It&8217;s happening all around us, and pretty much everyone knows it.

Friday night bonfires on a Mississippi River sandbar, after a school dance at a house party with parents right there or in smaller groups in an abandoned building, Miss-Lou teens are abusing alcohol and drugs.

&8220;Drugs do not discriminate,&8221; Metro Narcotics Cmdr. Cliff Cox said. &8220;They affect every class of people. There&8217;s no line, no ethnicity.&8221;

And teens will tell you the same. It&8217;s the cheerleaders, the eighth-graders, the preppy kids, the quiet ones, the straight-A students, the troublemakers, the seniors.

Race, gender and social status only become a factor when it comes to picking which type of drug to use.

Youth Court Judge John Hudson said the problem for the white middle class is drinking.

&8220;The drug of choice is alcohol,&8221; he said. &8220;It&8217;s a cultural thing in this town, but it has a very dangerous effect on juveniles.&8221;

One former Cathedral student who is now in college said in her high school class of about 50 she could only name four students who didn&8217;t drink or do drugs at least occasionally.

&8220;We all did it,&8221; said the student, who chose to remain anonymous. &8220;Just on the weekends, at parties. And not every weekend, but a lot.&8221;

Hudson said most kids won&8217;t admit it, and don&8217;t even realize it themselves, but drinking is the result of peer pressure. And it&8217;s a stress reliever.

&8220;It&8217;s an escape,&8221; he said. &8220;They like the way it feels. Kids don&8217;t like the taste of beer; they like the way it makes them feel.&8221;

Area principals agreed, all pegging alcohol as the No. 1 problem.

&8220;I think it&8217;s a big problem,&8221; Trinity Episcopal Day School Head of School Delecia Carey said. &8220;They are afraid of social missteps. They feel everyone is watching them every minute of the day; that&8217;s why they do it.&8221;

Counselors who work with drug and alcohol users in the Adams County Youth Drug Court have found the same thing, Drug Court Director Marc Taylor said.

&8220;Feeling is the first thing that comes to their minds,&8221; he said. &8220;But getting to the roots of it, it&8217;s peer pressure. In our therapy we find that it does stem from a lack of self-esteem. It&8217;s a way of fitting in.&8221;

And alcohol is a gateway drug, Hudson said. Parties with alcohol also open the door for other drugs.

Second to alcohol, marijuana is a big problem across race and economic lines.

&8220;The white middle class is better at hiding their usage,&8221; Hudson said. &8220;African-Americans seem to be more open. There are more arrests, but that doesn&8217;t mean the other kids aren&8217;t using.&8221;

Carey and Cathedral School Principal Pat Sanguinetti said although they think drug use has grown in recent years, it&8217;s still not as widespread as drinking among their students.

&8220;Yes, there is some drug use,&8221; Carey said. &8220;But we don&8217;t condone (drug use) in the adult culture, not the way we do drinking.&8221;

Alcohol is something that is accessible in many Miss-Lou homes, Adams County Christian School Headmaster John Gray said; it&8217;s accepted in the adult lifestyle.

Marijuana is more common in the black culture though, authorities said.

Robert Lewis Middle School Principal Bettye Bell said older friends, family and TV heavily expose her seventh- and eighth-grade students to drug use.

The enrollment at RLMS is majority black.

She said marijuana is a greater problem among boys, especially blacks, than girls.

&8220;There are no (black male) role models,&8221; she said. &8220;Nine out of 10 boys have no male figure at home.&8221;

And peer pressure is at its height in middle school, she said.

&8220;I want to rebel, I want to fit in, my hormones are raging,&8221; she said. &8220;No matter what you say, this is the rebellious age. This is the age where they don&8217;t listen.&8221;

There is some cocaine use in the Miss-Lou, Hudson said, but it is not as widespread. Cocaine, especially powder cocaine, is more expensive than marijuana, which limits its use to those with money.

Crystal methamphetamine and pharmaceuticals are also around but aren&8217;t as widely abused, he said.