year is more rewarding than doing them in a designated time period. I don’t know about you, but I think I am going to find time in my busy schedule to sit with an old friend and maybe watch a rerun or two of “Wheel of Fortune.”
Photo illustration by Chelsea Blanton and Brandi Martin
Marijuana labeled ‘gateway drug’
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Amy Taylor Asst. News Editor
t starts with just a little pot. But for some students, a little is all it takes. Drug use, in general, and marijuana use, specifically, is on the rise among American teenagers. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, recent statistics show the number of teens who say they smoked marijuana in the past 30 days has increased from 19 to 25 percent in one year. Student Resource Officer Steve Geyer believes students are influenced to use marijuana by their desire to fit in. “They get around their friends, and their friends aren’t pushing it on them, but they feel like, ‘I’m going to be left out. They are doing it, so I’m going to do it, too,’” Geyer said. “It’s kind of self-inflicted peer pressure. They feel like they’re going to be left out.” Marijuana is sometimes described as a “gateway drug,” with studies concluding that regular marijuana users often go on to abuse more serious drugs. The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found juveniles who smoke pot were 85 times
‘Fake pot’ ban effective Jan. 1
more likely to use cocaine than their non Zac Cole pot-smoking peers. Feature Writer “I have never done an interview with an individual that uses drugs that didn’t reated initially as incense, a new fad start with marijuana,” Sgt. Chris Denny among teenagers has developed. The of the Henderson County Drug and Gang popular legal form of marijuana, K2, Unit said. “When you’re is easy access for anyone 18 starting your first day of and older that has around high school, you’re ex$20 in his pocket. Pot vs. K2 tremely nervous about K2 is a blend of herbs it, but as time goes on, it that have been sprayed gets to be not a big deal. • K2 is about 10 times more with cannabinoids, a class active than THC, the main The same concept takes of chemical compounds chemical in marijuana place with drug use. If that produce a marijuanayou start using marilike high. “K2 is a depresjuana, at first you’ll be • K2 costs about $20 to $50 sant just like marijuana; it unsure, but the more you gives you the same kind of a bag, similar to marijuana use it, the more mundane effect, a calming effect — it becomes. It absolutely • K2 can cause increased just not as strong as mariis a gateway drug.” juana,” Student Resource agitation and elevated According to Denny, Officer Steve Geyer said. blood pressure and heart marijuana can be far K2 became a popular rates more detrimental than alternative to marijuana tobacco and alcohol. soon after it was intro(cbsnews.com and “You can control the duced in the United States lakelandtimes.com) effect of alcohol. If your in February 2010. Comparents want to have wine with supper, pared to pot, K2 is readily accessible for there is no harm in that. It becomes an people over the age of 18. Prices range anyissue with excessive drinking, but with where from $20 to $50. marijuana, there is no gauge there, you’re Because it is relatively inexpensive, either high or you’re not,” Denny said. some people choose K2 over marijuana,
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but that could change in January. The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration recently used its emergency powers to announce a one-year ban on K2 and other “fake pot” products that mimic the effects of marijuana, effective Jan. 1. K2 is smoked the same way as marijuana. However, there are several key differences. Marijuana has a distinct smell while K2 is essentially odorless. K2 can cause a rapidly increased heart rate that may cause black outs. There are reports that it can cause paranoia and psychotic episodes. Little is known about the short-term or long-term effects of smoking K2, but according to ABC News, inhaling K2 may trigger heart attacks. “The effects are similar, but they aren’t the same. It’s currently legal because it’s still new, and the government hasn’t regulated it yet,” Geyer said. “It’s like some of the steroids that athletes used for a little bit and then they said it was illegal.” Eight states had banned K2 before the DEA took action in late November. “The federal government will make the decision whether or not it needs to be regulated,” Geyer said. “They will decide whether it should be limited to a prescription drug or completely banned, but it will be regulated one day.”
Drug use on the rise among teens, targeting younger students
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Diane Gromelski Asst. Entertainment Editor
he German shepherd crossed West’s student parking lot and approached a late-model car. Suddenly it began to bark excitedly. As Deputy Steve Geyer opened the unlocked car door and began to search the glove box, he found a hidden bottle of ecstasy. Minutes later, a 16-year-old student sat handcuffed inside a police car on his way to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. Although this particular story is fictional, arrests such as this one are common occurences at West. Events like this are part of the school’s efforts to promote a safe, drug-free environment, Geyer said. “There was an incident where we had the dogs come in and we arrested five people in one day, just for the drugs that were in their cars,” Geyer said. “I catch an av-
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erage of 15 or 20 students with drugs at school each year. Once a student that is 16 or older is found with an illegal substance, he or she put in handcuffs and taken down to the magistrate’s office of the jail. Then they are booked into the jail and charged with possession.” According to a survey released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 21.8 million Americans said they had used illegal drugs in 2009, a 9 percent increase over 2008. The illegal drug use was the highest recorded since 2000. Sgt. Chris Denny of the Henderson County Drug and Gang Unit said there has been a significant increase in drug arrests by the Sheriff’s Department. The drug unit alone makes anywhere from 220 to 300 drug arrests annually while the other officers on patrol make between 700 and 1,000 arrests. Denny said the greatest increase in arrests was for prescription painkillers. Marijuana usage spiked in 2009. The SAMHSA sur-
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vey reported that the number of teenagers who thought that smoking marijuana was dangerous dropped from 54.7 percent in 2007 to 49.3 in 2009. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, attributes the spike in marijuana use to the recent dispute over the legalization of marijuana. “The average age of marijuana initiation dropped from 18 years old in 2008 to 17 years old in 2009,” Kerlikowske said in an interview with Catherine DonaldsonEvans of aolhealth.com. “The focus on calling marijuana medicine has sent the absolute wrong message.” Denny said he believes high schools would have fewer drug users if students would make anonymous tips. “The students need to take a more active role in reporting drug use,” Denny said. “When someone is caught with drugs, one of two things happens: they realize that drugs could ultimately ruin the rest of their life and stop or they don’t learn their lesson.”
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