Northwest Arkansas Drug and Tobacco Free Coalition Pushes For Teen Involvement

Saturday, January 18, 2014

A grassroots teen coalition of students who can influence their peers to stay drug and alcohol free is the goal for the Northwest Arkansas Drug and Tobacco Free Coalition.

AT A GLANCE

By The Numbers

Students at participating schools are surveyed annually through the Arkansas Department of Human Services for the Prevention Needs Assessment Student Survey. In the fall of 2012, the most recent survey data available, 40.1 percent of high schools seniors surveyed across the state said they had used some kind of drug. In Washington County that number was 41.1 percent. In Benton County it was 36.6. percent.

Percentages equal the number of high school students of the class of 2013 who tried commonly abused substances at some point before the fall of their senior year.

Alcohol

60.4*Washington County

55.7*Benton County

61.1 *Arkansas

Cigarettes

37.*Washington County

42.*Benton County

42.1*Arkansas

Marijuana

36.3*Washington County

35.6*Benton County

35.6*Arkansas

Prescription Drugs

17*Washington County

13.7*Benton County

15.7*Arkansas

Methamphetamine

1.8*Washington County

1.9*Benton County

2.2*Arkansas

Inhalants

7.8*Washington County

7.4*Benton County

7.9*Arkansas

Source: 2012-13 Benton And Washington County Prevention Needs Assessment Student Surveys

The coalition and Project Right Choice were awarded a Drug-Free Communities grant for Washington County through the Office of National Drug Control Policy in September. A 10-year Benton County program funded by a Drug-Free Communities grant ended in October. A volunteer version of that program will continue.

The coalition will focus on three areas: abuse of prescription medication, marijuana and alcohol. An existing program focuses on tobacco.

Educators are battling with more permissive attitudes toward drug use, said Chris White, Drug-Free Communities grant manager for the coalition. Teens might think that marijuana is safer than other drugs or that pills are safe for them because their parents take them.

Prescription medication is just that, prescribed with instructions on how, when and how much to take, White said.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Share with your friends,’” White said.

Because Fayetteville is a university town, there is a trickle-down effect in alcohol abuse, White said.

Legalization of marijuana is an evolving discussion and that is influencing the way he crafts his message.

“We may see a future where it’s either legal medically or just recreational,” White said.

Children need to be educated on choices, White said.

“Some of these things aren’t illegal,” he said.

A youth coalition of students at Washington County high schools can help identify and combat drug use among peers, White said.

A teacher, counselor or coach can be the coordinator for each school’s coalition. Students can bring projects forward they think will help, and a parent coalition may bring questions or projects to them, he said.

“We’re ready for youth coalitions as we speak,” White said.

Because of federal training requirements, however, school visits from coalition staff members will not start until fall.

The idea of student clubs that could advocate for keeping kids drug and alcohol free resonates with Carmel Perry, coordinator of school health at the Prairie Grove School District.

Prairie Grove is rural, and does not have a problem with drug and alcohol abuse, but education about risks is important to students, she said.

“It’s kind of like teaching them to brush their teeth. If you don’t teach them, they’re not going to do it,” Perry said.

Students could take on advocacy as a project, Perry said. If she can get older students talking to younger ones about staying drug and alcohol free, that would make a great impact.

“Any and every teacher is going to preach it when they get time. The kids are hearing it quite a bit already. There’s nothing like hearing it from your peers,” she said.

The Washington County coalition has been active as an anti-tobacco group since 1996, said Jamie Thornton, project coordinator at Northwest Arkansas Drug and Tobacco Free Coalition.

He talks to students about the dangers of nicotine addiction. Nicotine addiction is for life, he said.

“Nicotine changes brain chemistry, so you need it just like you need food,” he said.

Because coalition members were already actively talking to kids about tobacco, they can build on that effort with the drug component, Thornton said.

The grant money may be gone in Benton County, but the program is not dead, officials said.

Benton County launched its October Methamphetamine Awareness Month through Drug-Free Rogers-Lowell, said Raymond Burns, president and chief executive officer of Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber became involved in preventing methamphetamine use nearly 15 years ago before applying for a Drug-Free Communities grant, he said. After two, five-year grants, Benton County is no longer eligible to apply.

Drug use has dropped according to a teen survey, Burns said.

“I think we’ve had an impact,” Burns said.

Substance abuse costs businesses because of thefts, absenteeism and workers compensation claims, said Rick McLeod, chairman of the Benton County Methamphetamine Task Force through Drug-Free Rogers-Lowell.

What started as a chamber effort, reached into schools as the Benton County grantees developed a website, public service announcements on the dangers of marijuana and methamphetamine use, and supported prescription medication drop-off events with local law enforcement. Last October, there were presentations to 8,000 school children, and a luncheon with 135 state and local leaders.

Prevention through education is the goal, McLeod said. Without the federal money support of the program, it is up to volunteers.

As Benton County enters its first year without the grant there won’t be 10,000 fliers on pizza boxes or 1,000 television commercials, but the groundwork of connecting law enforcement, schools and volunteers has been set, McLeod said. The task force has yet to meet to plan October’s event, but he expects Methamphetamine Awareness Month to continue. There may even be a new focus on the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs, he said.

“We really do think kids are our future. If we can educate just a few about this then I think we’ve won,” McLeod said.