COUNTY STARTS TO COMBAT GROWING DRUG PROBLEM

Ten more people died of drug overdoses in Collier County last year
than did in 2003. Dr. Marta Coburn's medical examiner's office saw
them all.

And Collier Sheriff Don Hunter's agency is often the first called when
someone has taken drug use too far.

So it's time to address it. To figure out why it's happening and how
to try to keep young people and adults from killing themselves one
line of cocaine or one shot of heroin at a time.

The sheriff, the medical examiner, state prosecutors, mental health
experts and even a circuit court judge have formed the Collier County
Drug Free Coalition to accomplish that. Growing from an informal
committee that Hunter started more than a year ago, the coalition
formed several months ago with discussions about what its strategies
will be.

"The mission is a drug-free Collier County. Of course, we'll never
fully reach that goal. But we're hoping to address the adult drug
problems," Hunter said. "As sheriff and a member of the coalition, I'm
concerned there's a subculture developing that involves the use of
illegal drugs."

Hunter's group merged with another targeting juveniles that was
started by Collier Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie. Hunter said a
subculture among teens is growing, as shown through their style of
music, clothing and attitudes, that encourages drug use.

The coalition's members haven't yet cooked up a lot of specifics for
how it will address the growing drug problem in Collier. But Coburn,
the chief medical examiner, said she anticipates the tactics will be
mostly educational.

Most people who use drugs don't think they'll die as a result.
Shattering that false sense will be among the top priorities, Coburn
said.

Collier County had 30 accidental drug overdose deaths in 2003.
Countywide there were 40 in 2004. Those numbers don't include
intentional overdoses that would qualify as suicides.

"Most people don't have an expectation of death. They're using drugs
recreationally, and unfortunately they're mixing drugs that kill
them," Coburn said.

There are generally two groups of drug users. One consists of young
people whose use is escalating. The other involves older "drug
seeker/users" usually between ages 30 and 50, Coburn said. Many have
had a car crash or other serious injury that got them hooked on drugs,
and they go from place to place to find more.

With children, parents need to be more aware and involved. With
adults, the emphasis can be on education and intervention, Coburn said.

Existing programs can help. The schools have DARE. Collier has
juvenile and adult drug courts for people who were arrested and are
willing to plead no contest, enter treatment and serve a term similar
to probation, including frequent drug screenings. If they pass the
program, the charges are dropped. If they don't, they can end up in
jail, which has its own in-house substance abuse program, Project Recovery.

"You can't prevent something that already exists," Hunter said. "If
that addiction is already there, research shows there aren't many
treatment protocols to eliminate it. So you move toward programs to
help the person and mitigate the problems the drug use causes."

Hunter said programs that tell the communty about the health and
financial risks of drug abuse are an important step. And because the
community has such an educated population of successful professionals,
Hunter hopes to see the involvement of people who are smart and
creative to help craft that message so it sticks in the minds of those
who need to remember it.

Coburn said the coalition will model itself after one in Charlotte
County that has been effective there. It uses many existing programs,
but it does so repetitively. It does mock overdose programs in
schools. It sponsors repeated drug-awareness weeks.

Amity Chandler, director of the Community Anti-Drug Coalition in
Charlotte, said such groups are eligible for funding and assistance
from organizations such as the public school system. Her coalition
does a lot of information dissemination, showing teachers and parents
the latest on drug use.

Chandler said one important goal is to break through assumptions some
people have about drug use. For example, surveys show most middle
school students think everyone else at school does drugs. In reality,
few do.

"But perception fuels experimentation. They think everyone else is
doing it, so they want to try it," Chandler said.

For the Collier coalition, hiring an administrator would help. Such a
person can get funding and act as a point of contact for the group,
whose board members often are professionals and have full-time jobs.

Coburn said she got involved in the coalition because she sees drug
use growing too rapidly. The numbers aren't staggering yet, but
increases in population lead to increases in overdoses and crimes
related to drug use.

"It can't be as accepted as it is. We have a problem with parents who
used drugs when they were kids looking at what their children are
doing as acceptable or just as growing pains. You can't look at it
that way," Coburn said.