CHURCHES TAKE ON DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE

On Sunday night, drug paraphernalia and parents took over the space
typically reserved for Bibles and teenagers at Valley View Baptist Church.

Bongs, pipes, drug-storage containers and other items hinting at
illicit behavior were displayed inside the church's student room.
Parents, teachers and other adults were on hand to learn the facts
about illegal drug use among adolescents. Teens were asked not to attend.

The gathering had a simple theme: Talk openly and frankly with
adults about teen drug use and addiction and the early warning signs.

"This is about awareness," Valley View youth minister Jason Duran
told the small group of adults.

Duran wanted adults in the church to know about the substance-abuse
reality and peer pressure facing students inside and outside the
church's walls.

"We're not saying they're here [at Valley View]. But hopefully, they
are coming Wednesday night so we get them out of that life," Duran
said of teenagers who drink alcohol or use illegal drugs.

Duran then turned the program over to Leandra Celaya, a
representative with Bradford Health Services, which provides
mental-health and addiction treatment.

Celaya has given similar presentations for years, usually at school
assemblies. Recently, however, she started reaching out to churches,
specifically Valley View. In the spring, Celaya helped organize a
prevention event for both parents and kids at Valley View. Hundreds
turned out for the presentation.

"When it happens outside of school, the message tends to have an
even larger effect," Celaya said. "They almost expect prevention
programming in the schools."

Celaya is not giving up the school presentations, but she is going
to visit other captive audiences, particularly religious
institutions. The approach by Bradford follows suggestions from the
federal government and researchers to target faith-based communities
in finding outlets for substance abuse prevention and recovery programs.

A 2001 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University first documented the connection between
spirituality, religion and substance abuse. In looking to the
future, the study recommended substance-abuse treatment
providers establish working relationships with clergy. Duran
and Celaya's partnership is an example of such a venture.

At the time, the center said its study was a call to action "to tap
into the power of religion and spirituality to help prevent
substance abuse and addiction and improve recovery."

A spokeswoman for the center said no new research has been conducted
since 2001 and could not say if more clergy and treatment providers
were forming these relationships. She did not know when, or if, any
follow-up research would be conducted.

Anecdotally, however, local clergy along with substance-abuse
treatment specialists say the relationships are gaining a stronger
presence within religious communities.

"I think you are seeing more and more pastors recognizing this as a
problem affecting not just the guys crawling around in the gutter,
but that it is also our members in a suit and tie. And it is their
children," said the Rev. Sidney Allen, a recovering alcoholic for 21
years and pastor of Beulah Baptist Church in Eutaw.

Many denominations, including Southern Baptists, have long preached
against drug use and the consumption of alcohol. The Assemblies of
God, Church of God, Church of the Nazarene are among the
denominations to take a similar stance on abstaining from alcohol.
In the past, however, that approach has had a silencing
effect, rather than a healing impact.

"You were taught not to touch it, and you were really looked down on
if you did," Allen said. "It was probably to the extent that you
wouldn't go back to that church if they knew."

Allen, who ministers to substance abusers at Calvary Baptist Church
and the non-denominational New Covenant Church, said it wasn't until
recently that the taboo subject has started to be embraced by
Christian churches. Even now, he said, much of the work he does is
one-on-one.

Dan Ireland, executive director of the interfaith ministry Alabama
Citizens Action Program, points to an increase in substance abuse
among youth. Ireland's program, which is run mostly in schools,
teaches students to abstain from any use of drugs, including
alcohol, tobacco and illegal use of prescription drugs or
over-the-counter medications. The majority of its funding comes from
Baptist churches, Ireland said.

"You know it's gotten out of hand," said Ireland, who has a
doctorate of divinity and ministry. "A lot of organizations and most
of the evangelical denominations have an interest in preaching about this."

Ireland said he hasn't come across resistance in churches to talking
about substance abuse, but that there is an issue of awareness.

"It's a matter of educating mamas and daddies that it's a problem," he said.

According to th National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
study, it's also a matter of educating clergy. While 94 percent of
clergy considered substance abuse an important issue in their
congregations, only 12.5 percent had any training during their
theological studies to address the issue, the study found.
Additionally, the study showed nearly two-thirds of clergy
- --including pastors, ministers and rabbis -- preached a sermon more
than once a year addressing the issue.

While churches have long opened their doors as a venue for holding
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, it wasn't until recently that
churches began running programs of their own, using the Bible to
help alcoholics through the recovery process. Christian-based
programs steeped in Scripture, but that echo AA's 12-step approach,
are currently being held at The Church at Tuscaloosa and New Covenant.

Besides continuing those programs, Allen said the latest challenge
is to take the message of substance abuse beyond addicts and to the
general congregation.

"I'm seeing more churches willing to do that," he said.

Both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Alabama Baptist State
Board of Missions passed resolutions this year at their annual
conventions supporting education of alcohol abuse and promoting
abstinence from alcohol.

Acknowledging the problems caused by alcohol,
including drunk-driving deaths and divorce, the state
resolution passed last month urged Baptists to be involved
in educating the public about alcohol abuse. Additionally, the
resolution asked Baptists to become involved in lobbying government
to curb alcohol use.

"It's a holistic challenge," Ireland said. "Whether you talk about
enforcement, groups like ours or churches, it is a challenge for all
of us to coordinate our efforts together to put a stop to it."