SUMMIT FOCUSES ON YOUTH AND DRUG USE

As Nevada fights for the sobriety of its youths, judges and law enforcement
officials are preparing to swap strategies for keeping kids drug- and
alcohol-free.

But there is no miracle cure for stopping youth drug and alcohol use, said
a Douglas County judge who will participate Oct. 17-18 in the Judicial
Summit on Youth Alcohol and Other Drug Use at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden.

"What combination of things do we need to do to be more kid-specific,
because there isn't a panacea and it's not a 'one size fits all,'" said
Judge Dave Gamble said.

Gamble said he will emphasize a three-pronged approach of prevention,
treatment and correction.

"Our comments will be directed at juvenile judges and juvenile masters and
what appears to be working," Gamble said.

Gamble said dramatic re-enactments of traffic fatalities such as "Every 15
Minutes" presented this spring by Douglas High School are one of the most
effective means of prevention.

"When you make as many people angry as that did, you're doing something
right," Gamble said.

Kathy Bartosz, who is helping coordinate the summit for Nevada's Juvenile
Justice Programs Office, said participants will be particularly interested
in hearing from rural judges.

"We'll be trying to find out how we can send a strong and more effective
message to our communities about underage drinking," Bartosz said.

"Within the rural areas we're seeing some success in the disposition of
cases, maybe because they have fewer resources and they're being more
creative."

Another method used in Douglas County to deter young people from driving
while impaired is a mandatory visit to the courts for adult sentencings.

"They see the sentencing, they hear how it affects people's lives. It's
pretty real when they have to walk up (to court) from the jail in the
basement with prisoners who are shackled," Gamble said.

Gamble said the second aspect of the triad is punishment or corrections.

"There always has to be some kind of punishment so they (minors) recognize
that losses can happen to them. There has to be a recompensing component to
it," he said.

The summit also will focus on concerns about potential problems Nevadans
might face.

Gary Booker, chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, will talk
about the ramifications of the state's marijuana initiative as it applies
to youth.

"This is a public safety catastrophe waiting to happen," Booker said in a
telephone interview from his Las Vegas office.

"We removed it from the dangerous category because it's medicinal, it's
like aspirin. And last session we downgraded (its possession) so that it's
like a traffic ticket," Booker said.

If the initiative passes, he said, "you're still going to have to be 21 to
get it. Well, they (minors) can get alcohol. How are they not going to get
this (marijuana)."

Booker's other concern is that marijuana would be in the home.

"Parents who are smoking marijuana are going to be raising their kids high,
and the kids are going to be high on second-hand smoke," he said.

Thirty-eight judges, primarily from the rural areas of Nevada will
participate in round-table discussions about adults who contribute to
underage drinking and businesses that sell to minors.

The summit is sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration in cooperation with the National Council of Juvenile and
Family Court Judges, and the Nevada Juvenile Justice Programs Office,
Nevada's Stand Tall Don't Fall and United Against Underage Drinking programs.

The project is funded by the Nevada Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.