LIHU‘E — Red can be the lifeblood of the anti-drug initiative, said Theresa Koki, the county’s Anti-Drug Coordinator. A sea of red turned out Friday when Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. presented Koki with a proclamation announcing February as Drug
LIHU‘E — Red can be the lifeblood of the anti-drug initiative, said Theresa Koki, the county’s Anti-Drug Coordinator.
A sea of red turned out Friday when Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. presented Koki with a proclamation announcing February as Drug Free Awareness month, the act preceding an open house of the anti-drug office.
Koki said drug and alcohol abuse are the heart of the problem for many Kaua‘i families and the open house was designed to allow people to gain information on the resources available for people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse.
“I encourage everyone to become involved in substance abuse prevention as this matter affects us all,” Carvalho said in a county release. “By working together, we can strengthen our community and prevent negative consequences such as impaired health, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, suicide and criminal activities.”
Eighth grade students who participated in a 2009 Kaua‘i survey revealed that 73 percent of adolescent males and 64.7 percent of adolescent femailes drink alcohol regularly. Forty percent of the males and 36 percent of the females who participated in the survey admitted being drunk at school. Twenty-six percent of the eighth graders who participated in the survey reported they are alcohol-dependent, or alcohol-abusing.
“The color red was selected because families and community can be the lifeblood of the anti-drug initiative,” Koki said.
In the adult population, crystal meth use has risen statewide to 33 percent to last year, according to the Hawai‘i Diagnostic Laboratory Services.
Meth use among 10th grade students in Hawai‘i increased 87 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to a study by the Center for Disease Control.
Substance abuse has devastating effects on individuals and their families, threatening the health and future of our youth and communities, states the proclamation.
The 2006 Hawai‘i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report states crystal methamphetamine continues to be the most significant drug threat in Hawai‘i, followed by marijuana and cocaine.
By the time students become seniors, 47 percent have tried an illicit drug, 45 percent have tried cigarettes and 73 percent have tried alcohol states the most recent Hawai‘i Student Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use Study conducted by the state Department of Health in 2003.
In 2003, 15 percent of Hawai‘i’s 10th graders, or sophomores, and 18 percent of 12th graders, or seniors, reported using marijuana with the past 30 days. Additionally, 11 percent of Hawai‘i’s 10th graders and 16 percent of 12th graders met the criteria of needing substance abuse treatment.
Preventing substance use and promoting health family lifestyles are cost-effective as demonstrated by last week’s Eastside Family Summit themed “Living the Simple Life.”
“It is critical that we get the word out preemptively, before tragedy strikes,” Koki said. “Alcohol abuse among our youth, youth suicide, the prevalence of ‘ice (methamphetamine)’ that remains on Kaua‘i — these are issues we need to keep in our consciousness if we ever want to prevent them.”
Coinciding with the proclamation, the Addiction and Behavioral Health Services headed by Rebekah Reid, MA, LMHC, CSAC, Mardi Maione, CSAC, SAP, and Arvin Montgomery celebrated the opening of a new additictions clinic in Kapa‘a across from the All Saints Preschool.
The new facility offers intensive outpatient programs for women’s groups, men’s groups and criminal justice groups, cognitive behavioral therapy, mental health, medication referral, suboxone collaboration, urinalysis and alcohol testing, and DUI/OMVUII assessments.
For more information, call 823-7007, or visit www.abhskauai.com.
The Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawai‘i, in partnership with government, business, law enforcement, education, health and human services and community groups are sponsoring the Drug-Free Hawai‘i Awareness month with the theme of “Live Aloha, Live Drug-Free.”
For more information, visit the county’s Web site and hit the “Community” link at www.kauai.gov.
