Educational series concludes with adult-only seminar

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The United Way of Hastings hosted a series of three different seminars on the topics of fentanyl poisoning, alcohol and drug abuse, how it affects the community and how to support our kids in today’s age. The third installment of the program was held at the Hastings Senior High Auditorium on Tuesday, May 10. This session was for adults only to encourage open dialogue after a 30-minute presentation. Jane Neumiller-Bustad kicked off the session with a quick outline of the program. The presentation was the start with an extensive opportunity for parents to ask questions, which audience members did in writing anonymously. Meumiller- Bustad introduced the presenter, Ann Lindburg-Borgen from District 197 (Two Rivers / Mendota Heights). Lindburg-Borgen introduced herself and her experiences to the crowd. “I am the chemical health coordinator at District 197 which is Two Rivers High School in Mendota Heights, and I’ve been there for roughly 22 years. Back in 2012 I was meeting with some folks from Hazleton, and we were talking about why don’t parents come to meetings about drugs or about what’s going on in the community? Because usually when we had this kind of presentation, we’d get a real small amount of people at it. We said the one big thing is, no one wants to admit that their son or daughter makes those choices. So, we sat down with the Hennepin County Sheriff, the BCA, Hazleton, some folks from Eden Prairie and so on. We came together with, ‘If we could throw everything together in a presentation, what would we want parents to know?’ There’s a lot, I’ve been doing drug counseling with adolescents since 1986. That’s a long time. There is a lot of drugs that go around. But the biggest thing that has changed as drugs go is the age. I never used to think I’d have to deal with a fourth or fifth grader who ends up using a vape or taking some kind of medication. That is the biggest change in that many years.” The goal for the presentation was to encourage parents to get involved and explore the potential hazards that might be in your child’s room and to have a conversation asking the difficult questions while offering love and support. “Be aware, we want you to know that drug abuse, alcohol abuse, fentanyl, all of the things that we talk about tonight has no prejudice. It doesn’t care if your son or daughter is the top high school basketball player, a straight A student or if they come from a good family or a family that split. When you take a look at the deaths that occur, it’s all different walks of life,” explained Lindburg-Borgen. Lindburg-Borgen then proceeded to show a slide of young adults that died due to overdose, The slide showed the promising athlete, the straight A student, the kids that many people would think have it easy or have it good. The program touched on all sorts of substance abuses including alcohol and the various ways kids are getting that into their body. The alcohol industry has expanded with fruity flavors, and those appeal to younger consumers because it masks the alcohol taste. The teens are not drinking one or two hanging out on a deck for hours to relax and have a conversation. They are drinking for the effect, and that means they are binge drinking. “Most of the teens who drink, binge drink and what that means is for females it’s usually four to five drinks in a setting. For males, it’s usually five or more,” added Lindburg-Borgen. “They’re drinking to get the effect so they’re pounding down, usually in fast succession.” The scary part there is they do not understand how that amount of alcohol can hit their system and how fast or slow it affects them. They could get behind the wheel thinking they feel nothing and halfway through the drive be unable to control the vehicle properly.

See Page 3 Marijuana is another topic of concern discussed as part of the program. Teens are able to find what they want fairly easily and quickly either by asking the right people at school or though social media platforms like Facebook or Snapchat. Consuming is far less difficult than adults think too, primarily because so many things can be either used as a pipe or used to hide both the pipe and weed. Even an apple or a highlighter can be used as a pipe for smoking, all it takes is a little aluminum foil and an open window.

The program gave plenty of examples for things parents can look for with their kids.

Vaping or e-cigarettes has become a huge epidemic in the United States. Currently, 19.3 percent of high school students and 2.9 percent of middle school students reported having used a vape in the past 30 days. 35.4 percent of high school students and 7.9 percent of middle schoolers reported they have used one in their lifetime.

Pause and think on that for a moment. In the last 30 days, one in five high school age students have used a vape in the last 30 days. One in three have at least tried it in their lifetime, and 69.7 percent of those high school students that have used one in the last 30 days show signs of vape dependence. Current vape users – 33.6 percent – are frequent users. In the last 30 days, they used a vape 20 or more times.

That is not where the vape piece ends, teens are also able to find marijuana cartridges for their vapes allowing them to consume much more easily and less obviously than smoking weed.

Many vape bottles can have enough juice for 500 puffs. An average cigarette is 10 puffs and there are usually 20 cigarettes in a pack. A pack a day is roughly 200 puffs. A vape bottle a day is roughly 2.5 packs of cigarettes a day. The fruity flavors in the vape juice do a great job of masking the harsh chemical effect of the nicotine on the throat and lungs, so the teens do not notice it. That means the manufacturers can raise the nicotine levels extremely high and the consumer is unaware.

A study done by the University of California San Francisco found that blood-nicotine concentrations in a group of rats that were exposed to the JUUL brand of e-cigs was eight times higher than other e-cigs and 5.2 times higher than cigarettes. Juul had a concentration of 136.4 nicotine per milliliter. The freebase nicotine e-liquid had 17.1 nicotine per milliliter versus cigarettes at 26.1. That means that 10 puffs on a JUUL is the same as smoking five cigarettes. To smoke one pack a day, at that rate is only 40 puffs per day.

The presentation piece of the program ended with information on opioids/pills.

“Most street drugs are always laced with something because dealers want to make money, and the way to make money is to have this amount mixing in some more of something and then they have all this amount. It’s usually laced, but it was usually laced with is rat poison or baking powder, that is what is called the cutting agent,” explained Lindburg-Borgen.

The problem is, there is no way for a user to tell what the cutting agent is in any pills they buy. There is also no way of knowing what extra ingredients the pills are being laced with, and the pills off the street with their own chemical mixture look identical to the ones from pharmacies. However, street drugs are more commonly being laced with fentanyl now and according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, four out of ten pills have a lethal dose of fentanyl in them. Why? It’s cheap, gives an intense high and is easy to make. But it’s also deadly.

The presentation showed a video of an interaction between a parent and teen. The first version was the parent being fairly confrontational and angry at the teen for being an hour late getting home. The teen shut down quickly and the conversation went nowhere. The same scenario, the parent went the route of using “I” statements and showing how their decisions affected the parent. It was a supportive conversation that showed the teen they are in a position of responsibility, and it remained open and supportive producing a trust in each other. That video can be viewed by visiting https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HfbiM5jjE. It’s a very informative seven-minute watch.

Following the opioid portion, the floor opened up for audience questions and very open dialogue around the situation being faced by communities all over the US.

After the program ended, the United Way of Hastings thanked Lindburg-Borgen of ISD 197 and Monica Jensen of the Dakota County Attorney office for their hard work on the presentation to the Hastings community.

To learn more about the United Way of Hastings and their programs that support the community, visit www.unitedwayofhastings.org.

Ann Lindburg-Borgen discussed the mission of the Top Secret Project and the many display items she has on stage with her. Photo by Bruce Karnick