GROUP WON'T GET DRUG PROGRAM GRANT

Coordinator Not Giving Up Hunt For Funds

A Beaches anti-drug coalition will not receive a grant to pay for a
youth counselor and other measures to stem drug abuse at the Beaches,
which have the highest rate of student drug abuse in Duval County.

The state drug control office in Tallahassee notified the Join
Together Jacksonville coalition Tuesday that it will not receive the
$50,000 Drug Free Community Support Grant.

The grant would have funded a full-time drug intervention counselor
at the Beaches Resource Center, a social services center at Fletcher
High School. It would also have paid for a survey to measure
community resources such as community centers, athletic programs and
after- school programs that keep youth busy. The grant would also
help set up focus groups to help determine why students take drugs.

Penny Christian, the coordinator of the Beaches Resource Center, was
saddened by the news but is not giving up the search for funding.

"Of course, I'm disappointed," Christian said. "But I'm an optimist.
I'm hopeful that this will be recognized as an important thing for
our community."

The news comes as University of North Florida professors Ken and
Sharon Wilburn released the results of their 2000 drug, alcohol,
tobacco and violence survey that shows a continuing trend of Beaches
students having the highest rate of drug use in Duval County.

The county's students were asked about their use of 22 different
drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. Beaches students had the
highest rates for 12 of the drugs, including cocaine, psychedelics,
heroin, tranquilizers and barbiturates.

As examples, 9.7 percent of Beaches students surveyed said they have
used LSD compared to the countywide average of 7.9 percent. For
cocaine, 8.3 percent of the Beaches students said they've used the
drug, compared to 7.3 percent countywide. For heroin, 6.3 percent of
Beaches students said they use it compared to 5.5 percent countywide.

The study shows that 24.7 percent of Beaches students had tried
marijuana at least once, the second-highest rate after Westside
students. For alcohol, 57.3 percent of the Beaches students said they
had consumed alcohol at some point in their life, the third-highest
rate after Mandarin and the Westside.

The results were similar to 1999 and 1998 surveys.

The anonymous survey is given to sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, 10th- and
12th-graders. It's used to develop community and school programs to
reduce drug abuse and to examine long term patterns and trends. Self-
reporting is the best and most valid way to measure drug abuse other
than making students take drug tests, Ken Wilburn said.

The survey also measures influences that stop students from using
drugs. Family values have traditionally been the greatest deterrent,
Wilburn said. For the first time, the survey shows that education
about drugs' harmful effects surpassed family values as the thing
that keeps students away from drugs, he said.

Dan D'Alesio, the Jacksonville juvenile justice program administrator
who helped apply for the grant, theorizes that Beaches youth have a
higher rate of drug use because they are generally more affluent and
have cars and time on their hands to buy drugs.

Wilburn agreed that economics plays a significant role.

"It [Beaches] tends to be an upscale community," Wilburn said.
"Sometimes it has to do with the economy. Sometimes it has to do with
a drug being a fad. Sometimes a drug is a problem with adults and it
spills over into children."

Jacksonville should learn by late August if it will receive another
federal Drug Free Community Support Grant, its third one, for
$75,000, D'Alesio said. That grant funds a parent resource center and
training programs that teach parents how to talk with their children
about drugs.

"You can't win them all," D'Alesio said. "We think that's [counselor]
still a need. We still want to do that."

Christian and D'Alesio said they will look for other sources of
funding and analyze the grant to see if they could do a better job
next time.

Another statewide study, the 2000 Florida Youth Substance Abuse
Survey conducted by the Department of Children and Families on 65,246
middle and high school students, showed that 43.2 percent of 15- to
17-year- olds across the state reported they had taken an illegal
drug at least once in their lifetime.

In Duval County, the figure was 47.5 percent for the same age group.
When alcohol is added to the mix, the number goes up to 72.9 percent
statewide for the same age group and 70.1 percent for the same age
group in Duval County.