DRUG USE DOWN --- BUT IT DEPENDS

More people are dying of drug overdoses in Palm Beach County, yet the
numbers are down in Miami-Dade. Why the disparity?

"Palm Beach County has a problem," says Jim McDonough, director of
Florida's Office of Drug Control. "In places like Miami, where we
have grassroots coalitions, we see drug use going down."

Public concern about substance abuse waxes and wanes in direct
correlation to how dire the problem appears. After one generation of
kids sees disastrous damage from drugs, the numbers go down. Then
comes a generation that hasn't known the hazards first-hand and the
numbers shoot up again. So does public anxiety. So figures cited
recently by Gov. Bush should soothe some of that anxiety.

"We now have a 32 percent reduction in drug use in our state," the
governor said May 17 while dedicating Governor's Riverwalk Reef.
Operation Riverwalk was a federal, state and local drug enforcement
effort that led to the capture of three drug-smuggling ships, which
were sunk as artificial reefs off Palm Beach County's coast.

Say what? Florida has reduced drug use by one-third and that hasn't
rated any headlines? I called Jim McDonough.

Mr. McDonough served as chief strategist to national drug czar Gen.
Barry McCaffrey from 1996 to 1998. When Gov. Bush named him the
state's first drug czar in 1999, the first thing he wanted to know
was Florida's rate of drug use.

"But I found no statewide data-keeping," he says. "The national
samples weren't large enough to tell us how we were doing, and
in-state surveys were spotty." So he did the best he could with what
he had. He took figures from the government's National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse and added other available data. In 1998, he
figured, Florida's rate of drug use was about 8 percent.

"We were shooting in the dark if a county wanted to do something
about drugs," he says. "The first thing I asked the governor for was
the most exhaustive survey in the nation." He wanted to know what
drugs kids were doing, county by county. What were their attitudes
toward cocaine, pot, heroin, inhalants, ecstasy, date-rape drugs such
as GHB or ketomine -- whatever was out there.

"When I was in D.C., it looked to most experts that Florida kids were
among the worst in the nation. Now, our most recent data shows us
third best in the United States, after Utah and Virginia." The
state's 2001 rate of drug use stood at 5.5 percent, a 32 percent
decrease.

Mr. McDonough's plan for keeping kids away from dangerous drugs calls
for blanketing Florida with strong local coalitions, what he calls
his "oil-spot" approach. "If you have an oil spot in Jacksonville,
one in Miami and another in Tampa, eventually you cover the state."
He has about 43 coalitions now. He wants 67.

"We've tried to identify leaders in each area we visit. If necessary,
we train them in how to run an organization. Then we reinforce their
efforts." If a bank president or police chief isn't involved, for
example, Mr. McDonough will host a meeting. If a group needs money,
he'll help to get it. If the group needs publicity, he'll bring in
First Lady Columba Bush. In drug prevention, he believes it's the
local effort that counts, including what adults say to kids.

"If parents talk to their kids," he says, "it has a major impact. If
not parents, coaches, religious leaders -- adults of some sort. No
matter what the kids say, they listen."

As for the drug overdose figures Mr. McDonough soon will release, why
should they be lower in Miami-Dade? Miami's coalition is one of the
best, he says. There has to be a connection.

I don't know if Palm Beach County's numbers reflect an increasing
population or an increasing problem. I do know that, over the years,
many people have worked hard to spur prevention and treatment here.
Which makes me wonder why we don't have a more active coalition.
Perhaps local folks need to dial Mr. McDonough at 850-488-9557. He
works for us. We should use him.