In The NewsSubstance Abuse Task Force Grant Gets Final OK
Originally printed in The Westerly Sun
Thursday, June 25, 2008WESTERLY - The Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force has worked diligently and ardently over nearly two decades to combat underage drinking and substance abuse. And so the final approval it just received for a $435,000 state and federal grant to combat the growing problem of underage drinking was not only welcome, but right on time.
In the past few weeks, Westerly Police arrested a number of teens and charged them with underage drinking.
A few months ago, police found more than 30 teenagers at a private Westerly house party consuming alcohol. In that instance, the mother of the party's teenage host was charged by police with procuring alcohol under the state's 'Social Host' law.
In a neighboring community, another parent has been charged by police for violating the law by allowing underage drinking at his home - two underage girls were taken to the hospital for extreme intoxication.
Westerly High School students and athletes were recently found to be drinking alcohol and the schools issued appropriate sanctions.
"We have a problem here," said WSATF coordinator Mary Lou Serra. "We won't rest until we make a difference for our teens and our families."
The $435,000 grant is a three-year award. The task force membership established a special coalition consisting of members and other key stakeholders to implement the grant.
"This grant will enable us to not just continue our prevention activities, but to implement programs like party patrols and compliance checks," said Serra. "We want to continue the work we've been doing but take it further and reach more people, especially parents."
The 'party patrols' and compliance checks are done in conjunction with the Westerly Police Department.
"The community-wide issue of underage drinking continues to come to the forefront as a problem among the youth in the community," said Westerly Police Chief Edward Mello.
"The award of this grant will help to combat this issue as seen on a recent weekend with numerous arrests for alcohol-related offenses," Mello said. "We have seen in recent weeks that underage drinking continues to be a cultural problem as evidenced in recent events of house parties [with alleged underage drinking occurring] being allowed by parents."
Specifically, the party patrols are aimed at drinking parties attended by underage youths. The program focuses on parties that have come to the attention of the police, especially during the tourist summer months where the number of young people in the community and at area beaches doubles. The project dedicates several police officers, many undercover, to geographic hotspots throughout the community.
Because Westerly doubles in size during the summer months, the compliance check program requires the addition of 12 police patrol units on special assignment targeting underage drinking at local and beach-area establishments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration provides grant funding dubbed the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG). These grants help states and communities implement substance abuse prevention programs and activities designed to build a foundation for delivering and sustaining substance abuse and/or mental health services.
In particular, especially in the case of Westerly, to "prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking and reduce substance abuse-related problems in communities."
SPF program manager for the RI Executive Office of Health and Human Services Linda Barovier applauded Westerly and the task force for its work on the strategic plan.
"We are very excited about working with Westerly. The community has identified equal elements to keep harm out of youth's way and keep youth's out of harm's way. It's a very exciting opportunity for Westerly," Barovier said. "The community has a fairly good amount of money to address underage drinking and it has come up with good approaches. We're excited to see the process begin and watch how it grows."