MORGAN -- Parents in Morgan are rallying to save their children from drug addiction.
"We as parents need to step up to the plate," said Lydia Nuttall. "We are the first line of defense against drugs."
Following the advice of law enforcement officers, she and other parents are now on the lookout for tell-tale signs that their children are using drugs: bent and burnt spoons, blown-apart balloons, clear glass pipes, burnt aluminum foil, eyedrops and cigarette lighters.
"It's a clue, and parents need to get one," said Randy Lythgoe, an agent with the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force.
"Be suspicious and start looking. You can do a search and seizure in your own house."
The list of nicknames for drugs is so exhaustive and so school-specific that it may be too difficult for parents to keep track.
Therefore, a parent's best tool is their "gut instinct," or sixth sense, said Nuttall, a parent who initiated parent workshops in November.
"It's going on right under our noses. We need to trust our gut instinct and stop giving the child the benefit of the doubt," Nuttall said during a recent workshop.
"We need to nip it in the bud when we feel something is off. It could save their life. We can be a parent and save their life, or be a friend and watch them die."
Some of the first signs of drug use are changes in a child's behavior, hygiene, grades, friends, dress and eating and sleep habits, Lythgoe said.
Simply knowing who your child is hanging out with is one line of defense, he said.
"It's usually a friend or relative who introduces kids to chemical substances," said Lythgoe, who has worked in narcotics law enforcement for eight years.
"You don't have to look far for those who introduce your children to drugs."
And a teen's drug of choice is usually available within their own home and medicine cabinets.
Inhalants, over-the- counter drugs and prescription drugs are gateway drugs that eventually lead to "heavier" illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine, Lythgoe said.
"It's a natural progression," he said.
"Cocaine and heroin are big again," mostly because the cost is coming down, Lythgoe said.
Four years ago, a balloon of heroin sold for $20 to $40. Now, the same amount sells for $3 to $10.
Despite the increasing popularity of cheap illegal drugs, abuse of prescription drugs is about to exceed the use of illicit street narcotics worldwide, Lythgoe said.
Overdosing on prescription drugs was the No. 1 cause of accidental death in Utah in 2006, outpacing traffic accidents and overdoses on illegal drugs.
"It is tan epidemic in the state," Lythgoe said. "There's not one county immune from it. There's not one family who isn't touched by this.
"If it hasn't touched you, be grateful. Chances are, it's going to get you."
That's true even in the isolated, predominantly Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints population of Morgan, Nuttall said.
"It is possible to go to church, share your testimony, pass the sacrament, go to seminary and be abusing drugs," she said.
Lythgoe agrees, saying, "Good churchgoing people don't always see the signs. You are nicely isolated here."
But not isolated enough.
In the county's East Canyon area last year, narcotics officers hauled 36 600-pound helicopter loads of marijuana off a hillside, Lythgoe said.
That was $7.5 million worth of illegal drugs, he said.
"Drugs are all over the place here," said Morgan County Detective Bill Wentland, who calls at-home drug tests an "advantage for parents."
Wentland also said parents can call law enforcement to request a breathalyzer test for their children.
"Don't say drugs aren't in our community. It's not true," Lythgoe said. "It's here."
No one knows better about the presence of drugs in the county than Sue Walton, whose son Beau died from a methadone overdose while on spring break in 2006.
"It is time to put away phones, TV and computers and make kids our No. 1 priorities," Walton said.
"We are our children's best hope."
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