Alcohol: The No. 1 High in High School : Paying a High Price for What They Believed to Be Right

Where drug and alcohol abuse was concerned, Ken Luckham did what he was supposed to do, what he knew was right. He followed the advice of his family, the public service messages and his own good sense. He said no.

John Jones, who asked that his real name not be used, did what felt right. He followed the advice of friends, such as the ones who got him involved with marijuana, cocaine and LSD in junior high school. When he moved on to high school, John’s friends changed, his habits did not.

Jones and Luckham are seniors at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley. Each has an exceptional talent for playing baseball. Each is bright, confident and 18 years old.

And, each has come to hate high school life, counting down the days that will mean release more than graduation.

Luckham said he thinks his high school memories will be melancholy at best. John is more direct: “I just want to get out of this place and get on with my life.”

Their discomfort grows from drug and alcohol abuse and a choice each had to make. It is the same decision virtually every American school kid must ponder today, and one reason our schools may be becoming less about learning and more about survival.

Luckham had hoped baseball would sustain him through the events he viewed with disbelief during school hours--drugs sold on campus, kids drunk in class, classmate-pushers waving their $1,000 wads.

Charles Leonard, Los Amigos High School principal, said his office is “handling,” whatever drug problems his school has.

“We (Los Amigos) haven’t been involved in a lot of drug use,” he said. “I haven’t found the involvement of drugs on campus.”

As far as baseball was concerned, it provided a flimsy shield for Luckham. If anything, it magnified the drug and alcohol situation. The first time Luckham pitched on the varsity level he came face to startled face with the problem.

“It was my freshman year,” he said. “They had a party that day at some guy’s house. The whole team was drunk. I didn’t know until after the game, but then some guys started talking about, ‘Ah, yeah, that party was so great, I was so wasted. It was a trip playing in that game.’ I said, ‘What!?’ ”

Later in his career, when Luckham refused to take part in his team’s frequent postgame beer parties, many hosted by Jones, he was told that he was a detriment to team unity.

“They said, ‘We play as a team, we drink as a team,’ ” Luckham said. “I didn’t fall for that, but I know some guys who did. It’s too bad. They pressure people into doing that stuff.”

Jones’ fielding and hitting always had tweaked the noses of those who said his fast life style was harmful. He partied with the heartiest and his game seemed no worse for wear. He was young, strong, indestructible.

“We’d party after a win to celebrate, we’d party after a loss to unwind,” he said with a laugh. “We just wanted to party. What happened in the game really didn’t matter. The party was the thing.”

But the parties Jones hosted eventually got him suspended for several games his junior season. As a senior he was suspended for the entire season. He claims he was an innocent bystander on the last suspension. He said he was simply standing outside a party that was taking place during school hours when some school administrators drove by and spotted him.

“I wasn’t even drinking,” Jones said. “I got a call at my house a couple of hours later telling me I’m suspended. I wasn’t doing anything, but they figure if I’m there, I’m doing something.”

His party reputation had preceded him and thus ended a promising high school baseball career.

“This would have been the best season I’d ever had,” he said. “I really wanted to play, I was ready. I know I would have done great.”

Said Bob Spence, Los Amigos coach from 1985 to 1986: “He has all the talent in the world and he’s a good kid at heart. Sometimes, I wished he had been my son, so things could have turned out differently. It just breaks my heart to watch what has happened to him.”

Though the Los Amigos season was a long one--the Lobos were 2-21-1--John attended every game.

“I like watching them play,” he said. “I’m still friends with people on the team.”

John contends that what has happened to him has a lot do with his friends. During junior high school, he got involved with a crowd that liked to get high and steal cars.

“I got away from them as soon as I got to high school,” he said.

But once in high school, Jones quickly gravitated toward drugs and alcohol--he counted drug dealers among his friends.

These days he works out with other players regularly to keep his game in shape for next year, when he hopes to play at the community college level. He spends a lot of time alone.

“I’m trying to get away from that high school crowd,” he said. “They’ve had a lot to do with my problems.”

He thinks things will be much better by next year. You see, he’s going to make new friends. He said he has stopped taking drugs, has tried to cut down on the six to eight beers he had consumed daily, “just to relax,” because he noticed something finally starting to slide.

“I’m not playing to my ability now and it’s starting to scare me,” he said. “I’m not getting the bat around, not seeing the ball. I know it has something to do with the partying. I just don’t want to embarrass myself.”

Luckham is a bit hesitant to try on his own angel wings. He has attended parties and indulged in a beer or two before. But for the most part, he remains clean and encourages others to do likewise.

“It wasn’t hard for me to say no,” Luckham said. “It was hard for me to look at them and really try and help them and say, ‘You’re totally screwing your life up. You gotta change your ways.’ But they just look at you and laugh.”

The advice may earn him hefty points with the local PTA, but it has absolutely squashed his social rating at school. Other students have dubbed him ‘Narc,’ a derogatory term comparing him to an undercover cop. To be a narc is to be too good and disloyal to your kind.

“You see a kid like that,” Spence said. “A kid that’s doing the right things and then you hear that the other kids tear him down by calling him a narc. It makes you wonder what the hell is going on in our schools today. What’s happening when the good kids are punished for being good?”