Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2007
Source: Nogales International (AZ)
Copyright: 2007 Nogales International
Contact:  http://www.nogalesinternational.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1615
Author: Jesse Froehling
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman