REPORT ON DRUG, ALCOHOL USE LACKING

The group that has been gathering information on local drug and alcohol
use, prevention and treatment will be sending a community assessment to the
state later this week in hopes of securing money for services.

But the assessment won't give an accurate picture of some areas of the
community. The RiverValley Prevention Center, the agency working to
establish a local Kentucky Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, already has
found some gaps in information that is available.

Little information on adult drug and alcohol use is available, as well as
use in some of the local school systems.

"A lot of the information won't be there," said Debbie Haley, community
mobilizer with the prevention center. "Youth are using. We need to find out
to what extent."

The information will serve as a starting point from which to begin the
final process of developing a community plan to tackle substance abuse.

The state mandated in 2000 that all counties form a local board to address
drug and alcohol issues and develop a strategic plan to tackle the problem.
Kentucky spends $1 billion a year in health care directly related to
smoking and another estimated $3.9 billion in health care, law enforcement
costs and lost productivity due to alcohol and other drug use.

The state set aside $5 million to start Ky-ASAP and said all counties must
be on board by December 2003. The intent is to pull together all prevention
and treatment efforts to avoid duplication and prioritize needs.

A design team that was formed to coordinate the local project has been
working to form a Ky-ASAP board for several months. The board stands to
receive $50,000 to fund local prevention and treatment efforts if it stays
on the fast track of sending off its information.

Friday is the deadline to send the assessment to Frankfort to assure that
the local board will receive the money. The state can't guarantee funding
for counties who return information later, said Chad Gesser, local board
coordinator for Ky-ASAP.

Information the design team has gathered so far indicate that:

- -- 28.3 percent of local students ages 12 to 17 who were surveyed said they
had tried marijuana and 16 percent had used it in the past month, compared
to 27.2 and 14.3 percent statewide.

- -- 46 percent of the students had tried cigarettes and 19 percent had
smoked in the past month, compared to 44 percent and 25 percent statewide.

- -- Nearly half of the students had tried alcohol and 21.8 percent had drank
it in the past month, compared to 55.1 percent and 25.2 percent statewide.

The information comes from the Kentucky Incentives for Prevention Project
surveys taken in 2001 of students in the Owensboro Public Schools.
Information is still needed from Daviess County and the Owensboro Catholic
schools, Haley said. The state wants information from the surveys for
statewide accurate comparison, she said.

Those tests aren't administered in Daviess County, said Stu Silberman,
superintendent of the Daviess County Public Schools. Other surveys are used
to indicate drug and alcohol abuse; however, results from those surveys
were not available Monday.

Joe O'Bryan, superintendent of the Owensboro Catholic Schools, could not be
reached Monday.

Owensboro Mercy Health System conducts yearly health assessment surveys in
which students are asked about drug, alcohol and tobacco use. Those
assessments, which included surveys from all four area high schools and
conducted in 2000, show that:

- -- 48 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 use alcohol.

- -- 29 percent of the students smoke.

- -- 19 percent use marijuana.

Members of the design team will present their findings to the state March
18. Once the state accepts the needs and resources assessment, the county
will receive 15 percent of the grant, or $7,500, to begin developing a
strategic plan to combat drug and alcohol abuse.

Daviess Fiscal Court will receive 5 percent of the grant to administer funds.