ALLIANCE FIGHTING SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Trying New Angles and Approaches

They may not wear uniforms or carry handcuffs, but members of
Cranbury's Municipal Alliance Committee are hard at work this year
protecting and educating Cranbury residents of all ages about the
dangers of substance abuse.

"We've decided to divide our energies into education for the
children, education for the community, our seniors and parents and
then alternative activities for our teenagers," Cranbury Municipal
Alliance Chairwoman Jane Holland said.

The Municipal Alliance was established in 1990 to coordinate
community efforts to reduce drug and alcohol abuse. This year,
Cranbury's group is trying to reach residents from different areas of
the community, especially children, teens and seniors, Ms. Holland said.

The alliance's goals for this school year are to increase the amount
of education in younger grades to prevent substance abuse in the
younger grades, involve teenagers in more activities that will
educate them about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, start
introducing more programs to seniors in the community and develop a
stronger working relationship with Princeton Township.

In Cranbury, the alliance has to work especially hard at reaching
students in their younger years, before they attend Princeton High
School, where the Alliance has less of an influence, she said.

"One of the big concerns for us is that, since our teenagers go to
Princeton High School, it's important for us to educate them on
making responsible decisions before they go there," said. "Because
once they're there, we can no longer have the level of control there
that we have at Cranbury School where we can address these problems," she said.

In September, the Alliance bought new materials for teaching health
at Cranbury School, including "beer goggles," educational games with
questions about substance abuse, work books, DVDs and videos. Ms.
Holland said the group had some of the materials out for Cranbury Day
and was pleased with students' response.

"We had out a liver that had been affected by alcoholism and a lung
that was affected by tobacco use and we had the goggles and we also
had a game out called Wheel of Misfortune, which was about the
effects of the drugs," she said. "The kids were pretty enthusiastic
about it, so I'm sure when we use them in the classrooms, they'll
have the same reactions."

The Alliance also bought a banner about drug resistance for Cranbury
School and provided handouts for students during Red Ribbon Week, a
national drug resistance week that took place in Oct. 23 through Oct. 27.

Providing teens with activities that serve as alternative options to
drug and alcohol use is one of the main focuses for the Municipal
Alliance, Ms. Holland said.

"It's just to show them they can have fun and have something to do
with their friends that does not have to involve alcohol and drugs," she said.

There is a free game night that will be held Dec. 15 for Cranbury
students who attend Princeton High School. At the event, which will
be held at The Fun House in Hightstown, the Alliance will also hand
out materials about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

On Jan. 19, the group will be holding a free event at Cranbury School
called Jam Fest, where middle school bands can play music while other
students relax and play games like ping-pong and air hockey.

The Alliance also will be sponsoring sixth-through eighth-grade
Cranbury students in a statewide contest, to which students can
submit an original, 30-second script for a public service
announcement on drugs and alcohol. The winning script will be aired
on television, Ms. Holland said.

"Our plan is to have a contest in the school and we will award prizes
for the best choices in our school and then submit them to the
state," she said. "The one that wins at the state level will be
turned into a public service announcement."

In May, the Alliance will team up with the Cranbury Recreation
Department for the second year in a row to hold a teen event known as
Battle of the Bands. The event, held in the Cranbury School
auditorium, gives high school bands a chance to compete for local fame.

"We had a great turnout," Ms. Holland said of last year's event,
which included six local bands. "It was really popular with the kids.
It's one of the few occasions where high school bands get to perform
for an audience of their peers."

Ms. Holland said the alliance is especially interested in reaching
out to senior citizens this year, a group that is not often thought
of when trying to protect against substance abuse.

On Nov. 16, the group will be bringing a speaker from the National
Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence to Fellowship Hall in the
First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury to talk to local seniors about
prescription drug abuse, Ms. Holland said. The free event is being
co-sponsored by the church. All community members are welcome to attend.

Reaching out to Cranbury's seniors through events like this is
important because the number of seniors is always increasing, she said.

"Oftentimes, you have seniors taking multiple medications and they're
not always aware of what the interactions are, or they're used to
having a drink before dinner or wine with dinner and suddenly they've
been prescribed a medication that has a contradiction with that," she said.

Ms. Holland said steering students at Cranbury School and Princeton
High School away from drugs and alcohol is a crucial mission
nowadays. Though she doesn't know to what extent it is a problem, she
said she is sure there are cases of drug use in Cranbury.

"We do know from past experience that, ordinarily, the No. 1 drug of
choice when the police do run into it is alcohol, and statistically,
in the state of New Jersey, there's a growing problem with underage
drinking," she said. "The state really feels now that alcohol is the
gateway drug."

Cranbury's Municipal Alliance is a group that is not often noticed in
Cranbury, Ms. Holland said. But the Alliance and Township
Committeeman Wayne Wittman, who serves as the Alliance's township
representative, want to change that. Ms. Holland added that Cranbury
seems like it doesn't have a major drug problem; however, the
Alliance and the community have to work to keep it that way.

"We're so small and it seems that we're surrounded by our farms and
our historical buildings," she said. "And we forget that we really
are in the middle of a very large state. We're very near the
turnpike, we're between Philadelphia and New York and we're very
close to Trenton, and all of those places have problems with drugs."