MONEY APPROPRIATED TO FIGHT YOUTH METH ABUSE

Nip the problem before it starts. That seems to be the philosophy
behind some of the $66,832 appropriation to several community
organizations to fight methamphetamine use in Santa Cruz County. Of
four appropriations this week, three divert funds toward youth
prevention, said officials at the Santa Cruz County Seeds of Change
Office. That office is in charge of the appropriations.

The Southeast Arizona Area Health Education Center received $5,000
to implement a teen outreach program with students in health career
clubs at Nogales and Rio Rico High Schools. The outreach program is
designed to meet the needs of adolescents during the transitional
teenage years. The program includes community service projects and
drug prevention awareness with an emphasis on methamphetamine.

The Nogales Police Department received $3,000 to conduct anti-drug
outreach activities throughout the city with the assistance of
"Daren the Lion."

Daren is the official mascot of Drug Abuse Resistance and Education,
the youth drug prevention program. Like the health education
program, Daren focuses on the prevention of the drug among youth
through early education.

The Community Coalition of Eastern Santa Cruz County received $900
to conduct anti-drug outreach activities for students in local
schools. The coalition will first focus on 10 middle schools with
approximately 2,580 students. The activities include a Power Point
presentation, Fooled by the Streets, which was developed by a youth
community member with the assistance of the Juvenile Detention
Education Department. The idea is to give the students first-person
experience about life in jail and other consequences of meth abuse
from someone their own age.

The last part of the appropriation gave $4,100 to the Santa Cruz
County Probation Department to monitor the use of meth among
offenders. The hope is that the observation will assist law
enforcement and other agencies in understanding the impact of meth
use in the county.

The appropriations are only a part of the entire grant. The $66,832
grant will be broken up into a four-pronged attack on meth. Nearly
$17, 500 will support a media initiative-one that is designed to
address drug use specifically among Hispanic youth in the county.
Daren the Lion is only a small part of an entire ad campaign aimed
at area youth.

The second part of the grant goes towards a community and
school-based prevention initiative that increases knowledge about
the ill effects of methamptheatmine use and abuse.

The Southeast Arizona Area Health Education, Community Coalition of
Eastern Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz County Probation Department
appropriations all fall into this category.

The last two objectives are to develop law enforcement initiatives
to help out local efforts and to conduct training initiatives for
law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, service providers and
community members to help develop a comprehensive strategy to combat
abuse of the drug, the Seeds of Change office said.