BIG GRANT:

The best approach to fighting the abuse of drugs and alcohol by young
people is to do it in a multi-faceted way.

The announcement of funding for a drug and alcohol program may just
seem like one more government program, but the effort is worth paying
attention to. In case you're not aware of it, substance abuse by young
people is one of the significant problems of Santa Cruz County. The
yearly Community Assessment Report issued by the United Way details
some of these issues:

Some 51 percent of local 11th graders have drunk alcohol in the
previous 30 days.

About 32 percent of them have smoked marijuana.

Six percent have used cocaine.

Five percent have tried hallucinogens. All those numbers are above the
state average, although it's also important to note that the numbers
have been coming down. For example, back in 1994, about 51 percent of
ninth graders acknowledged that they had drunk alcohol. By 2001, that
number had dropped to 39 percent.

There are reasons that the outlook is a little brighter. A variety of
local agencies and groups have come together to fight against the
drug- and alcohol-abuse problem. A generation ago, you would not have
seen the police cooperating with drug-treatment officials to the
extent that they do today. You would not have seen the cooperation
between the police and liquor-store operators that you do today.

In this week's event, we took note that interests as diverse as the
Santa Cruz County Public Defenders Office, the Santa Cruz chief of
police and the head of the county's drug and alcohol program all came
together to announce a new program.

That program will be administered by another group locally: the Santa
Cruz County Probation Department. What's noteworthy about all these
groups coming together is that it shows an understanding of the drug
and alcohol program. For some young people (and others who are older
as well), treatment programs work best. For others, it takes the shock
of law enforcement and an arrest for reality to hit home.

For still others, the best solution is prevention, and that might mean
that liquor store employees do a better and better job of putting a
stop to sales of liquor to teen-agers.

The new program will operate under a $1 million grant that's a
much-needed boost to a Probation Department facing cutbacks. The grant
will not mean reinventing the wheel. Much of it will be used to
enhance programs currently in place. It'll also serve to help an
estimated 150 local teens that are in intensive counseling programs.

We have long challenged local leaders to act on the information about
the high rate of drug and alcohol use by young people in this county.
We're happy to report that local officials have held up their end, and
have thrown in together for a multi-faceted approach.

The sponsor of the grant, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
obviously feels the same way, and has donated the money because of the
progress that has been made here. We give credit to those involved,
and urge them to keep working on prevention of drug and alcohol abuse.
It's a big problem, but local officials have hardly shied away from
it.