Pubdate: Mon, 09 Oct 2006
Source: Kingman Daily Miner (AZ)
Copyright: 2006 Kingman Daily Miner
Contact:  http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3469
Author: Jennifer Bartlett, Miner Staff Writer

COUNTY MAY FUND ANTI-METH PROJECTS

KINGMAN - The Mohave County Board of Supervisors is  considering 
funding for two proposed meth education  projects, one county-based 
and one statewide.

Chairman Pete Byers said the proposals he has read for  both projects 
have been worthwhile. If they can manage  it, he said he would like 
to try to give funding of  some sort to both.

One of the proposals is from the Boys and Girls Clubs  in Mohave 
County. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Arizona  are proposing a program 
for meth education that ties  into their SMART Moves programs.

According to information from Boys and Girls Clubs, the  SMART Moves 
program strategy has proven so successful  that several additional 
programs have been developed  that address issues such as HIV/AIDS, 
gang prevention  and conflict resolution, steroid use and a SMART 
Program strictly for girls. All of these programs are age-appropriate.

As a result of the passage of House Bill 2554, they  said, a grant 
has been established from the Arizona  Department of Heath Services 
to the Arizona Alliance  for Meth Prevention. A total of $500,000 was 
dispersed  to the Alliance, which is passing it on to 16 Boys and 
Girls Clubs across Arizona.

"Meth is one of the most addictive and destructive  drugs around," 
they said. "Over 98 percent of people  who use meth become addicted, 
and some die after just  trying it once.

"As a result, the Arizona Alliance of Boys & Girls  Clubs has taken a 
proactive approach to address this  ever-growing drug epidemic. 
MethSMART, a  Methamphetamine Prevention/Education program, will 
incorporate current research about problems confronting  young people 
and provide them with viable solutions to  help them handle 
challenging circumstances while  avoiding risky and unhealthy 
behaviors. By including  parent and staff education pieces, MethSMART 
successfully makes the prevention of methamphetamine  abuse a team 
effort for those adults involved in our  children's lives."

The money is being given to the Boys and Girls Clubs,  they said, 
because for the last two legislative  sessions, the Boys and Girls 
Clubs have worked  tirelessly with the legislators in securing 
legislation  and funding to finance a program dealing specifically 
with meth prevention.

The proposed program will incorporate research about  problems 
confronting young people and presenting viable  solutions. It will 
include strong parent and staff  involvement as well as teaching the 
adults how to stay  effectively involved in their child's lives.

The program will split the participants into age groups  stating at 
age 6 up to 18. It would consist of six  interactive sessions to 
break the problem down to allow  each age group the ability to 
understand what the  problem was and how to make the right decisions.

While the program will go on with the Boys and Girls  Clubs, the 
funding they are requesting from Mohave  County would assist them in 
spreading the program into  local schools.

The second program is being proposed statewide.

"With the recent passage of HB 2254, Substance Abuse  Treatment 
Appropriations, the state has made available  dollars to support the 
war against methamphetamine,"  said Maricopa County Chairman of the 
Board of  Supervisors Don Stapley. "As we all struggle to fight  this 
scourge upon our counties, we have an opportunity  to make some 
positive strides. As I presented at the  April 20 CSA Board of 
Directors meeting, Maricopa  County is leading the effort to 
implement an Arizona  Meth Project. This initiative will consist of 
an aggressive public prevention campaign to inform our  children, 
youth, and their parents of the terrible  consequences of methamphetamine use."

The program would be modeled after the well-established  Montana Meth 
Project. They would have access to the  high-quality media 
commercials used by Montana and  would take an aggressive approach to 
educating youth  about the dangers of meth.

As a result of the bill, each county has been  designated to receive 
a set amount of money from the  state for meth education. Maricopa 
County has already  committed its funds, in addition to $2 million 
more, as  a start. Stapely said he was urging other counties to  get 
on board and designate funds to this project.

Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said his department  arrested 551 
people in 2004 on drug-related charges.  The number increased to 590 
in 2005 and has continued  to rise this year, he said.

Of those, about 15 percent are juveniles and about 65  to 70 percent 
were arrests for meth.

Meth has become a major problem in Mohave Count and  statewide, 
Sheahan said. Each of the communities have  taken major steps to try 
to slow the problem, however,  youth have to be constantly reminded 
of the problems  associated with drugs.

For their part, Sheahan said they teach the D.A.R.E.  program to 
middle school students in the unincorporated  sections of Mohave 
County. He said he feels that the  program has gone well.

Both of these programs, he said, would be beneficial  and would take 
a close look at prevention.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine