DRUG FORUM DRAWS NATIONAL INTEREST

WILLIAMSBURG -- Drug prevention is so high on the radar screen that the
White House is watching how a local initiative plays out.

The Historic Triangle Substance Abuse Coalition is hosting a town hall
Wednesday night about the pros and cons of testing student athletes. A
press conference has been scheduled to draw more attention, and a dozen
students were planning a pro-testing picket.

The WJC School Board has heard two presentations on drug testing but has
deferred voting until after the forum.

Local parent Dee McHenry, who helped organize a parental task force seeking
testing for high school athletes, recently called the Office of National
Drug Control Policy to request one of two booklets on student drug testing
the agency publishes.

"I'd never actually talked to anyone there before," McHenry said Tuesday.
"But when they heard it was Williamsburg, they said they were very aware of
our efforts and their drug czar [John P. Walters] wanted to know how it
turns out."

More promotion came from Dr. Andrea Barthwell, herself a former deputy drug
czar who now works on the local level in Chicago against marijuana usage.
She helped defeat an Illinois bill to legalize marijuana.

Barthwell joined the Bush administration in January 2001. When she left in
July 2004, she was in charge of "Demand Reduction," which included
prevention and intervention.

"When I got home, I was confronted by my son's middle school principal
because they had found a fifth-grader with marijuana," Barthwell said. "I
had been working on the national level against drugs but hadn't done enough
at the local level to protect my own child."

Why Williamsburg?

"The students are asking for it," Barthwell said. "They're asking for help
from responsible adults."

Barthwell enlisted the help of John Pastuovic, whose Chicago public
relations firm specializes in issues promotion. He's sent alerts to local
and national media about Wednesday's press conference, including to the
networks, cable news and major newspapers.

"There's been lots of interest," he said. "No commitments until the last
minute, but I think they do that to harden my arteries."

Should the national media turn out, they'll get some visuals to shoot.
Students advocating drug testing plan to hold an informational picket
outside the library.

"Random student drug testing is a valuable tool that gives students another
reason to say no when approached to use drugs," said Christine Bottles, a
junior at Jamestown High.

Pastuovic said the issue appealed to him because he has two young children.
"I'd like to see a policy in place so that kids like my own have a good
reason to say no if they're offered drugs.

"Random drug testing is important because children become addicted more
rapidly than adults, and their recovery is less likely," said DeForest
Rathbone, chairman of National Institute of Citizen Anti-drug Policy, in a
news release that will go out Wednesday. "The intent of this program is not
to punish students. The goal is to deter kids from using drugs."

Watchdog groups could see the issue here as a test case for how difficult
it is to implement a drug-testing policy at the grassroots. If the effort
fails, it could serve as a live manual on what to do differently.

Discussion over drug testing began almost a year ago, and the parent task
force pushing for implementation was formed last fall. The group hopes to
have testing in place by September, but that's iffy even if the School
Board approves the plan in June.

McHenry said she e-mailed numerous national groups looking for information
and advice, but she never expected the focus on what's happening here.
"What I hope is that it causes the School Board to say 'This is bigger than
Williamsburg.'"