DRUG PREVENTION AT HEART OF DAY

KINGSTON - Sanborn Regional Middle School seventh-graders and their
relatives participated in Project Safeguard, a day of outdoor activities
and drug prevention talks, in Kingston last Friday. The event, held at the
YMCA's Camp Lincoln, aimed to dissuade students from substance use by
presenting healthy alternatives.

Students, relatives and school staff hiked, biked, fished and scaled Camp
Lincoln's 30-foot climbing wall between adult and youth addresses.

Chris Nolan, a school guidance counselor, said the community-building event
had helped expose students to safe alternatives for substance use.

"We want to provide positive alternatives to drugs and alcohol," Nolan
said. "We want to teach healthy highs."

Students' family members had the opportunity to sit in on two hour-long
prevention presentations by Tibor A. Palatinus, a speaker with Narconon
International, a nonprofit drug prevention and rehabilitation organization.
Palatinus, a former drug addict, warned his audience that bad child-parent
communication on substance use could lead to experimentation.

"If you don't answer questions about the substances, the kid will go find
out for himself," Palatinus said.

Parents who are unsure of how to field substance-related questions from
their children were offered a general definition of drugs and an
explanation of their effects that they could use to communicate with children.

"Drugs are essentially poisons. That applies to everything, and if this
definition is given to kids early enough, they will accept it," Palatinus said.

"You should tell them that a little bit of a drug will stimulate you, a
little more will put you to sleep, and a lot will kill you," he continued.

Sue Nelson, a parent of two from Newton, found Palatinus' seminar helpful
but assumes that, despite education and prevention efforts, many teens will
still experiment with substances.

"It (the seminar) gave me an idea of what to tell them when the question
arises, but sooner or later, most of them are going to try it," Nelson
said. "I just hope that common sense will play a big part in the choices
they make."

The day included a keynote speech by Steve Gerety, a professional youth
speaker and leadership trainer who encourages students to make positive
choices.

Sean Spellman, 12, attended Gerety's talk and found it "very cool."

"He talked about drugs and not doing them, he really lays it down,"
Spellman said. "I'm not going to take drugs because they mess up your head."

Andrew Gaunt, of Kingston, wanted to spend the day with his 13-year-old
daughter before it became "uncool" and said he believes community-building
events are the best ways to avert substance abuse.

"I think having activities like this and having parents involved is the
best way to do prevention," Gaunt said.

Project Safeguard, in its eighth year at Sanborn, is funded by the Sanborn
Regional School District and Drugs Are Dangerous (DAD), a group that
supports drug-prevention efforts.

DAD board and charter member Dick Gerrish, who started the organization
after a local teen's suicide, stressed the benefits of early drug-education
programs.

"For every dollar we spend in prevention, we save seven in intervention and
treatment," Gerrish said.

"The school-age population represents 20 percent of our population but 100
percent of our future," he said. "And if we neglect the needs these
children (have), we neglect the future of our towns and our of our nation."