PRESCRIPTION FOR LAKELAND DRUG ABUSE

Spending two days with Bob Stutman, aka "America's most famous narc,"
was one of the most eye-opening events of my life. More than 3,200
people - from parents and students to law enforcement officers and
business leaders - attended meetings as part of the two-day Rx For
Lakeland event, Feb. 25 and Feb. 26, to learn about current trends in
drug and alcohol abuse in our community.

It was a rude awakening for many parents and business leaders. One of
the event's sponsors, Frank Kendrick of NuJak Development, may have
said it best: "We've been walking around with our eyes wide shut."

Stutman brought both good and bad news. He made it clear that we'll
never stop drug abuse across the board and that we can't count on law
enforcement to limit access. The average age for a child experimenting
with marijuana or cocaine is 12 1/2 years old - and that drops to
younger than 12 if you count alcohol as a drug.

Our children, from loving homes in the best neighborhoods, are going
to parties where drugs collected from their families' medicine
cabinets are dispensed by the handful. As much as we hate to admit it,
Kyle Hall's death at a South Lakeland party was just the tip of the
iceberg, judging by what other students told Stutman in closed-door
sessions.

From a workplace perspective, Stutman was fast to point out that our
long-term focus on drug testing doesn't work when the drug in question
comes easily from an Internet site, a liquor store or prescription
bottle and not a drug dealer.

The good news is that we can make a difference, one child or one
employee at a time. And if we come together as a community, we can
change Lakeland for the better.

The initial event was fully sponsored and funded by the Lakeland
members of TEC Florida, a group of business CEOs and presidents who
represent many of Polk County's major employers. But we all recognize
that we can't change the world with one two-day event and that it will
take a concerted effort from across the community to have an impact.

We're pulling together a team of experts, community leaders and
grass-roots volunteers now to come up with a plan that does work.
We've identified other communities across the country where Stutman's
presentations resulted in long-lasting positive changes and we're
talking with them to find out what worked and what didn't. Some
critical issues already are immerging:

We need more education and awareness about drug abuse at all levels of
our community. It's no longer split between the extreme of crack
cocaine addiction or an occasional joint. Kids are dying from drugs
such as "Special K" that are coming straight from our medicine cabinets.

We need to do more to detect and treat drug abuse early. Stutman said
the three most-abused drugs at George Jenkins High School are Adderal
and Ritalin, used to treat attention deficit disorder, and Oxycotin, a
potent pain reliever. All three are available by prescription - but
painfully addictive and extremely dangerous, even fatal.

We need to create or identify safe places where people can go to get
help, with programs to help the abusers, as well as their parents
and/or employers. None of us can continue to stick our heads in the
sand about drug abuse in our families, schools, neighborhoods or workplaces.

Working as a team, we must create a strategic plan that clearly
identifies actions, funding sources and expected outcomes. It will
take a team - no one person or group can tackle this immensely
important issue on their own and expect to be successful. To learn
more, or to become part of an initiative that can change our
community, please visit our Web site at www.rxforlakeland.com.