OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS & VIEWS : Drug Use 101 : A Teen’s Own Story : The following account is from a 16-year-old honors student at an Orange County high school.

I started doing drugs again this semester. Mostly bud (marijuana) and shrooms (psychedelic mushrooms). They started coming my way again at the end of last semester, right before finals. It’ll probably take me 10 years to figure out what happened in the last six months.

I was a good student until last semester when I got really, really sick of school. Before that I was an A and B student. I’ve taken a lot of honors courses--still take them.

Mostly I party on the weekends. Sometimes during the week--like last night, which was an “honorary weekend.”

I’ve smoked out the past three weekends. I’m not into it as much as before. I’m sort of bored with it. I don’t dislike it. It’s more like, why not use it? It enhances things. I don’t mind not fiending on it. It’s not anything special. I don’t care that I do it; it’s just something I do. Maybe it’s a subconscious attempt at suicide. I used to exercise, take good care of myself. I drink lots of coffee.

Recently I started smoking cigarettes. I like smoking. It’s cheaper than smoking cloves. I don’t want to live to be 1,001 years old. Seventy years old would be OK, but if you ask me in 20 years, my answer might be different.

I’m not very good at focusing.

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It’s funny. I used to be involved in “Just Say No” to drugs. I even met Nancy Reagan. In seventh grade, a friend smoked me out. He just had it on him. He was a family friend, a few years older. He didn’t know it was my first time. It wasn’t a big deal. I got a little high. We probably went to the beach or shopping--I don’t remember exactly. At first, I’d use it once every three or four months. Starting in ninth grade, my friends and I would use it about three out of four weekends. We didn’t go to parties; we’d just hang out. We’d think like “wouldn’t it be funny if we smoked in the parking lot of the Richard Nixon Library.”

It was just something we did. It wasn’t an issue. Somebody would have it, and we’d use it. Most of the time someone had some on them. Most were my same age and up. They were school friends and camp friends.

I would always get it from friends who would buy it or get it from someone’s back yard. Sometimes we smoke, and sometimes we use it as seasoning--in omelets, cookies, pizza or whatever.

My camp friends I’ve known since I was little. At camp I didn’t see people doing it, but I knew it was around. Now we call it “Camp Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

I don’t usually smoke at school but lots do. Off and on it seems like there are times when half the school is high. I don’t at school because I can get annoyed with people and use it as an excuse to yell. So I avoid it.

I’ve pretty much quit everything at school. I used to be in debate, some clubs and a junior government program. This semester I’ve been able to budget my time.

I have this kind of general goal to get a Ph.D, but it’s not in concrete. Last semester sort of wrecked my college plans, though.

I’m dropping plans to try for an Ivy League school--maybe I’ll get a job and go to junior college for a year. I seem to have trouble focusing.

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My parents are really cool about drugs. They’d say “we would like you to do them at home if you’re going to do them.”

They thought if they were preachy, I would be rebellious.

My parents smoke pot and I smoke, but not in front of each other. They like to get drunk at night. Sometimes when I come home my mom asks, “Did you smoke out tonight?”

I think she has mixed feelings, though. She told me not to do shrooms. I think sometime she had a bad experience on them.

You have to be very careful where you get them because they can be poisonous. I only buy from someone I know.

We always split what we have between how many people there are. So there might be several each or just a stem and a small piece. They make me really happy. There’s a certain contentment. Everything’s in sync. When I come down, all of a sudden it’s like vacation’s over.

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Sometimes we do acid. But I don’t like the idea that it’s a chemical. And I don’t get drunk--although I really like red wine.

We go to L.A. a lot, and we go to lots of clubs. I had a fake ID for awhile, but I lost it. I don’t need it now. It’s easy to get in--I know all the doormen.

I hate being underage. I’d like to move in with one of my friends who lives in L.A. I get along with my family, but I want to distance myself from them, be on my own.

I’m not concerned about getting busted. I can find an excuse for every drug I do. I don’t think I’ll ever have enough marijuana on me to be a felony. With acid, I’d just say I’m crazy. With shrooms, it would be a spiritual thing or whatever.

I’ve had bad experiences twice--both times with bud. Once there was other stuff in it. Another time the situation got away from me I was smoking from a bong. It’s like the smoke got caught in me. I had it in my body too long. I was really sketching. I had a really bad problem with focus.

Last week I hallucinated for the first time. It was like a dream where I was awake. I was between asleep and awake, and I stood up and it was like, who turned the strobe light on? It was in a controlled situation--at a party at a friend’s house, and their parents were gone. I was with people who would help me, who wouldn’t leave me there, so it was OK.

Lots of people are doing speed now. It’s the new rising drug. It’s a habit with a lot of my friends. I don’t like it though. I got so tired I didn’t want to move or talk. I have really messed up sleeping anyway. Something I do want to try is opium. I think I will try.

Taking drugs is like smoking or eating sugar. It’s kind of a philosophy.

Today I’m doing all my homework so I can have unrestricted fun this weekend. I plan to see lots of friends in L.A., to have a drug-filled weekend.

Is drug use among high school students on the increase? Yes, according to a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The institute has been tracking the question for 19 years. For the past 10 years, the answer had been no. However, in the past year, the survey found that the trend has reversed. Across the country, 50,000 junior and senior high school students were surveyed about the use of marijuana and other illegal drugs. Among 10th--graders, the share using marijuana went from 15.2 % in 1992 to 19.2% in 1993. The percentage of 12th-graders smoking the drug increased from 21.9% to 26% between 1992 and 1993. The number of seniors who reported using an illegal drug at least once increased from 40.7% in 1992 to 42.9 in 1993. The number compares to the peak of 65.6% reported in 1981. Has the trend changed in Orange County? In an individual account of drug use and in interviews with students on high school campuses, OC High looks at the issue.