WEB SITE TAKES AIM AT YOUTH DRUG, BOOZE USE

WASHINGTON - As part of the effort to stem drug and alcohol use among
ethnic youths, federal officials have launched a multilingual Web site
for parents seeking information on the issue.

The site - www.theantidrug.com - is now available in Spanish,
Cambodian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The English version has
been online since September.

While government statistics have found no significant difference in
youth drug and alcohol use by race or ethnic group, studies have shown
that communicating to ethnic populations in their native languages
increases the information's effectiveness, said Alejandra Castillo,
spokeswoman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Parental involvement also has been shown to have an effect on youth
drug use.

According to statistics from the White House office, children who
learn from their parents about risks linked to drugs are 36 percent
less likely to smoke marijuana than other young people. In addition,
they are 50 percent less likely to use inhalants, 56 percent less
likely to use cocaine and 65 percent less likely to use
hallucinogens.

The Web site's five new versions encourage parents to talk to their
children about drugs and alcohol and give tips on such matters as
setting rules on behavior and establishing curfews, to increasing the
amount of time a family spends together each week.

"For kids, they want to be cool, they want to be with their friends,
or they want to push the envelope," said Castillo. "Being able to
devise a contra to that (as a parent) is an effort. You need a lot of
information. You need to understand the challenges your children are
going through."

To increase the Web site's visibility, the White House office has
joined with other popular Spanish- and Asian-language Web sites to
include it as a link on their pages, Castillo said.

One Web site section offers role-playing techniques that parents can
use to show their children how to react if they are offered drugs or
alcohol. Another section helps parents respond to queries about their
own drug use by suggesting possible answers.

The Web site allows parents to submit questions or comments to the
anti-drug office.

Recognizing that families who recently moved to the United States may
now lack the support relatives provided in their homelands, the Web
site explains how parents can meet with teachers, doctors and other
community members to establish new ties.

Creation of the Web site is part of a five-year, $1 billion federal
campaign against drug and alcohol use that began in 1998 and targets
youths 9 to 18.

For some parents, obtaining information about combating drug and
alcohol use can be intimidating, said Lupita Rubalcava, a counselor at
D.W. Griffith Middle School in east Los Angeles.

When parents come to her with concerns, she talks to them about the
problem or gives them phone numbers to referral organizations. Now
with the multilingual Web site, they can reach such information from
their personal computers, she noted.

Parents "need to keep the lines of communication open so when a child
goes home and says, `Hey, so-and-so (said this),' the parent can have
actual facts," Rubalcava said. "That way, a child doesn't go to a
friend and get the wrong information."

Parents can reach the Web site's multilingual versions through the
English main page or by adding a backslash to the site's address and
typing "Espanol" or the name of the desired Asian language.