|
By Maressa Nicosia,
The Saratogian
Published Saturday, May 15, 2010
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It’s
that time of year again.
The weather is warming and the school year is drawing to a
close. Teens are getting spiffed up and ready to don their
tuxedos and gowns for the prom. Graduation parties will be in
full swing next month.
And, officials at The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention
Council of Saratoga County continue their work to prevent drug
use and underage drinking among teens.
"This is a time of year where kids are uniquely vulnerable,"
said Judy Ekman, Prevention Council executive director. "Proms
and graduations are enormously special times in the lives of
both a young person and their parents, so we really want to keep
those times as happy and healthy as everybody intends for them
to be."
A major part of the organization’s work is using grants to host
trainings for local law enforcement. The Council has teamed up
with the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS),
New York State Park police and Spa State Park to offer its
second annual training for law enforcement agencies in Saratoga
County. Training will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday,
May 20, in the administration building at Spa State Park. Up to
80 law enforcement personnel can participate.
In addition to a classroom session, the training will include
local teens staging a mock party on the grounds of the Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, where police can apply the dispersal
techniques they learned.
"In this time of law enforcement cutbacks, it’s so important to
maximize the police’s ability to prevent underage drinking,
which can have such tragic consequences, such as driving under
the influence of alcohol, physical violence, or unwanted or
unplanned sexual encounters," Eckman said.
School staff and teens themselves need to take responsibility,
too, officials say.
In a 2008 survey conducted by the Saratoga Partnership for
Prevention, about 25 percent of Saratoga Springs high school
students in grades 11 and 12 reported being "drunk or high at
school" within the last year.
While the survey shows that drug and alcohol use by teens at the
school hasn’t changed significantly since 2006, a newer
nationwide trend — the abuse of prescription drugs — is now a
concern, said John Kelly, a Saratoga Springs police officer and
the school’s resource officer.
"We are worried about the prescription drug issue more this year
and the last couple years, where kids are finding it easier to
get their hands on them and they sometimes offer the same effect
as alcohol and marijuana," Kelly said.
He trains teachers and staff members that in the absence of
signs of alcohol or marijuana use, such as red eyes or odor,
they should look out for lethargy and confusion, which could
mean teens are abusing prescription drugs.
But parents are the most important part of the equation when it
comes to preventing drug and alcohol use among teens.
"Everybody has done everything that we can as a group but when
it comes right down to the night of the prom, the parents are
the biggest influence," Eckman said.
Robin Lyle, community mobilization specialist at the Prevention
Council, said next week’s party patrol training was planned
partially in response to data that shows teens in Saratoga
County are drinking at house parties more frequently than they
are going to bars or purchasing alcohol.
"This is addressing the social hosting side where parties are
happening in homes or outdoors," Lyle said. "Sometimes parents
look the other way."
Kelly agrees.
"A lot of the education has to do with the home life of kids,"
he said.
And it has to do with societal norms that link celebrations with
the consumption of alcohol, he said.
"I think it’s imperative that parents also prove to the kids
that you can celebrate and have a good time with no alcohol,"
such as by throwing an alcohol-free graduation party, Kelly
said.
The council is also promoting an anonymous tip hotline,
1-866-UNDER-21, that community members can call if they hear
about parties that are planned.
"The great thing is that (we’re) getting to the place where the
whole community is standing behind this kind of effort," Eckman
said, noting she’s seen greater involvement by law enforcement
and local government to prevent teen drug use and underage
drinking in the last 10 years.
"There’s a new acknowledgment that keeping kids safe and healthy
is too big a task to be left just to families and schools and a
professional agency. It’s something that all of us have a piece
of."
For more information on this issue or the law enforcement
training planned for May 20, call the Prevention Council at
581-1230 or go to www.preventioncouncil. org.
|
