CITIZENS OFFER IDEAS TO CURB DRUGS

Portage Residents Respond After Heroin Overdose Death

PORTAGE -- How can Portage residents keep their children from using
drugs?

Parents could conduct random drug and alcohol tests on their teens,
some said during a two-hour forum Monday.

Schools could sponsor talks by young, recovered addicts, others
said.

The community should provide healthy outlets for bored adolescents, a
teenager urged.

About 60 people gathered at Portage City Hall for the brainstorming
session, motivated by the June death of an 18-year-old Portage woman
from a heroin overdose. It was the city's fifth heroin death of a
young person in the past few years, according to Portage police officials.

Monday's meeting, designed as a follow-up to one earlier this month,
let participants talk about "better ideas, better solutions, better
strategies," said Shirley Johnson, Portage Public Schools board president.

The forum began with a review of existing prevention, enforcement and
treatment programs. Ideas included creating an online list of
resources linked to the city and Portage schools' Web sites, and
perhaps even creating a Facebook or MySpace page for teens with the
information.

It also was noted that Prevention Works, a local nonprofit agency,
already has a countywide task force researching youth substance abuse
and strategizing about ways to address the issue. That group plans to
hold town hall meetings in Portage and Kalamazoo during September to
gather community input.

The conversation then turned to what more can or should be
done.

Two high school students on the panel began by saying that an
underlying issue is teen boredom.

"Many times, the reason kids gets into these drugs is because they
don't have anything else to do," said Fatima Mirza, a member of the
city's Youth Advisory Committee and a student at Portage Central High
School.

They recommended that parents and other adults work on keeping teens
busy, and perhaps create more community programs or a youth center to
provide teens with healthy activities.

Dr. Michael Liepman, a Kalamazoo psychiatrist who specializes in
addiction, said parents also need to send a strong message that any
kind of teen substance abuse, including drinking, is
unacceptable.

To reinforce that message, he suggested parents take sobriety pledges
themselves while their children are adolescents to set a good example,
and they should lock up and monitor any prescription narcotics, such
as Vicodin, in their homes.

Liepman and Guy Golomb, director of prevention services at Gryphon
Place, also urged parents to take advantage of over-the-counter drug
tests for their children.

Emalee Sabo, a June graduate of Portage Central High School, endorsed
that idea. "If my parents did it to me, I wouldn't have a problem
with it," she said. "I'd respect them because I know they mean business."

Portage Mayor Peter Strazdas said his staff will compile and
distribute a list of the ideas suggested Monday, adding that both the
city and school district are ready to take action.

"I think this is the most productive conversation we've had in this
community in a long, long time," he said.