Tuesday, Oct, 3, 2006 • Two Lassen County juveniles arrested on drug charges

Publisher’s note: These related stories originally appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Detectives from the Susanville Police Department arrested two Lassen County teenagers, a 15-year-old boy from the Susanville area and a 15-year-old girl, on charges of furnishing a controlled substance.

The two juveniles were arrested at 1:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

The information was contained in two separate press releases from the SPD.

According to the releases, “the investigation in this matter is ongoing.”

Anyone with information regarding the sales of controlled substances is encouraged to contact the SPD.

Lassen High students mourn the loss of three students
With the recent loss of Lassen High School students Zara Jereda, Alan Hoffman and Steven Draxler, Lassen High School students gathered around their campus flagpole in prayer for comfort and strength during the annual See You at the Pole event on Wednesday, Sept. 27. (Jereda passed away after a long, brave battle against leukemia.)

As the flag flew at half-staff, the students prayed for an hour and 15 minutes, offering prayers for the families affected by the loss of their loved ones and for their fellow classmates.

Stephen Hubbard, a student at LHS, said the mood around campus was depressed and sad.

As students walked to their next classes, Hubbard said, “You might hear one or two people talking, but it’s in a whisper.”

A memorial had been set up in front of the campus where people left flowers, stuffed animals and signs for Jereda, Hoffman and Draxler.

Another memorial for Hoffman and Draxler was set up at the skate park in Memorial Park where friends say the two boys hung out.

“Rest in peace” and “We will miss you” were seen written on many of the vehicles at LHS and during a See You at the Pole rally on Sunday, Sept. 24, students wrote messages on the walkways with colored chalk and wrote messages on banners, which will be given to the families of the teens.

Throughout the week memorial services and funerals were held for Jereda, Draxler and Hoffman.

During a memorial service for Jereda on Tuesday, Sept. 26, friends read poems or reminisced about the times they shared with Jereda. Everyone provided testimony about Jereda’s love for her family, friends, food and her ever present smile and her ability to make people laugh.

Her youth pastor from Sacred Heart Catholic Church said when her mother asked her why she wasn’t praying to get better, Jereda answered, “Because God wants me sick right now.”

Jereda was also active in sports including volleyball and track and field.

Celeste Blakeman recalled when she was a freshman on the volleyball team, she felt intimidated by the junior varsity team and varsity team, but said Jereda made her feel welcome.

Another girl shared about Jereda teaching her how to do an overhand serve in volleyball while they were students at Richmond School.

A mother of one of Jereda’s friends reminisced whenever she came over, she always knew to buy a lot of food because Jereda liked to eat, but she also said Jereda liked to talk and was full of zest for life.

“When I think of Zara, I think of laughing and giggling and it sound like all of us do,” she said. “I just feel Zara has made a lot of people a better person.”

Other students also shared about Draxler and Hoffman throughout the week.

Alex Tone said of Draxler, “He was always pretty much cool with anything. He was just a good all-around guy.”

Draxler was a member of the wrestling team and played the guitar.

“He loved music,” Tone said.

Hubbard said, “Choir’s empty without him.”

Hailey Barker, a freshman, said Hoffman was nice to everyone around him.

“He always had a smile on his face. He could make you laugh when you didn’t even want to smile,” Barker said.

Page Montgomery said, “They’d give you the shirt off their back.  They put everyone’s needs before own.”

She said Hoffman loved to dance, “He was always dancing.”

“But skating was pretty much his life,” Montgomery said. “Skating, music and his friends. Friends meant a lot to both of them.”

Watch out for methadone
Methadone is a popular drug among young people all across the United States. Unfortunately, methadone also is a deadly killer, which frequently takes the lives of first-time users.

According to BMJ.com, the clinical usefulness of methadone lies in its ability to suppress the symptoms of heroin withdrawal. It is also prescribed as a painkiller.

Methadone toxicity is more likely in those trying the drug for the first time before tolerance has had time to develop. Deaths related to methadone are increasing, with patients starting on maintenance programs being at particular risk. Because the sedative and depressant effects of methadone do not develop immediately, it is easy to take a large amount without being aware that harm is being done. One addict’s daily maintenance dose can cause life-threatening poisoning in a non-tolerant adult.

Methadone is one of the strongest opiates, nopetaskforce.org reports. It has a slow onset of action and a long half-life and causes severe respiratory depression, which is usually the cause of death.

Methadone is readily available on the illicit market as there are large numbers of tolerant individuals whose daily dose is well over the lethal dose for non-tolerant individuals. This may explain why methadone overdose deaths among people in treatment are relatively rare.

Methadone overdose is a serious medical emergency. In the event of suspected overdose call an ambulance. If the person is losing consciousness lay them on their side in the recovery position so they will not choke if they vomit. Inducing people to vomit is not recommended because of the risk of rapid onset of central nervous system depression/unconsciousness, which could lead to choking.

According to information provided by a local physician who asked to remain anonymous, methadone is an opioid, a drug in the same category as heroin, codeine and almost all prescription pain pills. Opioid intoxication is characterized by a marked decrease in pain; a diminished cough reflex; inhibited gut motility, with subsequent constipation; and a semi awake floating feeling, sometimes described as resembling being wrapped in a warm, velvet blanket.

High doses of opioid drugs produce decreased vital signs, and overdoses can be deadly. Pain, cough and runny nose, diarrhea and a feeling of sadness characterize withdrawal from opioids.

The opioids and opiates include several synthetic and naturally occurring compounds that are widely used for their analgesic properties. Opioids stimulate several receptors in the central nervous system, resulting in sedation and reduced function of the sympathetic nervous system.

Patients may have opioid intoxication as a result of unintentional overdose or attempted suicide. Signs of intoxication include lethargy or coma, pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression.

Commentary by Sam Williams: Learning about drugs the hard way
It would be silly for me to deny that I am a child of the 1960s. I graduated from high school in 1968 just one summer after the famous “Summer of Love.”

As everybody knows, my generation learned about drugs and alcohol the hard way. Because I was a working guitar player back in those days, I may have been closer to the counter-culture and the scene than most, I don’t know.

But I can tell you this. Friends of mine died in alcohol-related automobile accidents, fried their brains permanently on psychedelics, burned their veins and their bodies out on speed, overdosed on heroin and other barbiturates and died, became so depressed they took their own lives, adopted a life of crime in order to support their habits because it suited their lifestyle. Some went to prison because of their behavior. Heck, my own brother died unexpectedly at 18 mixing alcohol and swimming one Fourth of July weekend.

Yep, I learned about the dangers of drugs and alcohol first hand. Luckily, I cleaned up my act more than 30 years ago. Nowadays you’ll never catch me drinking more than a beer or two. I survived, but some of my friends didn’t. Kids here in Susanville may be learning these hard lessons, too.

It seems almost inconceivable to me that rural Susanville would be touched by a national problem regarding teen use of methadone.

To people my age, methadone was always a drug given to heroin addicts to help them kick their addiction. The heroin addicts I knew always complained they hated the stuff because they couldn’t get a buzz on it. Apparently, it’s now frequently prescribed as a painkiller. Wow.

Even worse, it seems to be a drug the kids love to take. Just type methadone into your browser, nose around on the Internet a little bit and what you find should scare the heck out you.

Anna Nicole Smith’s son is perhaps only the most recent and most highly publicized methadone story, but if you look, you’ll discover kids are dying all over the country, many the first time they take the stuff.

By now everyone in Lassen County knows of the recent unfortunate deaths of two local teenagers. While the drug overdose rumors fly and fly and fly again, as a responsible journalist, I can only report to you the cause of these tragic deaths remains undetermined.

The truth is we won’t know what actually happened for sure to these two young men until the authorities responsible for making such determinations release their findings. I encourage everyone to be patient and wait for the results of the toxicology tests. We may be surprised.

But having said that, a scary picture of teen life in Susanville emerges from beneath and between all the rumors and stories surrounding these two unfortunate deaths.

Here’s what some of the kids at Lassen High School are saying
• Something like 20 to 25 kids admitted taking methadone on Friday night at Homecoming. These same kids reportedly have told the authorities who gave them the drugs. (According to press releases from the Susanville Police Department, a 15-year-old male from Susanville and a 15-year-old female from Standish have been arrested for furnishing a controlled substance. It should be noted, these press releases do not link the arrests to the untimely deaths in any way.)
• Kids at the high school say it is easy to get alcohol, pot and prescription drugs like methadone, vicodin, oxycotin and percoset. Some kids are reportedly taking drugs designed for animals.
• Kids say they take the drugs these days because they want to escape — not because they want to get high.

Ironically, 20/20 broadcast a special on Homecoming night calling methadone the silent epidemic and noted that many people who took it died after the first dose.

Very scary stuff.