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| Leaders poised to combat substance abuse on South Coast By Greg Thomas [ greg@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 1:04 PM PDT To people who live on the South Coast, alcohol and drug abuse is hardly a secret. Assessments conducted in the last two years reveal above average teenage drinking compared to the rest of the county, generations of alcoholism, high rates of alcohol sales, and abuse of hard drugs ranging from prescription pills to heroin and methamphetamines. The dynamics of the region – largely low-income, remote, rural and situated on the fringe of a mostly urban county – may all conspire to put residents at a greater risk of substance abuse than people in other parts of the county. Also, the South Coast rests a world away from sources of professional help. “You can ask people on the South Coast if there’s a problem with alcohol and drugs … and people will say yes,” said Kerry Lobel, Puente de la Costa Sur executive director. “But when you ask them how to deal with the problem, they don’t have an answer. There’s nothing here for them,” as far as prevention services go. There are, however, many alcohol-serving venues, noted as the “only event gathering spots in town” in the South Coast Community Prevention Plan 2009, an eight-page outline produced by several area institutions which reflects a darker side of the isolated locale. The document also notes “parental abuse of alcohol … distance of families from one another (and) lack of transportation,” among other factors contributing to a history of substance abuse. Community leaders say the issues are many, but they lay just out of plain sight because people don’t know where to turn for help. In 2007, the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District secured a five-year, $550,000 state grant for education, awareness and an assessment of substance abuse at Pescadero High School. Principal Amy Wooliever says she hasn’t dealt with any major incidents on campus involving drugs or alcohol, and that a series of student-to-student interviews revealed few instances of drinking or drugging on campus. But those same interviews rendered evidence that 87 percent of South Coast high school students consume alcohol – contrasted to 61 percent of high school students countywide. Findings also include use of cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin and other illicit substances. Based on that data, the district dedicated grant money to an assessment of substance abuse in the greater South Coast community conducted late last year. Focus groups and personal interviews produced a disturbing snapshot of habitual abuse, Wooliever said, including second- and third-generation alcoholism and use of hard drugs among adults. That prompted Wooliever and Lobel to dig deeper. “We’re trying to bring this set of problems to light – now,” Lobel says. The county approved a significant Community Partners grant on April 28 to beef up outreach and prevention programs – a big step toward the light, Lobel says. In addition to the school district’s state grant, the county is handing down about $200,000 to Puente to uncover and combat substance abuse in the region. “Our money is sort of the seed money,” said Judy Davila, manager of drug and alcohol services for the county health department. Community leaders, “depending on their skills and capacities,” can parlay the money into a regional movement, which could produce more grant opportunities, she added. “We’re interested in creating partnerships in communities that face alcohol and drug issues … On the South Coast, we’re concerned with underage drinking, binge drinking and youth health and achievement,” Davila said. Armed with the new grant, coordinators at Puente and the high school are poised to tackle the problems head-on. “We want to open up the conversation at the school – take alcohol use out of the closet and talk about it now, because it has an impact on academic achievement and motivation that can last long after,” Wooliever says. “And we want to leverage the money to promote healthier lifestyles all around.” “We need to start laying the groundwork to start talking about prevention in a non-threatening manner,” she added. Assisting on that front, senior Maya Hacke-Sedillo of Pescadero acts as a peer counselor, mediator and tutor for students coping with substance issues. She also helped write the district’s 2007 grant and collected data during the school assessment. The numbers came out lower than she’d expected going in, she says. “I’ve been born and raised in this community,” she said. “I believe that because the youth here grow up in such a small and isolated community, that when help is needed it’s very tough to get,” she said. The first step in the Prevention Plan is contracting a “prevention specialist” who would pilot a new approach to outreach and determent. The person could make house calls around the South Coast and engage small clusters of residents to dissuade substance abuse. Wooliever said the district has already begun interviewing to fill the specialist position and anticipates hiring someone soon. Meanwhile, Lobel is prepping staff members at Puente to start incorporating substance abuse messages into current assistance and training courses. “The truth is (that) so much of what we do now is on the back end – when someone has a problem or is arrested or there’s an incident of domestic violence or an accident,” Lobel said. “This grant affords us the base to really think about how to start over from the beginning … That’s a rare privilege for a community like ours.” |