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Building Momentum For Tobacco Control - Youth Prevention Effort |
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Building Momentum For Tobacco Control - ETS Prevention Efforts |
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Building Momentum For Tobacco Control - Sarpy And Cass Counties |
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MARIJUANA/HEMP BILL FAILS TO PASS
LB 273, the bill to legalize the growing of marijuana/ hemp in Nebraska was debated on the floor of the Nebraska Unicameral on May 22, 2001.
Following debate, Senator Ed Schrock, District #38, asked that the bill be bracketed until January 9, 2002. This step assures that the bill remains alive but no vote can be taken on the bill until the next session.
Among the Senators who spoke against the legalization of marijuana/hemp were: Senators Jim Jensen, #20; Dwite Pedersen, #39; Elaine Stuhr, #24; Adrian Smith, #48; Curt Bromm, #23; Floyd Vrtiska, #l; Pam Redfield, #12; Don Preister, #5 and Deb Suttle, #10.
Senator Vrtiska stated that, even though he was a co-signer, he could not now vote for this bill.
The marijuana plant that produces an addictive high is the same plant as marijuana/ hemp. The two plants are not “cousins”, they are the exact same plant, Cannabis sativa. The naked eye cannot tell how much THC (the main psychoactive ingredient) is present in Cannabis sativa. No Cannabis sativa plant is THC-free.
The only way to determine the THC content of any Cannabis sativa plant is to test each plant, and there is no “field” test to determine THC levels. Samples must be sent away to labs for testing , a slow, costly process. It is relatively simple to conceal high THC plants (worth over $1,000 per plant each year) among low THC plants, as has been done in other countries, including the Netherlands.
There are other legal hemp plants (including Manilla hemp, Sisal hemp, Sunn hemp, among others) available as “alternative” crops for Nebraska farmers. None of these hemp plants have intoxicating properties like marijuana/hemp.
There is no real market for hemp products. Canadian hemp farmers have lost millions of dollars on hemp since it was legalized in 1998. Only 17 of the 232 hemp farmers received even minimal payment for their crops in Canada. In fact, crop projections from Canada for this year predict that very few acres will be planted because so much surplus is still sitting in the fields.
Hemp can survive as a cash crop only if very cheap labor is used or if governments subsidize it. Hemp is very costly to harvest. Only the stem is used and must be separated from the rest of the plant. This separation process requires very costly machinery and must be located very close to processing plants (within 30-60 miles).
Interestingly, a recent risk assessment done for Health Canada states that, “New food products and cosmetics made from hemp – the marijuana plant – pose an unacceptable risk to the health of consumers.” It also says that hemp products may not be safe because even small amounts of THC may cause developmental problems. “The most at-risk,” the study says, “are children exposed in the womb or through breast milk, or teenagers whose reproductive systems are developing.”
The same drug culture that promotes marijuana to our young people (through High Times and other drug magazines, the Internet, music, concerts, movies, clothing, head shops and other methods) is the core group orchestrating the hemp movement. In 1993, Richard Cowan, Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), listed the legalization of hemp as one of the main strategies to be used for full marijuana legalization by 1997.
The acknowledged “grand daddy” of the modern hemp movement is Jack Herer. He openly brags that he has used marijuana every day since 1969. He says his commitment to the hemp movement started one night while he was high on LSD. During the 1970’s and 80’s, Herer was a major drug paraphernalia dealer.
NEW PREVENTION TOOLS FOR NEIGHBORHOODS
Omaha citizens no longer have to tolerate dangerous under-age drinking parties in their neighborhoods. Two tools can now assist homeowners in Omaha to control these parties in the future.
The new Neighborhood Impact Statement program empowers citizens to provide background information to courts in order to encourage more significant sentencing for those who are convicted of crimes associated with these parties.
If there has been a teen drinking party in your neighborhood and any arrests have been made, call PRIDE-Omaha, Inc., 397-3309 or the Crime Prevention Unit of the Omaha Police Department, 444-4873.
You and your neighbors will be encouraged to write Neighborhood Impact Statements. Sample letters can be provided. These letters to the judge can explain how seriously this, and any previous parties at this address, has negatively impacted your quality of life. These statements need to be factual yet can urge strong consequences.
We will help you find the court date of the accused perpetrator, assist you in writing the Neighborhood Impact Statements to the judge and will go to court with you.
The Neighborhood Impact Statements have been used for some time to address other crimes such as graffiti and prostitution. They could also be used when stores in your neighborhood have been caught selling alcohol, tobacco or drug paraphernalia to minors.
Another tool can also be used by neighbors. Chronic party houses can be reported to PRIDE-Omaha, Inc., 393-4444, or to the OPD MIP Hotline number, 444-4061. People answering both numbers will take as much information as possible. The police will then work with neighbors to help resolve the problem.
For more information on Neighborhood Impact Statements or for a sample packet of letters and instructions, please contact the PRIDE-Omaha, Inc. office, 402-397-3309.
SAFE HOMES AD CAMPAIGN TO START
The SAFE HOMES parent network is sponsoring an ad campaign that is set to begin during the month of June and will run this summer.
Twenty junior billboards will be placed throughout the Omaha metropolitan area. A sample of the ad is shown above. This ad will also be featured in one Sunday edition of the Omaha World-Herald during July.
The purpose of this ad campaign is to publicize and support the fine work of the many SAFE HOMES Parent Networks throughout our community.
The Safe Homes Parent Network is a parent pledge pro-gram that encourages parents, guardians and community to work together for drug-free, violence-free youth. SAFE HOMES parents pledge that they will supervise all gatherings at the homes. They will not allow minors to consume alcohol, tobacco or other drugs on their property.
SAFE HOMES parents are also encouraged to know where their children are, who they are with, what they are doing and when they will return.
SAFE HOMES is open to all parents, grandparents and others who support drug-free, violence-free young people. It can be established at schools, churches or among other groups. It can also be established as a “Parent Circle”, with the parents of your child’s friends.
The ad campaign is being provided through funding by the Region VI Governing Board and the Nebraska Health and Human Services Systems from State and Federal Block Grant Allocations.
For more information on SAFE HOMES or to order magnets or other materials, please call the PRIDE-Omaha, Inc. office at 402-397-3309.
PARENT GUIDELINES FOR KIDS WHO ARE HOME ALONE
Parental supervision as a drug prevention tool is critical. However, the following helpful guidelines were printed in the Prevention Pathways “Insight — a closer look at prevention Newsletter”, Summer, 2001 edition.
Children are sometimes home alone while parents are working or away for some other reason. It is generally believed, however, that children under the age of 12 should not be left home alone.
The following are some suggestions to increase the safety of your older child and ease your mind while he or she is home alone:
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Agree on ground rules for those times when you are not home; for example, rules for cooking, leaving the house, having friends over, etc. |
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Assign your children tasks to accomplish while you are gone. Try to keep them busy! |
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Be sure to have telephone numbers posted where you can be reached. Also, make sure you list numbers for fire and police, neighbors, and relatives. |
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If your children arrive home to an empty house, be sure to call and check in on them. |
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Enroll your children in a course on safety procedures. Their safety is related to their knowledge of how to protect themselves. Check with the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, your local hospital, or the YMCA for courses. |
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Talk to your children about their concerns when they are home alone. Make sure everyone understands each other. |
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Remember, with the proper guidelines, being home for limited periods of time can increase independence, responsibility and confidence in your children! |
~ Prevention Pathways: “Insight — a closer look at prevention”, Summer, 2001
~ Prevent Child Abuse America, Chicago, IL
PHILLIP MORRIS SENDS BOOK COVERS TO SCHOOLS
Tobacco giant Phillip Morris has sent 125 million free book covers to schools all across the nation. Does your school have these book covers?
According to Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, a national tobacco prevention organization, this is the company’s “latest attempt to sneak into the hearts and minds of our children.”
NEW DRINK AIMED AT YOUTH
Lemon-flavored alcoholic malt beverages, also known as “Hard Lemonade”, are becoming the newest rage. Starting with the 1999 product called “Mike’s Hard Lemonade”, the field now has several competitors.
“Hard Lemonade appears to be most popular among young drinkers,” states the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/12/00. Drug prevention experts agree and many have expressed concern that this and similar fruity drinks have special appeal to children. Most young people have not acquired a taste for alcohol, and these types of drinks help bridge that gap.
“The lemon-flavored malt drinks are designed to target non-beer drinkers who prefer not to drink hard liquor or aren’t big wine drinkers,” reported the Post-Intelligencer.
~ Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/12/00
Parents of college students now have a new tool to help keep their children safe. Security on Campus, a national organization dedicated to making college campuses safer, offers a notification form for parents and students to fill out and submit to their school’s Dean of Students.
The student waiver informs the school of the parents request to be notified of all academic and disciplinary reports or actions on the part of the school concerning their child. This includes notification of all end-of-semester grades, notification of any academic probation, conduct sanctions, alcohol or other drug violations or citations, and any allegations of misconduct of a criminal nature.
This form can be downloaded from Security on Campuses’ website, www.campussafety.org or can be obtained from PRIDE-Omaha, Inc.
Federal law recognizes parents’ rights to be notified if their child is involved in risky or illegal behavior such as underage drinking, public drunkenness, use of other drugs or criminal activity. The student provides authorization to release the records as required under 20USCS1232G (The Federal Family Rights and Privacy Act).
As a result of LB 1436, a Douglas County coalition has received a grant, to focus on two tobacco prevention goals: 1.) reducing Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and 2.) preventing initiation of tobacco use among our youth.
The Metro Omaha Tobacco Action Coalition (MOTAC) is overseeing the efforts of two committees that have outlined objectives to target the above two concerns. PRIDE-Omaha, Inc., as a sub-grantee, is greatly involved in both the ETS and Youth Prevention committees.
The Youth Prevention objective primarily focuses on encouraging youth to become involved as part of the solution to the problem of rising smoking rates in the middle and high school populations.
PRIDE-Omaha’s task is to organize an Adult/Youth Steering Committee that would oversee and coordinate a network of youth groups and coalitions in Douglas County. The main focus of this group will be tobacco control advocacy.
One of our first efforts has been to recruit youth to serve on the Steering Committee and to train them to take a leadership role. As a part of that training, 20 youth and 6 adults will be attending the Youth to Youth International Conference in Westerville, Ohio on June 20-23, 2001. The Youth to Youth program began in 1982 in Columbus, Ohio as one of the first “no-use message”, youth-driven prevention programs in the United States. Since that time, the peer-to-peer concepts on which Youth to Youth was founded, have proven to not only be effective with local teens, but also have been emulated by communities across the country and throughout the world.
Another training that PRIDE-Omaha, Inc. provided, to promote the development of youth tobacco prevention coalitions, was the SQUADS Model training. This training was offered to 25 participants by a national trainer on April 30, 2001. The SQUADS model for youth leadership in tobacco prevention activities was designed under a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office on Smoking and Health. The SQUADS curriculum provides a step-by-step process for youth-led action in tobacco control. It introduces adults to an approach to work with youth, that develops their skills as advocates for tobacco control.
It is an eight-week session in which youth work through the process of surveying their community for tobacco issues, analyzing the data collected, prioritizing problems noted, planning and completing a youth-led action, and then sharing their success with others in the community.
The goal of the above noted efforts is to have a strong, effective Adult/Youth Steering committee, coordinating and working with youth groups in Douglas county whose mission is to advocate for environmental and policy changes that would promote a safer, healthier community for all.
BUILDING MOMENTUM FOR TOBACCO CONTROL -
ETS PREVENTION EFFORTSTo address the MOTAC goal of reducing Environmental Tobacco Smoke, the ETS Committee has been actively working to reduce exposure of infants and children to secondhand smoke.
The theme for this campaign is “Secondhand Smoke Hurts Kids First”. This theme emphasizes the importance of keeping babies and children away from secondhand smoke. There is no known safe level of secondhand smoke exposure that has been established to date.
Parents need to be aware that children should never be exposed to secondhand smoke. This means don’t smoke around children, even outdoors. Do not place children in any building that allows smoking. Studies have proven that designated smoking and nonsmoking sections or rooms in the same building can’t fully or adequately remove all of the toxins found in secondhand smoke. So parents should make sure that homes, businesses, day- care centers, restaurants and all places their child visits are smoke-free.
Even areas that contain the smell of smoke can be harmful to children. One example is smokers’ cars where adults have been smoking, even though they do not smoke while children are present.
BUILDING MOMENTUM FOR TOBACCO CONTROL - SARPY AND CASS COUNTIES
Tobacco control coalitions are also now forming in Sarpy and Cass counties in Nebraska. The focus of their activities until the end of 2001 will be to recruit new members and to start planning goals and objectives for the coming year.
Anyone interested in joining either effort should call our office at 402-397-3309.
SCHOLARSHIPS REWARD DRUG-FREE YOUTH
Retired doctor Harry Russell, a 1951 Hastings College graduate, is offering scholarships for students at the private college who pledge to not use alcohol and other drugs.
Dr. Russell donated $485,000 worth of stock to fund the annually renewable scholarships.
About 50 students have received the scholarships for the 2001-2002 academic year. Steve Lincoln, Communications Coordinator for the school, stated that the average scholarship award is $750 each.
~ Lincoln Journal Star, May 14, 2001
May 19, 2001 - Operation Storefront Candid Photo
DUTCH ARE PLANNING DRIVE-THROUGH DRUG SHOPS
Dutch authorities say they want to make it easier on Germans who flock to Venlo, Netherlands for drugs by opening two coffee shops with drive-throughs selling drugs such as marijuana and hashish.
Drug tourists draw street dealers selling other illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin to this southern Dutch border town. This creates “an environment that generally makes ordinary people feel unsafe,” said Venlo spokeswoman Tamira Hankman.
“Our city center has been flooded with these tourists, and the plan is part of an offensive to make it safer,” Hankman stated.
If the City Council approves the idea, the drive-through shops are expected to open next year, Hankman said.
Marijuana and hashish are still illegal throughout the Netherlands, but authorities have stopped enforcing the law, thus creating the impression that these drugs are legal in the Netherlands.
~ Lincoln Journal Star, May 2, 2001
Editor’s note:
The Netherlands is sometimes used as an example that making marijuana more accessible and available keeps people from using other “harder” drugs. This story is yet another example that the opposite is actually true.
OXYCONTIN: A NEW DRUG OF ABUSE
OxyContin is a semi-synthetic opioid which is prescribed for chronic pain. It is very effective at managing pain and contains 10-160 milligrams of oxycodone in a time-released tablet. Most other painkillers contain only 5 milligrams of oxycodone. Street terms include Oxy, O.C. and killer.
OxyContin quickly became a street drug of abuse after users discovered that crushing it disarms the time-release action of the medication and produces a quick, powerful high. Abusing the drug in this manner can quickly lead to addiction and other problems.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, use among youth ages 12-17 increased from 6..3 per 1,000 potential new users in 1990 to 32.4 per 1,000 potential new users in 1998. Deaths related to Oxy abuse have increased from 49 mentions in the 1996 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report to 262 related deaths in 1999.
A related problem has also surfaced following this new trend. Young people are now crushing other drugs in attempts to get high.
~ CSAT Advisory, OxyContin, April, 2001
~ ONDCP: www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
NEW ALCOHOL PREVENTION CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCED
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has announced a new campaign to promote voluntary and governmental policies and actions to eliminate alcohol marketing to underage persons in sports. The campaign aims to sever the tie between college sports and alcohol.
Among the priorities, the campaign aims to:
Eliminate alcohol sponsorship of college and Olympic sports.
Extend the current NCAA restrictions on alcohol advertising to all college sporting events, including pre-and post-game sports shows.
Prohibit alcohol ads in broadcasting when 15% or 2 million persons (the lesser of the 2) in the audience are under the age of 21.
Eliminate alcohol sponsorship and promotion of youth sport events, athletic teams and leagues and athletes.
To sign on as a supporter or to learn more about this campaign, contact CSPI at www.cspinet.org.
© 2001 PRIDE-Omaha, Inc. All rights reserved.