The Coalition is one of 22 organizations based in Ohio to receive such a grant, which is given out in order to bring down the number of teen alcohol parties hosted by parents. Over the past 20 years, the Coalition for a Drug-free Clermont County has worked with the community to promote drug-free environments for the youth, and raise awareness regarding the angers of abusing alcohol and drugs.

The grant money will be used by the Coalition for education and awareness activities on drug and alcohol abuse in the spring, to coincide with the high school graduation and prom season.

The program “Parents Who Host Lose the Most: Don’t be a party to teenage drinking” was developed by Drug Free Action Alliance. The program, which is recognized nationwide, raises awareness among parents regarding the health and safety risks associated with underage drinking, as well as underage drinking laws in the state of Ohio. Serving as Honorary Chair for the program is college basketball commentator and former NBA superstar Clark Kellogg.

Funding for the “Parents Who Host Lose the Most: Don’t be a party to teenage drinking” program is available with support from the Ohio Department f Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, as well as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

To talk about alcohol during the adolescent stages of children, parents can choose from among the many ways or approaches on how to deal with the subject, depending on where they can be most comfortable with.

It’s best to start by setting your expectations from your kids and explaining why you do so. Teenagers are very inquisitive, and telling them what to do and what not to do won’t be enough. You have got to have underlying reasons that will encourage them to follow the dos and discourage them from the don’ts. This is where family values play the greatest roles.

Remind your kids that not everything they see or hear about alcohol is true. Television ads can be very enticing and can make it hard for them to say no to alcoholic drinks. During their adolescent years, teens have the strongest desire to belong. This is what advertisers capitalize on to sell their products.

Share stories about drunk-driving teens and point out the consequences of these actions. If you have your own learning experiences to share to your kids, don’t be afraid to let them know about it because as a parent, you should be the first person to share important life lessons to them. You don’t need to do it regularly, but at least try to be consistent.

It pays to know your child’s circle of friends and their activities. Teens are often much attached to their peers that sometimes, this attitude could lead them to complicated situations. As the parent, it is your responsibility to keep your child safe, as well as his friends who also have concerned parents like you.

Study author Gene Brody said that after two years of offering the program to parents and their kids, a new study conducted on participants showed that there has been a decrease in the number of drugs and alcohol abuse and in behavioral problems in the targeted population.

“During the high school years is when kids often begin to use drugs and escalate their use of drugs, so it’s really an important time to introduce some prevention programs,” Brody said.

The program is specifically designed for African-American families. Parents and kids are given the opportunity to attend sessions on improving academic performance, resisting peer pressure, dealing with discrimination or racism, and effectively implementing household rules.

As African-American kids aged 16 and their parents go through the program, which consists of five two-hour sessions, they are supported and assisted by caregivers who provide them with tips on good parenting practices and setting rules on alcohol and drug abuse. Teens are taught about self-control and are guided to achieve improved academic standings.

The participants came from rural areas. While it may be true that kids in rural areas have lower drug and alcohol abuse cases compared to their urban counterparts, recent studies have shown that risks are increasing.

Brody confirms that their program is warmly received by their target population. “There was great excitement around the program. These parents realize, there’s not a lot of opportunity to help them or to help their youth develop in a way that’s going to put them on a path to success.”

He is hopeful, despite some financial obstacles encountered, that they could share the program to more parents and kids in other key areas.

On its second year, the “Candid Discussion” event, made possible by the Community Connections group in partnership with the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) L-S Chapter, will take all the barriers when children and parents talk about drugs, alcohol and risky behaviors.

The event will have ten student volunteers chosen by the SADD. Their identities will be kept confidential, even their parents and school authorities will not be able to know who they are. This is what the organization will give them in exchange for their honesty with regards to issues of substance abuse.

The students and parents will be in separate rooms, with the students speaking via a voice modulator to avoid any identification. The volunteers will talk honestly about their lives, their activities, how they deal with relationships, and just about any other teen issue that are hard to discuss in a home setting.

“The only people who know who these kids are the SADD kids who asked them to do it. Even the teachers don’t know. It’s all very confidential, which allows the kids to be honest,” adds Kathy Howd from Community Connections.

“Quite frankly, I think a lot of parents have no clue what’s going on,” Howd said. “And the kids have so many ways, especially with technology, to mislead them.”

Sarah Greely, who teaches at the L-S wellness department and an adviser for SADD, hopes that their initiative will help both parents and kids to discover everything about the truths on substance abuse.

Organizers of “Candid Discussion” made it clear that they aren’t trying to portray teenagers of today as substance abusers or risk takers. They instead want to put kids and parents on the same level when it comes to the issue of drugs and other substances so that both parties will be able to work together in promoting healthy living and safe environments.

There are many ways that parents can spoil their kids. By not giving kids regular household chores to accomplish, by not making them wait for the things that they want, and by not setting limits on their activities, parents think they are making their kids happy. What parents don’t realize is that this kind of behavior towards children could lead to dangerous behaviors like substance abuse.

According to experts, two thirds of parents say their kids are not responsible and lack the appropriate manners that children their age should have. Studies have shown that kids who are given everything they want become adults faster, and they will reach a point of difficulty in dealing with life’s challenges which could lead them to substance abuse and other inappropriate behaviors. Psychologists have confirmed that overindulgent parents become the key for their children to head towards the wrong path in life.

The American Academy of Pediatrics say parents nowadays don’t have enough quality time to spend with their kids. This is why they choose to compensate for the lack of time by giving in to every whim that their children have. In order to avoid complicated relationships with their children, they simply say ‘yes’ to everything.

What is important is that parents learn how to balance between love and discipline to raise good children.

Judge Orndoff believes that every child should be put under a parent’s care. “Our goal here is to reunify the family and keep the kids with their biological parents. The question is: How do you put a kid back into a home where the parents use methamphetamine?”

This he does by encouraging parents to get into rehab to address any problems that may have led them to become drug dependents. Judge Orndoff visits the Kings County Probation Department every week to check on the recovery status of those under the program. He and the members of his team identify cases which are making great progress and closely monitors those which need a little more of the push.

The Juvenile Court Judge says that honesty is a key to one’s recovery. Although most addicts may deny that they have problems, getting them to admit their troubles in a large group would somehow make it real to them.

The Family Drug Dependency Court started its operation last April 1 and while it hasn’t been in existence long enough to determine its efficacy on drug abuse and addiction problems, it only reported two failed cases, so far, from the original 14 members under the program.

The award received by the group gave them more reasons to continue their advocacy. Judge Orndoff says he only wants a few things for their endeavor. “… I just want the program to be successful, to give these people a chance to have a job and a family. … Helping these people is what’s important to me.”

Sue Silva lived a normal life together with her four kids in the suburbs, confident with their strong family ties. Her kids were doing well, except for her son Mike Kujanpaa.

Mike began with prescription drugs which were legally obtained after his surgery. He went from Oxycodone, then to Percocet 30s, until he reached heroin. By the time he was 14, Mike was already using cocaine.

Today at 24, Mike is in recovery, and he and his mother have joined the community program “Don’t Be Blind-sighted” which aims to inform parents that drug abuse could happen at home without the parents ever knowing before it’s too late.

“The worst ‘aha’ moment was the day we found the syringes in his bedroom,” said Sue Silva. Silva admits she was blind-sighted by her son’s drug problem.

As she and Mike share their experiences with parents in the community, they have given a list of things at home which when lost for no reason at all, could indicate something not good is happening.

“The cotton balls and Q-tips are used to filter the liquid heroin once they cook it down,” said Silva. “Burnt spoons — my spoons were missing. I thought, ‘Where did my spoons go?’” she said

East Bridgewater Chief of Police John Cowan said that there have been 38 drug-related arrests in their area for the past year. From teenagers to the elderly, prescription drug abuse has become rampant.

Silvia and the East Bridgewater Police hope that they could take their program to as many areas as possible.

“The quicker you draw the line, the quicker you save their life. If you wait for them to hit bottom in your house, you might be taking them out in a body bag,” she said.

‘Infrequent family dinners‘ was defined as fewer than three per week, while ‘frequent’ was defined as five to seven family dinners per week. The report indicated that teens who shared infrequent family dinners were almost four times more likely to smoke; more than twice as likely to drink alcohol; and two and a half times likelier to use pot. They are also almost four times more likely to try illegal drugs.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Founder and Chairman of CASA Columbia and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, shared: “This year’s study reinforces the importance of frequent family dinners… Ninety percent of Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18. Parental engagement in children’s lives is key to raising healthy, drug-free kids and one of the simplest acts of parental engagement is sitting down to the family dinner. Seventeen years of surveying teens has taught us that the more often children have dinner with their families the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”

On the other hand, teens who share frequent dinners with family were found to be more likely to have excellent relationships with the other members of their family.

Researchers from the UC Davis found out that it is important to secure children’s happiness while they are still at home with parents. The report titled “Get Happy! Positive Emotion, Depression and Juvenile Crime” was presented by sociology professor and co-author Bill McCarthy and postdoctoral researcher Teresa Casey from UC Davis during the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas last August 22.

In the study, nearly 15,000 seventh- to ninth-grade students took part in the survey which tackled criminal offenses, use of illegal drugs, and their emotional well-being. Data gathered showed that about 29% of the respondents have committed a criminal offense and 18% have tried the use of illegal drugs. These results were then linked as to how each student assesses his emotional state.

Researchers were able to uncover the fact that the importance of happiness in an individual’s life, especially among adolescents, reaches more extensive areas in their lives. The happier a child or adolescent is with his life, the less he becomes susceptible to drug use and criminal offenses.

The study is said to be one of the few which takes the value of happiness into consideration and its effect to juvenile crime. While other studies have focused on negative emotions such as anger and rage as the causes of improper conduct among adolescents, their study looked into the positive feelings as deterrents for drug use and crime.

The proponents of the study believe that happiness enhances the decision-making skills of kids and that a healthy and positive state of emotions can prevent them from committing illegal acts.

GCASA director of prevention Maryann Bowman shared that the coalition was focusing on the promotion of parental involvement in the issue, in addition to working more closely with schools: “We have seen 25 to 50 percent decreases in underage drinking, especially binge drinking, at all grade levels as a result of our strategies such as Responsible Server Training, Accountability Circles, SUPA (Students United for Positive Action), STOPPED (Sheriffs Telling Our Parents and Promoting Educated Drivers) and Safe Homes. Moving forward, we will explore more ways to keep the momentum going.”

Also at the meeting was Jeffrey Rabey, superintendent of Depew Union Free School District. Rabey was on hand to discuss a program for required Parent Drug and Alcohol Awareness Seminars, which are being conducted at 17 school districts in Erie County. A similar program may be put in place by the coalition in Genesee County.

The aforementioned program called for parents of students involved in extra-curricular activities, as well as those who would like to attend school dances, to attend a 90-minute seminar at least once for the duration of their teen’s stay in high school.

The seminar covers the following topics, as listed in the report: legal implications of underage drinking and drug use; consequences for hosting parties; signs and symptoms of abuse; recognizing drugs and drug paraphernalia; and health risks associated with alcohol abuse.