Keep drug prevention program

Thursday, 12 November 2009 00:00

To the Editors:

Lewisboro Town Board: Please keep funding the Drug Abuse Prevention Council (DAPC). Countless families in our community have benefited from the valuable drug and alcohol prevention programs sponsored by DAPC over the past 18 years — Family U Night, Family U In-School Programs, Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP), to name a few. I have benefited from these programs for more than 10 years.

Charlie Seidell said it best in his column in The Ledger, “Don’t Use Dogs,” on Oct. 29. He spoke about the proposed use of drug-sniffing dogs at John Jay High School and questioned why the board would want to “scale up the ‘war on drugs’ ... while simultaneously cutting funding for DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).” Charlie, a John Jay High School student, stated that the above was “hypocritical” and that “education is one of the most, if not the most important aspect of the fight against drugs.” As a parent and clinical social worker, I wholeheartedly agree.

Please appreciate the importance of this reputable prevention program to our community — especially in the midst of an economic crisis that has added stress on all Americans, thus allowing the liquor industry to be one of the only facets of our economy that has not been devastated.

Please vote to save this vital program in order to keep our families well informed about parenting issues, educated about current research and trends in alcohol and drug use among teens, and safe.

LAUREN SMITH

Director, Family University

DAPC Board Member

Nov. 5

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