STOP DRUG USE BEFORE IT STARTS, PROGRAM ENCOURAGES

BILOXI - More than 200 Young Marines Program leaders from all over the
United States are on the Coast this week for the annual commanders
conference at Treasure Bay Casino.

Their war is against drugs.

Andre D. Hollis, deputy assistant secretary of defense for
counternarcotics, was scheduled to speak Wednesday at the conference. After
missing his flight from Washington, Hollis faxed his speech to the
conference, where retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Mike Kessler presented it.

Kessler is the national director of the Young Marines Program, a
character-building program for boys and girls 8 years old through high school.

"I have come to value the importance of organizations such as the Young
Marines who help the Department of Defense and other members of the
anti-drug community spread the benefits of a drug-free lifestyle," Hollis
wrote. "This year, the Office of the National Drug Control Policy is
advocating 'stopping use before it starts' as its number one priority, and
I couldn't agree more."

Hollis wrote that effective drug prevention programs motivate young people
to recognize their own worth and to see the opportunities available if they
remain drug free.

Young Marines is such a program, Kessler said, and it's not only growing in
popularity around the United States but around the world.

Pumped by a federal grant of $1.5 million per year, more than 21,000 youths
and 2,500 adult volunteers belong to the organization, including units in
Estonia, South Africa, Australia, Korea, Japan, Canada, Scotland, England,
Germany and Norway.

The first unit in Mississippi was formed in Gautier shortly after last
year's conference, Kessler said.

In October, the Young Marines Program was one of only two in the country to
receive the Fulcrum Shield Award for Excellence in Youth Anti-Drug Programs.

"We pride ourselves in the fact that our mission is teach kids to lead a
drug-free lifestyle through physical fitness and mental fitness, both of
which are easier if young people stay off drugs," Kessler said.