The Hunterdon County Substance Abuse Stakeholders Task Force formed after seven drug-related deaths by July of this year.
By: Steve Bates
RARITAN TOWNSHIP "I don’t use the word ‘war’ here, and I don’t think anyone will. Frankly, we did not win the war on drugs," said Angelo DiOrio, director of the Hunterdon County Department of Human Services.
Mr. DiOrio made these remarks during his introduction to the Hunterdon County Freeholders’ Substance Abuse Summit, held Monday at the Hunterdon County administration building on Route 12.
He said the thrust of a new plan for fighting drug abuse in the county would center around the idea that help is available to those who want to get off drugs. Plastic yellow banners littered the walls of the main meeting room, where a little less than 100 people gathered to hear about the plan called "Interdict, Identify, Intervene."
The plan is based on the concept of stopping drug use and abuse in its tracks, identifying those who may have a such a problem and intervening in order to help them receive help.
Freeholder Director George Muller explained the Hunterdon County Substance Abuse Stakeholders Task Force came together after seven drug-related deaths had occurred in the county by July of this year.
"It felt like an epidemic," he said.
The freeholders determined the county had a big problem with no immediate solution so the task force was assembled. It brought together representatives from county schools, the prosecutor’s office, the police, drug treatment providers, county officials and concerned parents.
Upon forming, the task force decided while it could appreciate the alarming fact heroin overdose was to blame for many of the deaths, it decided it should not limit its scope to just fighting the problem the one drug presented. It decided to come up with a comprehensive plan to battle illegal drug use and abuse regardless of its form.
The task force met over the summer and into the fall and presented its strategy of interdiction, identification and intervention at the summit.
Mr. DiOrio said implementing the task force’s recommendations would not be "inexpensive." He said a lot of county money already goes into substance abuse treatment and prevention, but more will be needed.
Concerned residents who showed up at the meeting agreed, and many said the county’s drug problem won’t really be solved until Hunterdon County agrees to fund the establishment of a heroin detoxification center, possibly within Hunterdon Medical Center, the county’s only hospital.
The first presentation of the evening came from county Prosecutor Steven Rubin, who said it is his office’s job to investigate, arrest and prosecute drug offenders.
He said his office has maintained fighting the war on drugs has been a public safety priority, but the war on global terrorism has become a new priority that stands to tax the manpower of every law enforcement agency in the country.
Mr. Rubin had high praise for anti-drug programs like DARE and said employees from his office also participate in drug education. He cited the county superintendent’s annual drug summit as an example.
The prosecutor said the drug trade is a simple game of supply and demand. Heroin is cheap, he said, attempting to shed some light on the narcotic’s recent spike in popularity.
After Mr. Rubin’s presentation, Roberta Kestenbaum, a research assistant for the county Department of Human Services, spoke on the scope of the county drug problem.
She said while the percentage of people who seek drug abuse treatment in the county for alcohol addiction is still higher than for other drugs, the demand for marijuana and heroin treatment has increased since 1993.
Another series of charts Ms. Kestenbaum used showed while arrests in Hunterdon County for drug possession and use had remained steady from 1996 through 1999, the number of arrests for possession increased between 1999 and 2000.
Dennis Cox, county superintendent, said every school in the state is required to have a comprehensive drug education and prevention program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
This doesn’t mean teachers need to preach about the dangers of heroin to 6-year-olds, he said. But it does suggest drug education can and should begin with elementary points like explaining to kindergartners the difference between drugs someone takes when they are sick and others, Mr. Cox said.
As students get older, like around middle school age, teachers are instructed to be on the lookout for high-risk behaviors, Mr. Cox said. High-risk behaviors include bloodshot eyes, needle marks, unusual emotional extremes, appetite extremes, paranoia, sudden truancy, tardiness or a general lack of interest in things that once interested the student.
"I’m not saying that everyone exhibiting that behavior is a drug abuser," he said. "But schools have a responsibility."
Part of this responsibility includes mandating teachers report high-risk behavior to school intervention and referral service teams, Mr. Cox said. These teams often include the building administrator, the school nurse, members of the Child Study Team or student counselors.
Besides identifying students who may be in need of help, these teams also are responsible for coordinating much of the drug awareness curriculum for the entire school.
Mr. Cox advocated the establishment of regional substance awareness coordinators who could take some of the burden off the school-based teams.
"There will always be enough work to do," he said.
The superintendent also said schools should get to know its drug-free students better because their behavior patterns could be the key to keeping high-risk students off drugs.
"We can learn more from students who are drug free than from the adults at this point," he said.
Bonnie Rosinski, a task force member and concerned parent, said it’s time for parents to keep better track of their children.
"It’s time to get back to, ‘It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your children are?’ " she said.
She said parents need better education about drugs, and it’s up to schools and the community at large to provide that education.
Another parent, Julie Wiehl, said she and other parents at Delaware Valley Regional High School have instituted safe home directories, which list the names of parents who have signed a pledge to host drug- and alcohol-free events at their homes.
She added raising a teen-ager can be overwhelming so parents should form support groups to help keep track of their children. She said the worst that will happen is parents are more alert, come to the school more and are more involved in what goes on in the lives of their children.
Susan Morrow, executive director of the Hunterdon Drug Awareness Program, explains what happens once an admitted drug abuser seeks help to kick their habit.
Initially, there’s an immediate physical and psychological assessment performed to see if the person will need hospitalization to detoxify or can do it within a social situation, she said. Next, counselors and the addict have to decide what form of rehabilitation is best for them.
Ms. Morrow said a greater number of people find the least restrictive environment to be the best plan for rehabilitation treatment. Unfortunately, some addicts need closer supervision before moving on to a halfway house or a ¾ house living arrangement, which is less restrictive than a halfway house, she said.
The problem with treatment in Hunterdon County is there aren’t enough resources to go around for everyone who comes forward for help with a drug problem. If anything, programs like Interdict, Identify, Intervene are working too well, because there’s a great number of people coming forward every day.
A plan to combat the resources crunch is for agencies that specialize in the field to get together and figure out how to fill in the treatment gaps, she said.
Lt. Ken Harding of the Hunterdon County Narcotics Task Force explained there has been a drug problem in the county for at least three decades. The only difference is the heroin of today is much more powerful than that of the 1970s. What once used to reach consumers as an 8 percent pure drug is now hitting the streets at about 70 percent, Lt. Harding said. And young people can’t handle that kind of concentration, which makes the heroin that exists today much more dangerous.
Bonnie Duncan of the United Way spoke about the media blitz that will accompany the new drug action plan.
The thrust of the campaign will be "help is out there," Ms. Duncan said.
The task force has determined the Hunterdon Helpline should be the phone number of first resort for anyone who wants information about drugs or help with a drug problem.
She said in the near future the Helpline number will be posted throughout the schools and county to provide a resource for those who need it.
"Help is a phone call away," she said.
After the presentation, a number of residents spoke about the perceived drug problem in the county, and what the freeholder board might do to address it.
Nancy Alwin of Flemington, a substance abuse counselor with Catholic Charities, said she can’t understand why there isn’t a heroin detoxification center in a county as wealthy as Hunterdon.
Mr. DiOrio said the county has been funding detoxification services since 1999 and has been steadily increasing the amount of money dedicated to the pursuit. He said he understands the task force also has asked the county to look into the establishment of a heroin detoxification center within Hunterdon County, and it will look into the issue.
Marianne Skolek, a parent, said there should be a directed effort by police to take predatory dealers, those who provide young people with their first high, off the streets through some type of criminal profiling.
Lebanon Township resident Peter Salman suggested schools use young graduates of drug addiction rehabilitation to come and speak to students about the hard road they had to take back to sobriety. He said it could be similar in scope to the "scared straight" programs that are used with juvenile criminal offenders.
The Hunterdon County Narcotics Task Force has a drug tip line that can be reached at (908) 782-DRUG. The Hunterdon Helpline can be reached at (800) 272-4630.<</p>

