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Letter Published:
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Saratogian
One person’s celebration is another person’s
promotion. If Skidmore students think that the
recent 420 “celebration” of pot on the Skidmore
campus affects no one, they’d better look at the
facts. The Partnership for Prevention and the
Saratoga Springs City School District collaborate in
a biannual student survey measuring drug use, risk
behavior and the factors in the community, school
and family that either contribute to youth problems
or protect growing children.
In the 2008 survey, 36 percent of high school
seniors in Saratoga Springs reported having used
marijuana in the past 30 days, nearly twice the
national norm of 19 percent. Further, 60 percent of
seniors perceive that the values of this community
favor alcohol and drug use, a risk factor that is
predictive of even higher future use.
There is clearly a marijuana problem among our older
youth. Research on the adolescent brain demonstrates
long-term harm from regular marijuana use, including
impaired reasoning, a connection with adult mental
illness and, yes, addiction — nearly 300,000
Americans enter drug treatment every year because of
addiction to marijuana. For many, marijuana serves
as gateway, normalizing a relationship with illegal
drugs, dealers and mood maintenance through
chemicals.
Students smoking marijuana in this way are not just
an issue for the college. You can be certain that
the word is circulating widely through the high
school, further reinforcing the perception that
Saratoga Springs supports this illegal activity. We
wouldn’t want to be in shoes of the police
department’s DARE or Student Resource officer
answering student questions about why users were not
arrested.
Skidmore and its students are wonderful community
citizens. The faculty, staff and students serve on
many nonprofit boards, including those of the
Prevention Council and the Partnership for
Prevention. Students contribute thousands of hours
of community service to dozens of causes, becoming
role models for the community’s youth and children.
The Prevention Council, the District Attorney’s
office, the school district, the Saratoga Springs
Police, the DEA Task Force and the NY State Police
work closely together in the effort to build a
healthy, safe community. This one incident can
undermine a huge investment of time, energy and
money in our youth.
In response to the problem the DA has called for a
meeting with Skidmore and the police to address the
criminal and community consequences. The Partnership
Youth Committee and school district are sponsoring a
Student Summit on May 9 on underage drinking and
illegal drugs. Hopefully, the energy, passion and
concern arising from this incident can serve as a
catalyst for positive community change.
Judy Ekman, Executive Director, The
Prevention Council
James A. Murphy III, Saratoga County
District Attorney
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