AGENCY ASSESSES AND BATTLES SUBSTANCE ABUSE

KILLINGLY -- Each town is different, according to Robert Brex, executive
director of Northeast Communities Against Substance Abuse in Dayville.

NECASA has been in the business of assessing those differences and
tailoring programs to combat substance abuse for the past 12 years. It is a
private, nonprofit organization that depends on federal, state, and
municipal grants, as well as donations.

"Instead of walking into a town and saying 'let's do a project,' we do
research," Brex said. "We gather local data."

The needs of a town are gauged by assessing the use of substance abuse and
conducting attitude surveys, distributed to ninth and 10th graders, Brex
said. Survey pose questions such as "In the past month, how many cigarettes
did you smoke" and "how wrong do your close friends feel it would be for
you to use marijuana."

The 'Big Three'

Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are the most commonly abused substances,
Brex said. "We call them the big three."

Ecstasy also is growing in popularity.

Survey results then are sent to a consultation center at Yale University
School of Medicine, where results are analyzed. Recommendations are then
made for the town. Committees facilitated by NECASA then form
substance-abuse prevention and social skills projects.

"Sometimes we work to form new programs if they aren't already there or we
work with the ones already in place," Brex said.

With help from funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, NECASA has
provided seed money to northeastern Connecticut towns -- including Ashford,
Killingly and Lebanon -- to implement prevention projects over the past
three years, Brex said.

NECASA recently helped Parish Hill Junior and Senior High School in Chaplin
change their seventh-grade substance-abuse prevention curriculum into a
federally recognized curriculum known as "Life Skills," according to Marcia
Sedlock, family resource coordinator.

NECASA funded the teacher training and curriculum purchase.

"We hope to start teaching it in the eighth-grade classes and having
juniors and seniors co-teach," Sedlock said.

NECASA worked in conjunction with United Services in Killingly to implement
the "All Stars" curriculum, which deals with self-esteem and
substance-abuse issues for middle-school kids, Brex said.

It also funded a project in Ashford in which sixth-through eighth-graders
published newsletters to be sent to all parents as a way to increase
awareness of issues.

"During adolescence, children tend to stop talking to their parents," Brex
said. "This is a generic way to initiate communication."