Back to Home Page

Local Links
Sun Valley Guide
Hemingway in Sun Valley
Real Estate


For the week of August 4th, 1999 through August 10th, 1999

Drug counseling in Blaine County

Project Respect plays key role


By KEVIN WISER
Express Staff Writer

g11boender.jpg (12998 bytes)Kevin Boender


Last month, many Wood River Valley residents expressed alarm over reports that the DARE/PAL programs were in jeopardy due to a lack of funding. A rally in support of the programs was mounted in Hailey.

As important as the D.A.R.E./PAL programs are in the eyes of supporters, there is

another countywide juvenile substance abuse program which hasn’t received as much public and media attention—"Project Respect."

Ironically, "Respect," too, is threatened by a funding crisis and in need of revitalized community support.

Of the three programs, only "Project Respect," in operation here for three years, provides counseling, intervention and treatment services aimed at adolescents with drug and alcohol problems.

The program’s future is in jeopardy, declared its director, Kevin Boender, 42, a Wood River Valley native. The dilemma, he said, is both a lack of government funding and community financial support.

"We do have some support from the county and city governments in the Wood River Valley, but the program is still 60 to 70 percent under funded for the remainder of this year and next year," he said in a recent interview.

For example, Boender said the county and the valley’s cities have committed approximately $45.000 to fund "Respect"—less than half of the program’s needs.

"In the last two months," he said, "the program has received $20,000 in private donations without which we would have had to close our doors."

Boender acknowledged the efforts of the six-year-old D.A.R.E./PAL programs, designed to deal with teen alcohol and drug abuse through prevention and education methods. However, he said, "once kids start using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis and get in too deep, they need treatment."

Boender, who had to overcome his own substance abuse problems, has worked with youth here for nearly three years, counseling more than 140 young people.

"I talk with hundreds of kids every year," Boender said. "What they tell me is that 90 percent are drinking alcohol, and I would venture to say that 75 percent have smoked marijuana, the gateway substance to more dangerous drugs.

"If what the kids are telling me is true, it’s too late for prevention [in many cases] and the punitive system takes over. Without treatment, kids can ultimately end up in prison or worse—dead. This is the reality of addiction and public misperception. Substance abuse is a disease that requires treatment."

He said that teens often begin their alcohol and drug habits in search of a thrill, persuaded by behavior of peers and adults that "alcohol and marijuana are socially acceptable intoxicants."

Blaine County deputy sheriff Jim Cleveland, who is a D.A.R.E./PAL liaison officer, agreed with Boender’s view that Project Respect is a critical tool in combating juvenile substance abuse problems in the county.

"You have to come at the problem from all approaches—prevention, education and treatment," Cleveland said. For his part, Boender said he was encouraged by recent local support for D.A.R.E./PAL, and now would like to see the same enthusiasm for "Respect."

"The community has identified the need to address the juvenile substance abuse problem," Boender said. "But in order to do so the community must acknowledge the fact that substance abuse, in its progressive stages, is a disease that requires not only prevention but treatment. It’s time for the community to totally support the issue."

According to Boender, the No. 1 priority of "Project Respect" is to treat young people on an out-patient basis free of charge.

"Without the support of the community we can’t do that," he said.. "A lack of funding has us struggling just to stay in existence at this point.

"We have helped kids, there have been successes and we want to continue in this direction. But the program will not survive without community support.

"We are the only substance abuse treatment provider within 100 miles. Kids with substance abuse problems aren’t getting the help they need in this community.

"Without treatment they get caught up in the cycle with little hope for the future."

#

In a Blaine County Youth Task Force survey conducted in 1996, people of the Wood River Valley voiced concern about needs of the community. In this survey, juvenile substance abuse was identified as the No. 1 problem that needed attention.

The following year a D.A.R.E./PAL survey, focusing on the Wood River Valley. indicated prevalent drug and alcohol use among teens here.

According to the survey, approximately 82 percent of the county’s high school students experimented with alcohol and about 58 percent tried drugs. At the time, both percentages were above state and national averages.

Reflecting on these figures, Project Respect’s Boender observed that experimentation with drugs by youth often leads to addiction in one’s adult years. It’s time for the community, he said, to confront the issue.

"Let’s get down to basics," he said. "The adolescent drug and alcohol problem is getting worse, not better. We have incredible assets here for kids that I agree with and totally support, but none of them are addressing substance abuse issues."

Boender said the community has always found ways to support and fund youth programs, particularly in the recreation area; what’s more, he noted, locals liberally contribute to private causes, pointing to the $18 million raised to underwrite the St. Luke’s medical complex.

Yet, laments Boender, "the substance abuse problem among teens here is on the rise. A growing number of our youth use drugs and alcohol at least weekly, and many have become addicted on a daily basis.

"For us to really treat this problem, the community needs to come forward and support [Project Respect] as it has in other areas. We have a generation that’s ultimately going to die if it doesn’t get help."

Hailey Police Chief Jack Stoneback has been in law enforcement since 1963, 22 of those years in the Wood River Valley. Like his law enforcement counterparts across the country, there are few challenges as daunting as drug trafficking and addiction.

"The whole idea of Project Respect was to get help for kids and provide local treatment for teens that have gone beyond prevention and education," Stoneback said.

Stoneback said substance abuse is a problem that effects the entire community and that the solution must start with youngsters.

"A lot of people don’t see the crime here," he said in an interview. "In the big cities you see shootings on the news every day and graffiti on buildings. Here people have a sense of being safe and secure, but the substance abuse problem is brewing here with the kids.

"People don’t see it or they tend to ignore it. If we don’t address the problem, one day this valley may not be a safe place."

Stoneback declared:

"There’s a couple hundred kids that desperately need substance abuse treatment in Blaine County and a hell of a lot of kids that are at risk.

"The bottom line is the communities have got to do something, to provide services and treatment for kids to get them over their substance abuse problems.

"There’s a lot of money here. You look around this valley and see some of the things people donate time and money to. If they were to put the same effort behind substance abuse it could make a big difference."

 

 

According to national law enforcement statistics, 83 percent of offenders incarcerated in America have committed drug or alcohol related crimes.

A report from the Council of State Governments Anti-Drug Task Force, published in 1998, says, "America pays a heavy price for its addiction to illegal drugs. In addition to the annual economic cost of approximately $67 billion, drugs destroy individuals, families and, sadly, entire communities. No one is immune."

The report sites statistics from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to illustrate the problem:

In 1996 an estimated 13 million Americans were current drug users.

Drug related deaths have increased 42 percent since 1990.

More than 1.5 million Americans were arrested for drug-law violations in 1996.

The increase in drug offenders accounts for nearly three-fourths of the growth in the federal prison population between 1985 and 1995.

The number of inmates in state prisons for drug-law violations increased by 478 percent over the 1985-95 period.

According to the American Medical Association, alcohol is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the U.S.

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, use of alcohol or other drugs at an early age is an indicator of future alcohol or drug problems.

A report from the Center for Disease Control concludes that the use of alcohol and other drugs is associated with the leading cause of death and injury among teenagers and young adults.

 

 

Back to Front Page
Copyright © 1999 Express Publishing Inc. All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited.