The Southampton community – one of America’s ritziest – is reeling from illegal drug and alcohol abuse.
During the first meeting of Southampton’s Community Against Substance Abuse (CASA), a group created to battle the epidemic, drug experts, law-enforcement officials and parents testified last week to the skyrocketing abuse of drugs and alcohol among the area’s affluent youth.
“We’ve seen numbers that suggest 80 percent of 10th-grade boys, for example, are taking drugs or alcohol,” said CASA spokesman Sean Deneny, 54, who also serves on the town’s school board. “This is a wake-up call to parents.”
Deneny added that the substance abuse in Southampton exceeds the national average by about 15 to 20 percent.
The scourge has prompted Southampton School District officials to upgrade their drug-testing program at the local high school to include a sophisticated urine test that measures temperature as well as the presence of drugs.
“Up till now, the kids have been outsmarting us,” Deneny admitted. “They’ve been paying other clean kids for their drug-free urine and storing it in their locker for when it’s needed.”