PINE BUSH – Technical Sergeant Doug Paquette of the New York State Police has been explaining the dangers of dangerous drugs for thirty years. He thought he'd seen it all, but there's a newbie on the block, "Powdered alcohol has been approved at the federal level. There's a nightmare coming with this," he said during a seminar on "Current Trends in Substance Abuse" held at Pine Bush High School on May 11.

The mixed up confusion at various levels of government when it comes to drugs was on full display this spring over "Palcohol." On March 12, the federal Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the stuff for sale. It was seen as just another preparation of a drug, alcohol, that is widely available already in many forms, though under various kinds of state regulation.

However, alarmed state governments are already mobilizing to ban Palcohol. Washington state, which recently joined Colorado in legalizing cannabis, moved to ban Palcohol this past month. New York's senior senator Charles Schumer has introduced a bill against powdered alcohol, too.

"I am in total disbelief that our federal government has approved such an obviously dangerous product," said Schumer in a statement. "Congress must take matters into its own hands and make powdered alcohol illegal."

Powdered alcohol comes in small plastic packets, like most illegal drugs, and according to its creator, Mark Philips, the fear about Palcohol is misplaced. He sees it as perfect for hiking and backpacking.

"Snorting it is very painful. It burns a lot," he explains in an instructional video. "Why would someone spend an hour in pain snorting this as powder just to get one shot into their system?"

Palcohol is meant to be added to prepared flavor mixes and water to provide alcoholic beverages. Contrary to already burgeoning myth, Palcohol is also only 12 proof alcohol by volume, about the strength of wine or a diluted cocktail.

But Sgt. Paquette suggested that in the hands of irresponsible young people it might simply be shaken over anything, even a cheesy pizza.

Following introductions by PBSD superintendent Joan Carbone and assistant superintendent Donna Geidel, a crowd of about fifty parents heard Paquette explain that the number one danger is all too familiar: "Alcohol impaired driving is the number one cause of teenage deaths."

Following alcohol, he said, came marijuana and heroin, then prescription drugs... and he listed Oxycontin, Numorphan, Lortab, Soma, Valium, Xanax, Ritalin, Adderal and Dexedrine as particularly popular.

In recent years the trend has been towards prescription pills stolen from home drug cabinets, Paquette continued, strongly suggesting that it was best to take left over pills from any prescriptions to the police, who will see to their safe disposal.

"Don't flush them down the toilet; adding drugs to the ground water is a bad idea," he said. "Take them to a police drop off box."

Such a box can be found in many police stations; Ellenville Police installed one a few years ago. At the Town of Crawford, you can just hand excess prescription drugs in to an officer and they will take care of them.

Paquette described "pill parties" where kids bring whatever they can gather and swap or sell them to other kids. He also noted that the number of drivers arrested for driving while intoxicated by prescription drugs had risen over the past decade.

He moved quickly over the exotica such as Molly, which is Ecstasy with a new name, GHB the date rape drug, and ketamines — which, he warned, teens can sometimes obtain from veterinarian offices where they may find summer jobs.

"A shot of ketamine will knock out a horse," he noted. "Imagine what that will do to a teenager." There are several hundred chemicals that can be brewed one way or another to produce a drug somewhat similar to Ecstasy. Paquette noted that controlling this was akin to "whack-a-mole."

"As quickly as we make something illegal, the chemists rearrange molecules and come up with something new," he pointed out.

But after showing a slide of the effects of addiction to methamphetamine ("if you race your engine nonstop for a year it burns out. It's that simple") he turned to heroin. Unfortunately, following the vogue for Oxycontin and other artificial opiates, the real thing has returned with a vengeance. Orange County police have increased arrests for narcotics, primarily heroin, fourfold in the last two years.

"A bag costs less than a pack of cigarettes," Paquette pointed out.

Asked why it was so cheap now, he replied, "Supply has increased. The cartels in Mexico are growing as much poppy as coca now. Ultimately, this is a marketing exercise. Expand the market, create new addicts, then raise the price."

Heroin can be smoked, snorted or injected. The chemicals that are used to cut the heroin powder can burn both the lungs and the lining of the nostrils.

So what should concerned parents look for?

"The eyes are crucial," said Paquette, and he showed slides of pupils that were either dilated by stimulants like cocaine, or constricted by opiates, usually heroin or Oxycontin.

Alcohol has a different effect.

"The muscles controlling the eyes are very sensitive," he pointed out. "A few drinks and you can't keep your eyes steady."

Which is why troopers will ask you to follow a finger from right to left in front of your eyes if they pull you over, suspecting a DUI offense.

While on the topic of driving under the influence, the sergeant also made the point that driving an automobile and getting high on pot are completely incompatible and referenced a study from the Netherlands done in the 1990s.

After discussing medical marijuana, and showing a slide listing the enormously complex palette of substances that can come in cannabis, many of them now thought to be medically useful, he returned to alcohol and the problem that parents face with all of these things.

"When in doubt, ask questions," he summarized. "Remember that it's your child's safety that's at stake."