TURNING THE TIDE WITH DRUG PREVENTION

Leon County is pulling its weight in the statewide march toward Governor
Bush's goal of cutting substance abuse in half in Florida by 2005.
According to the 2002 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) - the
most extensive survey of its type in the nation - Leon County's
sixth-through 11th-graders are increasingly making the right choices. Among
the findings:

* Alcohol use dropped for the first time in years. We still have further to
go to reach our goal of 20 percent or less use by 2005. Current use is at
21.4 percent; it was 34.3 percent in 2000.

* Marijuana use has gone down. In the past two years, it has declined from
19.4 percent to 12.3 percent. Our goal by 2005 is 8 percent or less.

* Our youth have raced past the state's 2005 goal of 14 percent for
cigarette use. This county's rate has dropped from 21.1 percent in 2000 to
8.4 percent in 2002. The state has surpassed this goal also. We will now
make our objective even lower.

* Our youth have moved away from traditional drugs that are abused: heroin
(0.0-percent use), crack cocaine (0.2 percent), cocaine (1.7 percent) and
methamphetamine (0.7 percent). Even Ecstasy use is down to 2.1 percent.

What is the key to success? Commitment to drug-prevention efforts by local
coalitions. The Tallahassee/Leon County Anti-Drug Anti-Violence Alliance
(ADAVA) has led the efforts to educate parents and children about the
harmful effects of substance abuse. ADAVA includes citizens committed to
reducing drugs and violence in our communities. Rosalind Y. Tompkins
founded it in 1999, with Mothers In Crisis being the lead agency.

Since its inception, ADAVA has presented two major drug summits in Leon
County, including "Designer Drugs" and "Emerging Issues Related to
Substance Abuse," and it just received a grant to implement the Communities
That Care model in Leon County. Since the coalition has been in existence,
drug use among youth in Leon County has declined.

Nearly 63,000 sixth-through 12th-graders in public schools are surveyed in
Florida annually to measure youth attitudes and behavior patterns in regard
to substance abuse. Each percentage drop in drug use indicated 25,000 fewer
teens using drugs. An important tool, the survey provides local leadership
and neighborhood coalitions the information needed to change youth
attitudes, behavior patterns and norms that promote use of alcohol, tobacco
and drugs. For example, even in the most problematic areas where drug
availability has been traditionally high, young people are steadily walking
away from drug use. The general rule is that, where anti-drug coalitions
are in place, drug use is going down.

Why has Florida seen declining drug-use numbers while the rest of the
nation's rates are going up? Because our approach has differed from that of
other states. Gov. Bush focused the state effort on prevention, education
and treatment. Clearly, prevention is the key to reducing the demand for
illegal drugs, and it begins with our youth.

Throughout his time in office, the governor has expanded the annual
treatment and prevention budget by more than 30 percent, doubled the number
of drug courts (which offer treatment in lieu of incarceration to more than
11,000 nonviolent first-time drug offenders a year), visited countless
treatment and prevention centers and led the rallying cry of concerned
parents and neighborhoods to turn their children away from drug abuse and
bring help to the afflicted.

For those who are already caught up in drug addiction, the answer, whenever
possible, is treatment. That is why the governor has increased treatment
funding in Florida by $50million in additional state and federal funds and
increased the number of people in state supported treatment by 38 percent,
to total of 140,845. Drug courts have doubled in the past three years.

In the end, we seek to return those drug abusers to productive citizenship,
free of their addiction. To view county and statewide results of the FYSAS,
go to www.myflorida.com/drugcontrol.