AN EX-COP ON DRUGS; Come Listen

Trinka Porrata is deep into drugs. This is a good thing.

"The medical world and law enforcement were blind as bats to the [drug] problem," says the former Los Angeles Police Department officer who is now a drug consultant. "It became an obsession because [drug abuse] was a void we weren't filling."

Porrata appears in several locations in central and western Idaho the week of October 27, where she will teach drug awareness to students, parents and teachers. Though her presentation covers "Trendy Drugs of Abuse: GHB, Liquid X, Ecstasy, Special K, Nitrous Oxcide, LSD, and the Rave Phenomenon," she says these are only a sample of what is readily available to teens in Idaho and the rest of the country.

"Every place has a growing problem with prescription drugs and over-the-counter drug abuse," Porrata says. "[And] meth use is spreading state by state by state."

Though many associate the drug GHB, alongside Ecstasy, with the rave scene, Porrata attributes its rapid spread over the past few years to body-builders, who believe it helps add bulk, and to the World Wide Web. "I consider GHB the bastard child of the Internet," she says, one that is widely sold via illegal Web sites that are hard to police.

Kara Schallock, of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, arranged for Porrata's visit after being "blown away" by her presentation in Twin Falls last year. "[It was] her down-to-earthness," says Schallock. "She shows up on stage in black jeans, her roots exposed, and she's just no-nonsense." Porrata, she says, revealed a world that most parents weren't aware of, her style opening eyes to the extent of teen drug abuse.

Schallock is herself a parent. With two daughters grown, the one still in high school helps her gauge the pulse of today's teens. "It scares the heck out of me," Schallock admits.

"[My daughter] knows you can get any drug that you want if you really want it," says Schallock. "The kids who are doing [drugs] are the kids you don't expect to." Often it's the jocks and the straight-A students sitting stoned in class, she says, and their impressionable peers, seeing the apparent success of these students, see no reason to not follow their example.

"I want kids to know [the dangers] and be able to make educated decisions about what they are going to do." Says Shallock.

You don't have to attend a rave in order to see today's teen drugs of choice in action. Just ask Ada County Paramedic Robert "Steve" Cole, who sees the results of drug abuse almost daily.

His first contact with GHB was almost five years ago. "It was at a school sponsored, drug free, alcohol free event," he explains, where a 16 year-old boy had brought a bottle full of a drink mixed with GHB. "He'd take a swig and pass it around, [saying] `Yeah, this'll get you high.'" The normal dose, if you want to call it that, is maybe a capful--according to Cole, these kids had been drinking far more than that. Soon, some of them started to complain of nausea; GHB does not have a distinctive smell as alcohol does, so school officials, thinking the symptoms showed nothing more than upset stomachs, sent some of them home.

"Next thing you know, they find this kid unconscious in the bathroom in quite a bit of distress," says Cole. It was the student who had brought the bottle--his skin was pale, his face blue, his breathing irregular, and his clothing covered in vomit. "[Chaperones] had sent five or six people home before this guy went done," Cole continues. "Now we had to track them down." In the end, multiple emergency units had to be called. No one died that night, as it happened, but he says they were in pretty bad shape.

Cole sees drug use at nightclubs, too. "If you say a rave is an environment with a lot of heavy, vibrant music, a multi-colored light show, and a kind of sub-culture associated with it, that [description] would probably apply to half the bars in downtown Boise," he says. Many nights he sits in an ambulance near 6th and Main, watching bar patrons carry unconscious friends outside. Many of the unconscious are women; have they been dosed with GHB, commonly known as the date rape drug? Cole says it's tough to tell.

Cole frequently gives his own presentations on drug awareness. People interested in hearing him speak can contact him via the Ada County Paramedics at 287-2972.

Porrata, Schallock, and Cole all agree that to educate parents is of utmost importance to help address teen drug abuse. From what she has seen, Porrata says Idaho parents are more ready than most to hear the message.

"Typically, it's a big problem to get parents to attend," she says. "[But the last time I was in Idaho] I was flabbergasted by the high turnout of parents."

TRINKA PORRATA ITINERARY

Oct. 27: Boise City Hall, 8:30-10:30 a.m.; Nampa HS, Noon--2 p.m.; BSU, 3:30--5 p.m.; Mountain Home JHS, 7--9 p.m.

Oct. 28: Cascade HS, 9-11 a.m.; McCall Super 8, 11:30 a.m.--2 p.m.; BSU, 7--9 p.m.

Oct. 29: Cascade Police Dept., 9-11 a.m.; McCall Memorial Hospital, 12:30--2:30 p.m.; Albertson College, 7-9 p.m.

Oct. 30: Vendome, Weiser, 9-11 a.m., 1-3 p.m.; Intermountain Hospital, 7-9 p.m.

Article copyright Bar Bar Inc.