PARENTS GET DRUG WAR HELP

COALITION KICKS OFF CAMPAIGN IN DUVAL

A new effort kicks off today in Jacksonville to fight drug abuse by
increasing public service messages and offering more help for parents.

Florida first lady Columba Bush is scheduled to speak this morning at
ceremonies to introduce the coalition, called Join Together Jacksonville,
that is behind the effort.

The new coalition, a year in the making, includes several area government
and social-service agencies. Its effort is modeled after a similar group in
Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

Join Together Jacksonville has set up an information center that parents can
call for tips on talking with their children. A $100,000 federal grant is
funding the center and a coordinator, Virginia Borrok, who is the retired
executive director for Gateway Community Services.

Gateway is among several agencies involved. Others include City Hall, River
Region Human Services, the Florida Department of Children and Families, City
Center Ministries and the Duval County school system.

The Partnership For a Drug-Free America, a non-profit organization, is
working with the coalition to ask Jacksonville-area media for free airtime
and print space for messages.

Several other cities in Florida are creating such coalitions, said Don Byer,
senior vice president for the Partnership For a Drug-Free America.

"The No. 1 reason kids don't do drugs is a concern with disappointing their
parents, which is why we need every single adult in Northeast Florida
involved in this," said Byer, whose organization is known for the public
service messages that say: "This is your brain on drugs."

Bush will be in Jacksonville to support and encourage parents to talk to
their children about drugs, said Albert Wallerman, acting general counsel
and chief of staff for the state Office of Drug Control Policy.

The information center will provide speakers who can talk to groups of
parents at businesses, churches, neighborhood association meetings and other
locations, said Dick Warfel, executive director of River Region Human
Services, a treatment and prevention agency.

The center will also provide printed materials about the dangers of drug
abuse.