Director's Notes

As I write this, our coalition is busy making preparations for this year's Red Ribbon Week celebration, October 23-31. Our theme this year was created by a local 6th grader, Kostin Mercer, during a contest we held when school started in August. The theme is "Make Healthy Choices Instead of Hearing Voices…Don't Do Drugs".

I am pleased that someone Kostin's age realizes that the best way to handle life's problems is not by turning to drugs, but rather making healthy choices. This is advice that all of us should remember, not only during Red Ribbon Week but year round.

In a perfect world, young people would realize the harm that alcohol, tobacco and other drugs can do and they would delay use until they were of legal age (for alcohol and tobacco) or not use them at all. Dealers would not profit from another person's pain by supplying addictive drugs that only temporarily mask the pain the individual is feeling, rather than solving their problems. The only "winner" in this scenario is the dealer who walks away with the money. Adults would set good examples for youth in their use of alcohol and tobacco. They would not turn to alcohol to deal with stress, anger or solitude themselves nor would they be the supplier of alcohol to youth. Neither would they use tobacco products around youth, exposing them to known carcinogens.

Most importantly, in my perfect world law enforcement would get the recognition they deserve for enforcing the laws regarding underage drinking and other drug abuse. Too often, the enforcement of certain laws is different depending on a person's age or status. In our community, we are fortunate to have police and sheriff departments that don't bow to the demand of some to "turn their head" to laws being broken. During Red Ribbon Week, our coalition has proclaimed October 28 as "Law Enforcement Recognition Day" and will publicly acknowledge the hard work of our law enforcement agencies.

Who knows if any of the characteristics of my fantasy world will ever occur, but we all need to continue to work toward that end. Just imagine a world where money would not need to be budgeted for the costs associated with substance abuse — health, loss of productivity, court and other enforcement costs, etc. A world where people took Kostin's recommendation to heart and made healthy decisions rather than using drugs!

Teresa Walters, C.P.S., I.C.P.S.
Executive Director

………of working for a safer community for 20 years!