Staff Writer
Though the dinner was delicious, conversation during the 16th annual School Union 122 Education Night was irrefutably focused on drugs and youth. Since 1995, the New Sweden, Woodland and Westmanland school union has been bringing the community together to share a meal and information the public should know about school activities and projects; the topic this year, of course, was substance abuse awareness and prevention.
After a community dinner, participants were divided up and presented age-relevant information regarding various substance abuse topics.
Abigail Wimmer, a second-grade student of New Sweden, was one of many first- through fourth-grade students who learned about tobacco prevention activities.
“We learned that smoking can make you have a shorter life, and it’s really bad for you,” she recalled. “You can say, ‘no,’ by doing things that don’t involve smoking.”
While the younger students focused on tobacco, adult community members tackled more complex topics such as underage drinking, inhalant abuse prevention, and prescription drugs.
Michelle Plourde Chasse of Community Voices lead an adult segment on underage drinking.
Though a multifaceted issue, her presentation focused on the assumed manifest that teenage drinking is a rite of passage, shedding light on the dangers and heightening awareness as to why it’s harmful for young adults when the alcohol is simultaneously paired with a coming of age.
According to Chasse, many parents think that it’s ok for their children to drink as long as one or two qualifying factors are met — such as taking teens’ car keys, supervising, or providing a ‘safe’ place for the kids to drink.
“Research done over the past 10 to 15 years has shown that the brain does not fully develop until a person’s early to mid 20s,” Chasse said. Introducing alcohol to an underdeveloped brain can have serious consequences in addition to the statistic which states that alcohol kills 6.5 times more young people that all other illegal drugs combined, “and only 33 percent of those deaths are a result of car accidents,” she added. “The remaining deaths are due to falls, burns, drownings … not to mention all the physical and sexual assaults that can occur.”
While alcohol has traditionally been seen as a high school problem, research is now showing that underage drinking starts as early as the fifth grade, and the early exposure transcends substance abuse genres.
In middle school, students are encouraged not to tell their friends about medical procedures where they’re prescribed pain medication because of the bullying and pressure that will ensue from other children wanting to use their pain pills to get high.
Similar shocking facts and information was given during a panelist presentation by Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention co-chairs Kathy Mazzuchelli and Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan.
And if seventh grade painpill bullying wasn’t bad enough, Mazzuchelli also told of a situation where 4-year-old asked her mother for “the pills with the butterfly so that she could get to sleep at night.”
According to Chief Gahagan, 30 percent of arrests in Aroostook County were drug-related in 2006; in 2007, that number increase to 45 percent and increased again in 2008, to 64 percent.
“Prescription drug abuse has increased exponentially,” Mazzuchelli said.
While the educational evening was aimed at awareness and education, presenters also informed participants of ways to combat the high-risk behavior many youths are engaging in — and they are engaging in it.
“I grew up in the ‘60s,” Mazzuchelli said, “and the ‘60s pale in comparison to what’s going on now.”
A common theme in suggested solutions for parents looking to squelsh substance abuse is as simple as being involved and being aware.
Knowing a childs’ friends, their childs’ friend’s parents, where their child is going, what they’re doing, what time they’re going to be home — basic information such as this not only keeps a parent involved in a childs’ life but also shows the child that the parent is aware. It was also suggested that parents rekindle the seemingly lost art of cleaning out their child’s backpack when they come home from school. Not only could it keep a backpack free of the notorious 6-week-old bologna sandwich, it’s also an opportunity to make sure that there aren’t any superfluous pills floating around.
In this era of teenage texting and messaging, Mazzuchelli also suggests that parents become actively involved in knowing what their children are talking to their friends about even if that means checking the computer and checking their cell phone.
Maintaining such a level of openness can be a hard thing for parents to do, especially when their child is resistant.
“Start young, and remember what our job as parents is,” suggested Chief Gahagan, “it’s to keep our kids safe.”
“You have to communicate with your kid,” stressed Mazzuchelli. “You have to be part of their life. Sometimes, you’re going to have to employ tough love and sometimes they’re not going to like you for it,” she said. “But in the end, it’s going to pay off.”
Mazzuchelli suggested that parents visit the Web site www.projectaware.net for some great information regarding substance abuse prevention.
“Hat’s off to Union 122 for taking that topic during their Education Night,” said Chasse.
