Teens say some do, while others are unaware

Shelby Barker of Peachtree City thinks it’s time for local parents to wake up to the realities of high school life.

He’s starting a campaign to “bridge the gap” so young adults can inform current parents about the perils facing today’s high schoolers. A recent graduate of McIntosh High School, Barker said the problem is more than just the availability of drugs.

“Fellow citizens, we have students choking each other for fun, committing sexual acts on the bus ride home, sexual harassment, verbal harassment, teen pregnancy, teen violence, teen suicide and I promise you the list goes on and on,” Barker said at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Youth Council Serving Fayette County. “With the help of the whole city, we can fix this problem.”

The youth council, which consists of high school students from McIntosh, Starr’s Mill and Fayette County, had an open discussion about problems facing local teens, particularly in light of the recent suicides of two McIntosh students in the span of one week.

Several of the youth council members said it’s important to intervene on behalf of middle school students, who are more vulnerable to peer pressure and other maladies. Many of those students are home alone from 3-6 p.m. when their parents get home, as both parents work in many households.

Also, because they can’t drive yet, middle school students feel more trapped with less options available to them, one youth council member said.

Some youth council members said parents need to take more responsibility for their kids. Some parents, they said, will host parties for students — even those in middle school — and supply alcohol, on the theory that their kids would go drink somewhere else.

Other parents may not be aware that alcohol is even being served when their child goes to a party at a friend’s house, several students said.

While some high school students are involved in other “risky behavior” such as having sex, more often that is noticed between couples that have been together for a long time, several teens noted.

Some parents are telling their kids it’s OK to have sex, as long as birth control is being used to avoid becoming pregnant, one teen said.

All students at the meeting agreed that with the right amount of money, they could find someone who would provide them with any number of illicit drugs or alcohol, though transactions would occur off campus.

Although the parents of kids involved in sports programs often think their kid is too busy to imbibe on illegal drugs, one student at Tuesday’s meeting pointed out that’s not the case.

“They’re even more likely” to get high, the girl said.

Some students said their peers are even using the drink “Red Dawn,” which is marketed on the Internet as a herbal alternative to ecstasy. According to reddawnpill.com, the liquid is similar to the pill form, which is advertised to provide an “herbal high” to “produce sensitivity, stimulation and intense euphoric feelings.”

The web site promotes that the liquid has “ravers satisfied everywhere.”

Robin Tennant, Barker’s mom, said its important for teens to have an adult friend to talk to who they can trust when facing certain problems. Others said a peer-to-peer mentoring program pairing high school students with middle school students would be very effective, as the younger students are less likely to listen to adults than someone closer to their age.

Several youth council members suggested they try to help out middle school students, who are more vulnerable to peer pressure and have less freedom because they can’t drive, which as one student noted, can make them feel “trapped” at home. Someone else pointed out that middle school students would be more receptive to intervention from a high school student than an adult.