welcome to "beyond the headlines", i'll cheryl jennings. today we wanted to talk about the dangerous mix of kids and drugs. 11 million teens need help for substance abuse and addiction.

it helps parents prevent and you aren't vaccine and treatment for serious problems. and online drug guide lists the drugs and one example is prescription drugs. temptation of drugs sometimes started right into the home. they often have access to a prescription drugs in a medicine cabinet. lisa argen lisa amin gulezian filed this report about medications. >> this bin right there. >> it's the first for many. >> liquid and sprays go here. >> people all over the bay area are trashing their stash of drugs, prescription drugs that

are unused. >> i tell them put them in a plastic bag for a long time. >> for one day only the drug enforcement administration is putting up special containers in cities all over the bay area as drug take back day, drugs that end up often in the very young hands. >> a majority receive their prescription drugs from family or friends more so their own medicine cabinets. >> one in seven teenagers admit abusing prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals are easier to get. 6.2 million americans abuse medicine that is not prescribed to them. that is more than the number that use heroin and cocaine combine. if they are not found at home they are easy to find off the street. we saw for ourselves when we

came to pill hill in the tenderloin. >> the drug of choice these days is vicodin, it's sold for $4 a pill. >> kids are very resourceful. we're doing whatever we can to get rid of it. >> just not a good practice to have medicines in the house that you don't need. >> last time the dea had a drug take back day they got 10,000 pounds of drugs in northern california alone. all the drugs will be taken away and burned. lisa amin gulezian, "abc 7 news." >> joining us the now from the national coalition against prescription drug abuse is vice president, jim hansen. you started this because you have a personal story. tell me about what happened? >> sure. on december 19th, my brother died from an overdose of

prescription drug medication. he was at school at arizona state university and decided to just stay one extra day. unfortunately that was the final day. he died as a result of a deadly concoction of soma, xanax and oxycontin with reasonable degree of alcohol as well. he came home after the party. he woke at about noon to have a brief conversation with a friend. went to sleep and never woke up. >> i can't even imagine the heartache that caused your family. >> it's something that can be not easily described. >> reporter: it never goes away and you are doing something about this. it's a growing problem among kids. >> absolutely. >> reporter: what are some of the common results of drug abuse. obviously extreme is when

something happens like your brother but there are other issues, too. >> one of the biggest misconceptions that exist because people believe that a doctor has present described this medication, it's safe. we know it is not. in fact oxycontin is derivative of o'yachts, it's a opiate that is highly addictive. it changes the chemical makeup of the brain and taken with other medications in general can cause everything from heart failure to respiratory failure or in general folks just stay addicted and it's not an easy thing to get off of. >> skittle parties? >> it's something my son told me about. kids will go into their medicine cabinets, parents' medicine

cabinets, friends and families, grandparents that might have medication in the house and they will take this medication and bring it into a bowl and bag and mix it up and just take a handful not knowing what it is, what it might be. >> reporter: you have a powerful message for parents and kids right there. let us show that message. >> i think there are three things that i want parents to think about. first off, please as your kids get older, talk to them, understand what these drugs do and what the impacts can be. number two, lock the medicine up. share the message with the kids. number three, even after they are 18, keep an eye on them. it can happen to anybody. >> thank you so much and for what you are doing. >> thank you. >> we do have to take a quick break. coming up next, we'll talk about

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carry on. (announcer) 28 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. welcome back. i'm cheryl jennings. today we're talking about temptations and dangers of drug use that is teenagers face every year. a baseball slugger finally admitted steroid abuse, mark mcguire said he used steroids

when he broke the home run record. >> not here to discuss the past but here to be positive about this. >> that was then when he refused to testify for steroid abuse. this is now. >> i was using steroids. >> frustrated by injuries, he denied using them for performance. they say he helped them get back to the field. it was an admission that hardly came as surprise. jose canseco that they juiced up in the bathroom together. others had share their suspicions. >> when he he picked me up from behind bear hug and i never felt strength like that that. >> they played together in 1990 but it does more than clear his name. >> it's like walking around with

a straight jacket, you don't to have wear the straight jacket. hey, i made a mistake. >> baseball analyst says the announcement only helps his image and his chances at the hall of fame. >> i don't think it hurts at all. anybody that has to be an idiot that -- >> he us used steroids during te off-season while playing with the oakland a's and on occasion during the home run record setting season. >> a journalist exposed barry bonds' steroid use and has since been indicted to a false statements to a grand jury. >> most people believe that it gives you a big benefit, you get over injuries and you can hit the ball aheader and more

authority. he wouldn't have been the player he was without the drug. >> cecilia vega, "abc 7 news." >> in the studio with me to talk about how steroids are affecting the lives of kids is dr. neelesh kenia from kaiser permanente. thank you for being with us. what do kids think out of this. being a stars and being successful so they would ko this. >> i think a lot of kids think they will become better athletes by taking steroids. you may get bigger muscles butno never shown to improve sports performance. a lot of kids want to be stronger and look better. they don't realize that a lot of side effects don't help you in that way. you may have bigger muscles but a lot 6 other problems. >> reporter: what are some of

the side effects lwh there is a long list. how you are going to list for men, it's breast development. it kak cause your testicles to shrink. for women, significant problems, as well. it can cause deepening of the voice and cause hair on the face. so things like that. for both men and women severe problems, weight, acne, hair loss, heart problems. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, psychological problems, mood swings. a significant amount of aggression and increase of suicide as well. >> reporter: so when they come to you you can recognize it right away? >> it's not always easy but you see kids that were skinny 14-year-olds and two months later they have gained 30 pounds

and muscles everywhere. hey something else is going on. it's way more in boys. boys much more likely. statistics are cited as high as 10 to 11% of teenage boys. >> reporter: that is amazing with all of the knowledge about the dangers. does it surprise you? >> not necessarily. kids are looking for any way they can to be a better athletes and they'll read a lot. one of the bad things about googling anything you can find a lot of information. but find information hey i'm going to a better athlete. >> reporter: what is your advice? >> one of the most important things to parents is ask questions. as parents and doctors and

coaches, if we ask those questions, create a safe confidential environment you can get a lot of information and preventative health. we try to prevent things and educate kids there are ways by eating well, exercising well and getting stronger that won't harm the body. >> reporter: good advice. unfortunately we are out of time for this segment. we do have much more coming up. we're going to hear from a longstanding treatment center in the bay area. so stay with us, we'll be right back.

welcome back to "beyond the headlines", i'm cheryl jennings. today we're talking about our young people and they are affected deeply about substance abuse. the death of a 14-year-old girl at her own slumber party has devastated a neighborhood coop. she recently graduated from school in santa rosa and she died after she drank a drink spiked with alcohol. >> zhee was out going and social. she loved music and the theater. 14-year-old had just graduated from rincon valley middle school

and was looking forward to high school. she lived with her mother and stepfather in a gated community in the hills of santa rosa. on saturday night, she invited three friends for a sleepover. assistant sheriff says her mother was awakened in the middle of the night. >> about 2:00 a.m. in the morning, she was vomiting. the mother cleaned it up but didn't realize she food poisoning and went back to sleep. they tried to wake up their daughter and she was unresponsive. >> investigators say they found evidence that the girls were drinking sodas mixed with alcohol. >> it was a vodka bottle. >> they say the mother found her unconscious on the bed and she died later in the hospital. a school district survey shows there is growing alcohol problem. each school is now reaching out

to students with the best behavior program. >> these discussions are held that drugs and alcohol, usage and consequences in life and making good choices and making healthy choices. >> but this 14-year-old says there is a lot of drinking. >> it's around everywhere, all kids are drinking like kids 13 years old. >> she is very careful at parties. >> i have friends and drink when i go over to their house, i have to bring like water. i only drink water. >> to make sure that nobody spikes it? >> yeah. >> in the studio the ceo for the haight-ashbury for walden house, a substance abuse treatment center here in san francisco. the story we heard is so sad. nobody knows how that bottle got there or came from. some adults somewhere this have a bottle and adults have a huge

influence on kids? >> absolutely. >> in terms of what they have in the house. from your experience, how much of influence is it? >> enormous influence on their children. it's particularly around alcohol because alcohol is legal for parents think it's legal and some parents better they do it under my watch. so it's similar encouraging to alcohol use with their kids. there is no youth using alcohol. >> from your own experience, but you are ceo emerged clinic but you had been there under different circumstances. tell me your story. >> when i was 25 years old i was clinic at the clinic and went through the program. i i didn't think i was going to

be ceo but i concluded the program and finished by doctor's degree and went to harvard and got the doctors. >> my goodness. what about your life with drug and alcohol and influences on them? >> it's an enormous influence on kids. particularly kids nine and ten. generation where many parents experimented with drugs and alcohol but it doesn't mean that you can talk about the dangers and adolescents are not meant to use drugs and alcohol. >> what affect does it have? >> typical youth use alcohol and marijuana and then after that is

prescription drugs. at a critical point in the development, kids at that age just developing judgment and the ability to make decisions. oh using substances at that point it's very risky. it will influence how they are as adults. >> do you see much meth use among kids? >> not as much. not as much as we do as adults. >> it's prescription drug abuse? >> drug drug abuse. >> so it's about behaviors and modeling. >> thank you so much for being with us. we do have to take another break. we're going skov out one california program works to keep teens busy and away from drugs. stay with us. we'll be right back. can i eat heart healthy without giving up taste?

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there is unique program to keep kids healthy and safe. the program is called friday night live in the studio to tell us more about it. katrina who is the coordinator and also a participant of the program. i want you to tell us because i know your organization. tell us more about that friday night live is statewide systems we try to get involved to transform the communities and they themselves are transformed by building leadership skills. >> you and robin have a pretty cool project. it's called healthy approach. tell into about that. >> we con vird a store. >> a grocery store. >> we converted it into a

healthier store for our community. >> what was the name? >> it was on fifth avenue in redwood city. >> this is picture of the store there and picture of all the people involved and store owners. were you shocked they did not want to sell alcohol and cigarettes? >> yes. i was shocked because most stores are looking into it. the profit from alcohol and tobacco. >> why did you want to get involved with this? >> i want to get involved, a lot of my community we have so many corner stores, we think of alcohol when we think of corner stores. i want to do younger brother and i want them to grow up in a community where they corner store that is healthy. >> you are amazing. tell me about how big this project is. >> so this is really sweeping across the country as a movement.

i think people across the country are saying, i want to be able to have access to healthy fruits and vegetables for my families. and it's partnering young people to to really be able to make those changes. >> obviously this is an example of being a leader. how do you get the training for it? >> we are training people so they can find out what they really want in stores and really show the owners that they are able to put health before profits in the xuicht. we can teach them all the leadership skills they need to take on and really do it themselves. >> it hard to take ownership of this and i dock this. were you nervous about it? >> it's something you want to do for your community. i wasn't nervous. >> so how long did it take you

to get the confidence? >> it took me a while. i took me three years. it took me a while. >> you never got in trouble and stayed in school? >>. >> it's part of the reason why this program is so successful. it does so much to help kids in so many ways. >> the thing people, every time you are in california the young people are the children to get involved and to really get the skills to succeed in life. >> what is your message too people that are kind of on the echblg? >> get involved. that is the key to be successful. for me, involvement and leadership was a big role because it opened a lot of opportunities to me going to school, staying in school and transforming a community. >> so opening doors for you is really big? >> really big, yeah. >> what are you studying?

>> i'm studying music production and i would like to behind the scenes in a studio, probably here. >> you got the leadership skills right there. >> thank you so much for what you are doing. >> unfortunately we are out of time but very special thanks to all of our guests joining us today. that is it for this edition of "beyond the headlines", we have information available for you on our website at abc7news.com. also something new for you, you can find us on facebook under community fairs on abc and follow me on twitter. that is going to do it for us. i'm cheryl jennings, thanks for joining us. have a great week and we'll see you next time. bye for now.