COALITION FIGHTING SUBSTANCE ABUSE

A webcast by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America on Thursday
will explore the role of geography in drug abuse prevention.

Every community - from the largest to the smallest - is presently
faced with drug abuse problems, said Judy Hills, director of economic
and community development at the East Carolina Council of
Governments.

This webcast assembles a panel of experts to talk about the tools to
deal with this issue. Included are Alvin Brooks, president of the
Ad-Hoc Group Against Crime in Kansas City; Charles Reynolds, senior
public health analyst on substance abuse prevention for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; and Shawnee Wright, Community
Coordinator for Partners for Prevention in Allegany County, N.Y.

The 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday webcast will be live at www.MCTFT.com and at
www.cadca.org and can be viewed at no cost.

In Craven, Pamlico, Jones and Carteret counties, it may help to better
solidify the efforts of the Coastal Coalition for Substance Abuse
Prevention, an initiative of the United Way of Coastal Carolina with
the aid of the East Carolina Council.

The four-county volunteer task force has been organized for more than
a year but Coordinator Anne Hardison came on board in mid June to head
the program. She was hired through a grant from the N.C. Coalition
Institute funded by the N.C. General Assembly.

Hardison took the position after serving as the Carteret County
Healthy Carolinians director.

She said the $800,000 appropriated for eight N.C. programs coordinated
by Wake Forest University is the first state money addressing drug
abuse prevention by attempting to change the environment of cultural
acceptance of things like underage drinking and illegal use of
prescription drugs.

"One of the programs is called 'Safe Homes,'" Hardison said. It would
ask parents to keep prescription drugs locked up.

"Go out and start looking at signs, billboards, and the things
promoting alcohol," she said. "Those are the signals we are sending
our children. We need to tell them to wait until you are 21."

Hardison said the damage to young people from early alcohol use is
documented in numerous studies, particularly a pattern of drinking
alcohol before they are 15.

The brain is still developing then and that is still going on until 21
in late bloomers, she said.

"The information is out there that we need to educate ourselves and
our communities," Hardison said. "The abuse of prescription drugs
results in overdoses and deaths. Young people are out there
experimenting with illicit drugs as well as combining them with
prescription drugs. They don't know the effects. They are playing with
fire."

Hardison said volunteers from smaller task forces in all four
counties, about 95 in all, will meet in Pollocksville at 3 p.m. Aug. 6
to start collecting data and trying to get "Communities that Care"
youth surveys to determine a base line data.

Working for environmental change is a very different approach,
Hardison said.