WESTBROOK – Teenage drug and alcohol abuse is a plague in Westbrook – a community problem that needs a community solution, participants in a public forum concluded Monday.

“This is an epidemic,” said Bruce Dyer, moderator of a panel convened to lead the forum and a Westbrook High School substance abuse counselor for a decade.

A mix of 80 people, including school administrators, parents and students, attended the forum, created to unite the community to deal with teenage substance abuse issues in the city.

Dyer was joined by Kyle Shangraw, a former Westbrook High School soccer star who told about his battle with substance abuse; Westbrook Public Safety Director Michael Pardue; Cumberland County District Court Judge Keith Powers; and Saccarappa School Principal Kathryn Hersom.

Dyer, a former pastor at First Baptist Church in Westbrook, said smoking pot and underage drinking have become normal high school behavior.

“This is a community issue,” said Dyer. “It affects all of us.”

Shangraw’s story, which he shared with the forum, more than proved Dyer’s point.

Shangraw, a 2005 Westbrook High School graduate and an all-state soccer player, said he went to college on scholarships. He attended the University of Maine following a two-year school in Syracuse, N.Y.

His problems began in junior high school in Westbrook, when older kids asked him to smoke marijuana and he wanted to be cool. Subsequently he took prescription pills.

“It was the best feeling I ever had – no anxiety, no fear,” he said. “My family didn’t know what was going on.”

He recalled driving to Maine from Syracuse to stock up.

“I couldn’t stop. If I stopped I got sick,” he said.

Things only got worse. His addiction included heroin. He was kicked out of rehab once because of a relationship with a girl.

“I went to a psych ward,” he said.

At age 21, he said, “I didn’t want to live.”

Monday night, he acknowledged his family members, who were in the audience, for getting him the help he needed.

“I thank my family for my recovery. I can’t imagine putting you guys through this.”

Shangraw said substance abuse can “take anybody,” no matter where they come from. He said he grew up in a family that was well off.

“I’ve never seen my parents drink,” Shangraw said.

He said he harmed a lot of people and now is dedicated to helping others.

“Instead of why me,” he said, “it turned into, ‘Who can I help?’”

Shangraw said he has been sober since Dec. 28, 2009.

Powers said the substance abuse problem is rampart and getting worse.

“It is real, it’s not just Westbrook,” Powers said, adding that families have disintegrated because of the problem.

Speaking about troubled home lives for children, Hersom said children as young as age 5 tell teachers they’ve seen their parents handcuffed, “and tell us as though they’re ordering a saucer of ice cream.”

Hersom said the children’s ability to study in school is hampered by problems at home.

“This isn’t just a kid issue, it’s a parents issue, it’s a community issue,” Hersom said.

Steve Webster, a South Portland detective who lives in Westbrook and has two children in high school, was one of several people who spoke from the public podium.

“I’ve seen more dead people from overdose than everyone in this room combined,” Webster said.

Not all young people have been so fortunate as Shangraw. Powers told of five kids in his drug court who were no longer alive.

“It’s very sad,” Powers said.

Webster urged the panel to find solutions. “Think outside the box,” Webster said.

Pardue said Monday’s was first of many more meetings.

“We are stepping out in front,” he said.

Dyer thanked Shangraw for his courage to return to his hometown to speak.

“I think this is just a beginning,” said Shangraw, who drew applause from the audience.

Dyer said plans are under way for high school students to meet in conferences with seventh-and eighth-graders this month. Dyer is asking parents to contact him at dyerb@westbrookschools.org or 854-0810, ext. 459.

Westbrook High School 2005 graduate Kyle Shangraw, left, chats with Superintendent Marc Gouse before Monday’s forum about youth substance abuse. (Staff photo by Robert Lowell)