PROGRESS MADE IN FIGHT AGAINST YOUTH DRUG ABUSE

There are plenty of successes to celebrate in the community's
initiative against youth drug and alcohol use. But many challenges remain.

Two of the men who are helping to lead the fight against illicit drug
use and underage drinking in the community gave an update on local
efforts Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Delta.

The occasion was the bi-annual meeting of the Partners Youth
Mentoring program of Delta, Montrose, and Ouray counties, and of its
affiliate organization, the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention program (YSAP).

Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee teamed up with Montrose Police Chief
Tom Chinn to give an authoritative presentation on the successes and
challenges faced by the two agencies as they work closely together on
the substance abuse problems of the region.

McKee and Chinn presented a generally positive assessment of the
progress being made in combating youth substance abuse, while
acknowledging there is still a lot of work to be done. "We are seeing
(positive) changes, and we are making a difference," McKee said. He
gave much credit to the work of groups like Partners and YSAP that
are "stepping up to the plate," and who play an important role in the
overall community effort.

But the issues of medical marijuana and of legalized marijuana are
responsible for magnifying the difficulties for law enforcement in
combating youth substance abuse, McKee explained.

He gave an account of a parent who was growing medical marijuana
legally in the family home. His kids were stealing it and selling it
to their friends at school. Such situations are extremely tough to
charge and prosecute because the pot was being legally grown, McKee
pointed out.

The backers of legalized marijuana, who are mainly well funded
interests located outside Colorado, are putting on a full court press
to get their agenda adopted. "There will be 14 different bills
introduced in the Colorado Legislature this year dealing with
legalized marijuana," McKee said. "It is hard for me to understand,
especially when pot is still illegal with the federal government."

Chief Chinn concurred completely with McKee's assessment of the
situation. "What is the message we are sending to kids? They see
marijuana as legal, and we are seeing more and more of it with kids."
He said his department is also seeing more prescription drug abuse by
youth, and some newer synthetic drugs are also appearing on the streets here.

The youth substance abuse problems that law enforcement encounter
begin all too often where the first line of defense has broken down.
That line of defense is the family home itself, and particularly the parents.

Too many parents in the community wrongly regard young adolescent
exposure to alcohol or pot as a "rite of passage" that they, the
parents themselves, may have gone through.

"We are finding that drug offenders very often were introduced to
drugs or alcohol the first time by their own parents," said Juan
Gallegos, a county probation officer who also serves on the board for
Prevention and Recovery Delta County.

Partners Mentoring of Delta Montrose Ouray has launched its own
effort to find more effective ways of communicating with parents
about the real dangers posed by youth substance abuse, according to
Gayle Davidson, executive director.

While law enforcement, Partners Mentoring, YSAP and others are all
working in their own ways dealing with the youth substance abuse
problem, they have also been joined by one other powerful force -- a
Teen Advisory Board consisting of 22 school-aged young adults are
volunteering on a regular basis to advise, befriend, tutor, and
mentor peers who need social support to make their ways through the
difficult adolescent years and make the right choices.

"Really, when it comes to the problem kids, we're dealing with a
minority of them," Chinn said. "But legalizing everything won't make
the problem go away."