Pubdate: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 Source: Island Packet (SC) Copyright: 2001,sThe Island Packet Contact: http://www.islandpacket.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1514 Author: Pete Nardi, The Island Packet ISLANDER PROMOTES DRUG EDUCATION Hilton Head Island's children are well-versed in the culture and climate of illegal drugs. That was the message islander Larry McElynn brought to the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club's luncheon Thursday at the Port Royal Clubhouse. But McElynn, retired head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Philadelphia Division, also offered some help. "I'm hoping that in the next three to five years, we can start a corporate alliance for drug education," McElynn told the group. The organization would be similar to the Philadelphia nonprofit McElynn was active in while working for the DEA. Philadelphia's Corporate Alliance for Drug Education combines corporate donations with some government grants and functions as the only anti-drug program in the city's schools. McElynn would like to see a smaller-scale alliance formed in southern Beaufort County. He learned about the need for such an effort while teaching drug awareness classes for ninth-graders on the island this past school year. When he retired as DEA agent-in-charge in Philadelphia in 1999, McElynn told the Philadelphia Inquirer he planned to become involved in anti-drug programs for children. McElynn found out during presentations he gave last fall that the island's children knew about drugs such as heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, marijuana and methamphetamine. They knew how much it costs, how to use it and where to get it, he told the Rotary luncheon. "I had 14-year-olds tell me they could get those drugs pretty much any time they wanted on the island," he said. McElynn and Healthy Communities Initiative helped secure a grant of about $15,000 from the Arthur Blank Foundation to fund a drug awareness program this school year for all ninth-graders and seniors on Hilton Head, as well as H.E. McCracken Middle School students in Bluffton. The program will include about 40 sessions for students, and about 10 sessions for a group of parents, McElynn said. A corporate alliance for drug education could bring permanency to the program the Arthur Blank Foundation is funding this year, McElynn said. "It takes time to do this," McElynn told the Rotarians about starting the alliance. "But over the next five years, someone may be knocking on your door, asking for help." Dianne Garnett, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry president, said a partnership between businesses and organizations such as hers could help bring McElynn's idea to life. "We need to help youth make decisions that are going to give them opportunities," Garnett said after the Rotary luncheon, "and not put up barriers." McElynn, who served as chief of the DEA's Drug Investigation Division with Interpol, the worldwide law enforcement organization, said about 40 percent of children who are given the opportunity to use illegal drugs will do so. But he said he worries about the other 60 percent of kids being harmed by their intoxicated peers. McElynn said the illegal drug trade is marked by four elements: strong demand, quality drugs, ready availability, and low and steady prices. "These are the characteristics in society today," McElynn said, "and on Hilton Head Island today." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D