DRUG-FREE GRANT AWARDED TO BOYD, GREENUP

ASHLAND -- The Boyd and Greenup County Champions for a Drug Free Kentucky
program has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department
to continue drug-abuse programs.

The state has funded the Youth Alcohol Initiative drug-abuse programs in
five schools in the two counties for the past three years, said Veronica A.
Nunley, director of Alert Regional Prevention Center. The federal grant can
be renewed for another four years, she said.

The program involves drug-abuse curriculum at five school systems --
Ashland Independent, Boyd County, Fairview Independent, Greenup County and
Raceland Independent. It also includes funds for compliance of local
restaurants to check IDs of young customers, Nunley said.

"We train the teachers, and the teachers deliver the curriculum, primarily
in grades six through eight," she said. "It's been effective in decreasing
drug use. We're encouraged by that."

The Ashland area is among 157 communities to receive nearly $15 million
from the Justice Department for substance abuse programs aimed at
school-age students. The program, which focuses on alcohol, also has been
effective in reducing tobacco and marijuana, she said.

Middle school students have participated in drug surveys the past three
years showing a decline in drug use, said Ricky Kirk, coordinator for the
youth alcohol program at Pathways, an agency providing mental health
services in a 10-county area including Boyd and Greenup. The surveys are
given in grades six, eight, 10 and 12, he said. The next surveys will be
given in February, he said.

In addition to providing money for 21-year-olds to attempt to buy alcohol
at Ashland restaurants, the grant will fund tobacco compliance checks later
this year, Kirk said.

While 21-year-olds can legally purchase alcohol, they should be asked for
their identifications, Kirk said.

The surveys by nearly 3,000 students have shown a 10 percent decrease in
cigarette smoking by eighth-grade students from 1999 to 2001, Kirk said.

The number of students admitting to using alcohol in the past 30 days has
decreased from 29 to 20 percent in the past three years while marijuana use
is down 1 percent in the same period, he said.

The use of smokeless tobacco, however, has shown a slight increase, he said.