Wednesday, December 29, 2010

29 Dec. post, part 3: Go Jamie!


This photo was taken by Mark Gutman of The Daily News and published in the Daily this morning.
United Way Regional Director Jamie Beedham-Rada, left, a former GCASA prevention educator, accepts a $300 check from the Bank of Castile for United Way's backpack program.
Click here to read the accompanying article.

29 Dec. post, part 2: Daily News article on the problem of bullying

Brittany Baker just wrote an article for The Daily News entitled "Schools still grapple with issue of bullying." She showcases a Genesee County woman's concern for the safety and wellbeing of her frequently bullied son at Byron-Bergen Middle School, while also alluding to the bullying prevention programs already in place in our communities, the challenges and limitations that come with bullying prevention, and schools' efforts to further develop their anti-bullying measures.

Click here to read the full article. It's a bit longer, but it's worth reading.

29 Dec. post, part 1: Volunteers needed for RSVP project

RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) of Genesee County and Genesee County AmeriCorps is asking for volunteers ages 10 and up to assist with a service project in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Volunteers will be making blankets and/or cards for our military troops. For more details, please click to read yesterday afternoon's Batavian announcement.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Dec. 27th post, part 3: Kids in England have science experiment published in prestigious journal

I thought this article pertained to protective factors, as it demonstrates the remarkable achievements children are capable of if they apply themselves.

"Study by 8-year-olds published in prestigious science journal," written by Zachary Roth and published on Yahoo! News last Wednesday (Dec. 22) at 12:23 p.m. ET, covers the recent achievement of a group of 8- to 10-year-old boys in Devon, England, who did a study on the ability of bumblebees to "see [and learn from] colors and patterns."

Experts from the Royal Society -- which, according to Roth, "is more than 300 years old and includes some of the world's most eminent scientists" -- lauded the boys' discovery of bees' perceptual and intuitive ability as "a genuine advance" (qouted in Roth's article).

I took a look at the study -- which is called "Blackawton bees," was written by
P. S. Blackawton, S. Airzee, A. Allen, S. Baker, A. Berrow, C. Blair, M. Churchill, J. Coles, R. F.-J. Cumming, L. Fraquelli, C. Hackford, A. Hinton Mellor, M. Hutchcroft, B. Ireland, D. Jewsbury, A. Littlejohns, G. M. Littlejohns, M. Lotto, J. McKeown, A. O'Toole, H. Richards, L. Robbins-Davey, S. Roblyn, H. Rodwell-Lynn, D. Schenck, J. Springer, A. Wishy, T. Rodwell-Lynn, D. Strudwick and R.B. Lotto, and was published in Biology Letters on Dec 22, 2010 -- includes the commentary of professional scientists. I particularly like the fact that they drew attention to the creative and playful elements of true scientific exploration, and of education in general.

As for the boys, they did a great job with this very complex study. I drew back a bit from their statement that the intelligence of non-human animals can be the same as ours, as I think this is going too far. But still, their study is interesting for the purpose of exploring the particular intelligence of animals, as well as the similarities between human and animal intelligence.

Click here to read Roth's article.

Click here to go right to the study itself!

Dec. 27th post, part 2: Genesee County students' Christmas Concerts

My first morning post had to do with a story on marijuana -- I'd like to focus more on protective factors for our youth in the next couple posts.

As we know, a protective factor for dissuading youths from drug/alcohol use, bullying, and other risky behaviors is praise from adults. Likewise, another protective factor is involvement in healthy, creative activities. As a correspondent for The Batavian, I did a series of videos on school Christmas concerts in Genesee County. Even though some would argue that Christmas is over -- personally, I maintain that the Christmas Season extends officially through New Years' Eve -- I say it's still relevant. In the spirit of Prevention and education, let's take a moment to honor our kids for a job well done:


PART I



PART II



PART III

Dec. 27th post, part 1: Pat Robertson on marijuana legalization

This article was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer at the end of last week. What do people think?

Click to read.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

OASAS will get a new commissioner under Cuomo

Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez will serve as Commissioner of the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services. She is currently heads up the Community Services department at the Nassau County Department of Mental Health.

Whether they know it or not, Robert Morris staff and students are combatting community disorganization

Robert Morris Elementary School, at 80 Union St. in Batavia, is now 15th in line for a $50,000 Pepsi Refresh grant. I wrote an article on their endeavor for The Batavian, which can be found here, about two and a half weeks ago.

Some of you may have driven by the school a couple nights ago, when the teachers were camped outside in the cold encouraging people to vote. Howard Owens did a piece on this yesterday morning -- click here to read.

The Robert Morris Playground Committee, which is made up of teachers and parents, wants to use the money for playground improvements, including safer and more kid-friendly equipment. They understand that the playground is used by the community as a whole, and they want to make sure that kids and their families have a safe and suitable place to go for recreation.

Joanne Beck of The Daily News reported on the project's voting status in an article that was posted this morning.

I would highly encourage everyone to vote for this project, not least of all because it will serve as a protective factor against harmful behavior among youth.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Two 'Batavian' articles of interest

The first one, "One of Batavia's habitual offenders given maximum prison term," was published at 12:39 this afternoon. It covers the recent conviction of the man to whom Howard Owens refers as "(o)ne of Batavia's most persistent criminals."

Michael J. Piasta's attorney pushed for a more lenient sentence than the one that was issued, arguing that the former "never had a chance to be a productive citizen" (Owens' wording). One of the issues is that Piasta's parents both suffered from substance addictions; he himself consumed LSD by accident as a toddler. Judge Robert C. Noonan expressed hope for Piasta's future, but urged him to take advantage of whatever substance abuse programs are available in prison.

Click here for the full article.

On a different (if not lighter) note, the Salvation Army is in need of bell-ringers and/or other services. I'm sure they would very much appreciate whatever help anyone here at GCASA can provide.

For more information, read "Salvation Army's S.O.S.: Got turkey? An extra coat? A few bucks? Can you ring a bell?" by Billie Owens.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Congrats to Lisa, Lauren and the St. Joe's crew!

Our own Lisa Barrett, a prevention educator at the Batavia site, made the news today along with music teacher Lauren Picarro-Hoerbelt and St. Joe's 4th through 6th graders. "Can't Bully Me Now," Lisa's original musical about bullying awareness, met with universal acclaim at yesterday's quarterly DFC meeting.

Daily News reporter Paul Mrozek put the article up this morning. Click here to read.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

GCASA's Senior Spice program reaches out to seniors with chemical free dance

From The Daily News, 12/10/10:

BATAVIA — They were there to dance and socialize, but they welcomed the opportunity to gain a bit of knowledge just the same.


The occasion was the “All That Glitters Dinner Dance 2010” – an annual gathering of seniors sponsored by Senior Spice, a program of Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.


This year’s holiday event was attended by about 90 people at the Batavia First Presbyterian Church’s community hall last Saturday.


“We are delighted to be able to offer this activity each year as a healthy substance-free social event,” said GCASA Prevention Educator Sue Hawley, dance chairperson. “It gives senior couples and friends an enjoyable night out and also provides a forum where we can deliver a brief educational message about drugs or alcohol.”

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Genesee Justice saved!

On Monday, the Genesee County Legislature approved Ed Minardo's plan to save Genesee Justice by reducing staff hours and cutting his own position as director.

According to Howard Owens' article, "Support, history of Genesee Justice motivated director to ensure division saved" -- which was published yesterday at 1:07 p.m. on The Batavian -- Ed hopes to set up a non-profit foundation "that will raise money to fill the budget gap for full Genesee Justice operations, including reinstating his job as director."

Click here to read the full article.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Salvation of Genesee Justice appears probable

This was posted yesterday, shortly after noon, on The Batavian.

Click to read.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Latest update on Genesee Justice

The current status of the fight to save Genesee Justice is bittersweet -- click here to read the Batavian article.

Denver Broncos receiver had major gambling-induced financial troubles prior to suicide

An article published Wednesday in the Huffington Post reveals that Kenny McKinley, the 23-year-old wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, had a gambling problem and was deep in debt prior to his Sept. 21 suicide.

According to "Kenny McKinley gambling problem: Broncos receiver was deep in debt before suicide," by Arnie Stapleton and P. Solomon Banda, McKinley purchased the gun with which he would later kill himself from teammate Jabar Gaffney months ago. Gaffney said McKinley wanted the gun for self-protection.

Click here to read the full article.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Genesee County DFC is finalist in international contest

Great news: Genesee County Drug-Free Communities Coalition has just been selected as one of the top ten finalists for the 2010 Out of the Box Prize! We were chosen from among 309 applicants from 42 countries!

Out of the Box is sponsored by the Community Tool Box, an online resource for community-building groups around the world. This particular contest is geared toward highlighting "innovative approaches to promoting community health and development" (part of the contest description at http://ctb.ku.edu/en/out_of_the_box.aspx).

From now until January 31, people can vote for their choice. If we come in first place, we will be awarded $5,000 and a free customized WorkStation; if we come in second, our prize will be $2,000 plus the free customized WorkStation.

Please click here to see the list of candidates; click on our link to read our submission and vote (lower right corner of the page)! Tell family and friends to do the same!

Thanks in advance for your support.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Two Genesee Justice-related articles

Howard Owens posted an update on the Genesee Justice situation on The Batavian yesterday afternoon. Genesee Justice staff members have generously offered to take a 6% pay cut to help keep the program running.

Click to read.

Meanwhile, The Daily News has announced an upcoming "Holiday Bazaar" to benefit Justice for Children, an extension of Genesee Justice.

Click to read.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Rural teens found more likely to abuse prescription drugs than urban teens

John Gever, senior editor of MedPage Today, wrote an article on Nov. 1 entitled "Rx Drug Abuse Heaviest in Rural Teens."

He cites the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which turned up some very interesting data. According to Gever, researchers found that while there is little difference in lifetime alcohol and illicit drug use between youth in urban, suburban/small metropolitan and rural communities, rural teens are more at risk for non-medical use of prescription medications.

Rx drug abuse among rural teens was found to be correlated with factors such as household income, school dropouts, etc. There is no conclusive evidence regarding causation, though, if my understanding of the study's conclusions are correct.

Jennifer Havens, PhD, MPH, of the University of Kentucky at Lexington, is quoted by Gever as having said that intervention "may be difficult for rural areas where (. . .) resources are in short supply or nonexistent."

Click here to read the full article.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Article: 'Gambling addiction linked to suicidal behavior in teens -- study'

An article was published this morning on http://www.themedguru.com/ covering a study on the links between gambling and various forms of problem behavior in young people. It's called "Gambling addiction linked to suicidal behavior in teens -- study," and was written by Neharika Sabharwal.

As it turns out, teens who develop gambling addictions run an appreciably higher risk not only for suicide, but also other problem behaviors such as stealing, drug selling, and destruction of property. According to Sabharwal's article, most of these behaviors seem to be geared toward obtaining money to feed gambling addictions.

I found the link to this article on the Western New York Prevention Resource Center website, which has been up and running for about a week now. Check it out!

Click here to read Sabharwal's article.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Gruesome Cigarette Pack Images Make Smokers Want to Quit, Study Finds

MONDAY, Nov. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed graphic new warning labels on cigarette packaging, to help curb smoking. But do these often gruesome images work to help smokers quit?



A new study suggests they do. Smokers shown grim images of a mouth with a swollen, blackened and generally horrifying cancerous growth covering much of the lip were more likely to say they wanted to quit than smokers shown less disturbing images.

Batavian poll question: If Genesee Justice is shut down will the county need to build a new jail?

This was placed on The Batavian at 8:50 a.m. The options are:

a) Yes, and that's one reason I want to keep Genesee Justice around

b) Yes, but it's a chance I'm willing to take

c) No, I don't believe that will happen

d) No opinion

I would encourage everyone here at GCASA to vote. To do so, click here.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Genesee Justice gets overwhelming support at budget hearing

"It was standing room only" at the Genesee County budget hearing last night, according to Paul Mrozek's article, "Genesee Justice gets outpouring of support at budget hearing," which was published today in the Batavia Daily News. Citizens, public officials, and local organzations gathered in droves to send legislators an important message -- namely, that Genesee Justice, which is by virtually all accounts a very innovative and effective (both from a human and financial standpoint) program, must be kept alive.

Click here to read the Daily News article.

Please stay tuned to The Batavian, which will likely also be running an article on the hearing shortly.

UPDATE: The Batavian posted the article about 45 minutes ago. It is very informative and takes account of the depth of the issue. Click here to read.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

California venue bans rave-type events because of drug and alcohol-related illnesses, fatalities

Cow Palace, a Daly City, CA facility that hosts electronic music/dance parties, will be shut down for an unspecified period of time due to a high number of recent drug/alcohol overdoses.

About three weeks ago, according to the article "Cow Palace bans rave-type shows after drug-related deaths," which was written by Neil Gonzales and published on MercuryNews.com at 11:28 p.m. last night (Nov. 16), "more than a dozen people attending a show (. . .) fell ill because of suspected drug and alcohol use and were sent to hospitals, with two reportedly in critical condition."

Gonzales also reports two deaths having resulted from these drug/alcohol overdoses in the past year.

Click here to read the full article.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Aggravated vehicular homicide conviction leads to 2.5-year prison sentence

Here's a follow-up to my Tues., Sept. 1 post: "DWI in the News."

Genesee County's first aggravated vehicular homicide conviction was issued just recently, and yesterday met with a sentence of 2 1/2 years in state prison. The prosecution argued that the sentence was too lenient, given the result of the offender's actions. If I understand correctly, the levity of the sentence was due, in large part, to the fact that this was his first offense.

This information is from this morning's Daily News article. Click to read.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Webcast: 'Raising Drug-Free Kids'

Copied from an e-mail we received last week:

(Note: The program titled "Emerging Drug Trends" previously scheduled for 19 November has been postponed to February 24th 2011 due to production delays. If you were previously registered for this program, your registration will be carried over to the new date. Meanwhile, please register for this new December title and other upcoming titles if interested. Please also forward this message to others within your community, state, email and Facebook contact lists. Remember, only one person per organization need register for each program. Thanks in advance!)



"Raising Drug-Free Kids"

A FREE, Public Domain Video Program
Available as a C-Satellite Downlink and as an On-Demand Webcast

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
1:00-2:00 PM ET

It's the ultimate goal of every parent to raise a safe, healthy, drug-free kid. For local coalitions who work at the community level, connecting with parents is a key strategy in reducing overall substance abuse rates. Many coalitions have come up with unique ways to engage and educate parents. See how their ideas could help strengthen your community and protect kids.
We know teenagers are different from adults, and so are their brains. Different parts of the brain mature at different rates. Although adolescence is often characterized by increased independence and a desire for knowledge and exploration, it also is a time when brain changes can result in high-risk behaviors, addiction vulnerability, and mental illness. Learn about the science of the adolescent brain so you can use the knowledge as another way to reach your teen with important prevention messages.
The parent-child relationship is more complex now than it has ever been. Do kids know how to make difficult decisions about life and drugs without consulting their parents? Are underage drinking and drug use simply a "rite of passage"for teens? Do all teens experiment? Why is keeping the partying at home a bad idea? During this encore airing of Raising Drug Free Kids we'll answer these questions and more.

Key Concepts:

- See why the teenage brain is not just an adult brain with fewer miles on it
- Learn which tactics work best to keep kids away from drugs
- Find out what has worked for other coalitions and how this may help you
- See how you can help guide your kids to learn to make better decisions
- Find out what resources are out there to help coalitions reach parents

Host:
Mary Elizabeth Elliott, Vice President, Communications & Membership, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)

Content Providers:

Kat Allen, Communities That Care Coalition in Franklin County, Massachusetts

Kat Allen is one of the two Chairs of the Communities That Care Coalition in Franklin County, Massachusetts. She holds a masters degree in public health from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, specializing in Reproductive, Adolescent, and Child Health. She has spent the past ten years working in the field of adolescent health: she has worked in an alternative sentencing program for adjudicated youth, a peer education program for interpersonal violence prevention, a teen health clinic, a young men's clinic, school-based health clinics, a clinic for HIV positive youth, and a peer education program in the Dominican Republic. For the past three years Kat has served as the Coordinator of the Community Coalition for Teens, which co-hosts the Communities That Care Coalition. The Communities That Care Coalition was awarded the 2007 Coalition of the Year Award from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA).

Gwen Schiada, Psy.D., Director, Technical Assistance and Research, Connect With Kids

Dr. Gwen Schiada is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 15 years experience working with individuals in therapeutic settings and in systemic change roles at the local, state and federal levels. As a senior research analyst for the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., she provided consultation and support to federal grantees implementing violence prevention initiatives. Dr. Schiada has held positions with the U.S.Department of Education - Safe and Drug Free Schools program and the Safe Schools/ Healthy Students Action Center. Additionally, Dr. Schiada was involved in conducting a large-scale mental health needs assessment for the District of Columbia following the attacks on September 11, 2001. She currently leads the professional development services for CWK Network, is involved in all aspects of research efforts and plays a key role in fostering relationships with government agencies, universities and other organizations that focus on children's health and wellness issues.

Dr. Wilkie Wilson, Researcher, Duke University

Dr. Wilkie Wilson is a Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University Medical Center, a Senior Research Scientist for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Director of BrainWorks at Duke. The mission of BrainWorks is to be both an international resource to communicate the science of brain function, and a research enterprise that studies how this information can be used effectively to improve the lives of young people and the adults who interact with them. He is a neuropharmacologist who studies the ways in which alcohol and other drugs interact with the central nervous system, with a particular interest in how the brain acquires and stores information. An author of numerous scientific publications, book chapters and books, he has trained more than twenty young scientists and physicians. He is a senior editor of Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, and an author of three books for the general public. Buzzed: The Straight Facts About The Most Used and Abused Drugs From Alcohol to Ecstasy, Pumped: Straight fact for athletes about drugs, supplements and training, and Just Say Know: Talking with kids about drugs and alcohol.

Target Audiences:
This pre-recorded program is targeted to parents, grandparents, teachers, and others who would like to better understand the influences and tactics that can keeps kids away from drugs. Coalition leaders, and members will find it especially useful as will law enforcement, community leaders, health professionals and others who want to create new strategies to combat substance abuse among teenagers within their communities. Public and general access television distribution is also encouraged.

Sponsors:
This program is sponsored by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). The broadcast is produced by the Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force Training Program (MCTFT), a division of the Center for Public Safety Innovation at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Availability:These programs are available via satellite over C band and the DOD/DETN satellite networks, private network carriers and selected community cable access stations. They are also available as an on-demand webcast via the Internet for those without satellite access. Only one Point-of-Contact need register for each viewing location. Final satellite coordinates and webcast links will be provided to all registered site co-ordinators 3-5 days prior to the broadcast date.

Click Here To Register For This Free Program


Also, Don't Forget:January 27th 2011: "Preventing Prescription Abuse"andFebruary 24th 2011: "Emerging Drug Trends"

Thursday, November 11, 2010

FDA and DHHS propose graphic new cigarette labels

NOTE: All information in this post is from "Feds propose graphic cigarette warning labels," an article by Michael Felberbaum, published on Yahoo! News at 7:13 p.m. on Wed., Nov. 10.

In an effort to reduce smoking rates -- which have "stalled" in recent years -- the Food and Drug Administration and the Health and Human Services Department are trying to have new labels placed on cigarette packs that depict infected lungs, cancer patients, tracheotomies, and other such graphic images that bring home the dangers of smoking.

Some argue that people will find these labels "offensive" and just ignore them. To give these people their due, there is social psychological research suggesting that hyping up the fear factor has a counterproductive effect, since people don't like to associate horrible and disturbing consequences with pleasurable activities (this is according to the ninth edition of Eliot Aronson's "The Social Animal"). I don't know how up-to-date this information is, though.

Stanton Glantz, a tobacco researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, claims that the aforementioned argument was "cooked up by cigarette companies" and that "[i]f that were true, the tobacco industry wouldn't be fighting them (the new labels) so hard" (this is Felberbaum's wording of Glantz' argument).

This sort of reminds me of a similar campaign depicted in the 2005 film, "Thank You For Smoking."

Click here to read the whole article.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Book review: 'A Christian Theology of Place' by John Inge (Part 2 of 2)

The link to Community Disorganization should be pretty obvious. As our own Daniel “Dr. Dan” Webb, PhD, tells us: “Research has shown that neighborhoods with high population density, lack of natural surveillance of public places, physical deterioration, and high rates of adult crime also have higher rates of juvenile crime and drug selling.”

I can’t help but be reminded of that when I read Inge’s commentary on modern cities, which appears on page 20:


“The problem is that places are turning from ‘places’ into dehumanizing
‘spaces’. This is more than anywhere else true in North America, where the
‘downtown’ areas of most cities have become no-go areas of deprivation, squalor
and crime . . . Once built, the buildings reinforce the prevailing norms. As
Winston Churchill put it: ‘first we shape our buildings and then our buildings
shape us.’ We ‘breathe in’ our surroundings as much as we observe them[.]”

After three interim chapters that focus on the importance of place in the Bible and in the history and traditions of Christianity, Inge ends the book with a chapter on the important role faith-based communities can play in the renewal of a sense of “place” in today’s world.

His point is that all churches should be regarded important insofar as their physicality is concerned; the building where people meet to worship becomes imbued with value and meaning because of the community of persons that meet there and because of the shared identity and sense of purpose that comes from their faith. If our church communities are vibrant and alive in the midst of a society that is either deadened or driven to extremes by the influence of modern conceptions of space and place, change on the municipal level is quite possible.

I invite all of our friends in the faith-based sector to read this book and see what they think. Depending on one’s particular beliefs and/or denominational affiliation, he/she may disagree with certain of Inge’s points. Personally, I myself took issue with his citation of a medieval bishop's statement that God can create an infinite amount of space as part of the cultural shift that gave rise to the devaluation of place in Western society. I'm not sure how one can argue that to be the case. For a more helpful view on this subject, I might recommend G.K. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy."

My endorsement the book is by no means an endorsement of every single statement Inge makes. But overall, I think people will find “A Christian Theology of Place” to be a helpful reflection on what place should mean to the faith experience and to the human experience; hopefully, they will see in it a catalyst for positive change.

Photo from http://www.librarything.com/

Book review: 'A Christian Theology of Place' by John Inge (Part 1 of 2)

















I recently finished reading "A Christian Theology of Place," by John Inge, a bishop in the Church of England. This is an interesting book that demonstrates commendable scholarship and communicates important ideas without resorting to inaccessible language.

The book was published in 2003 by Ashgate Publishing, and is part of the "Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology" series. Its aim, it seems to me, is to put the so-called "theoretical" and/or "scholarly" aspects of faith to work at the parish level and for the community.

Anything that strengthens our faith communities also has the ability to strengthen the overall community. Some of our partners in the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Coalition are from the faith-based community sector, and our survey data has shown religiosity and belief in the moral order to be significant preventative factors when it comes to problem behavior among youth – alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use in particular. So, we take very seriously the need to collaborate with the faith communities in our midst. Church leaders, furthermore, share with GCASA a concern for fostering communities with positive morals and values that discourage ATOD use.

Inge’s book is relevant to the DFC’s mission on two fronts. The first relates to the faith-based sector in general, as indicated above and to which I will return shortly. First, I would like to talk about the second front, which is our concern with Community Disorganization (for clarification, see Daily News article).

What Inge does is show how the "demise of place" in Western culture has affected society as a whole, and religious communities in particular (his focus is on Christian churches, but this could probably apply to other faiths as well). The first chapter is dedicated to his exploration of the effects of modernity on our idea of "place," and on how the importance of particular, concrete, physical locations as the loci of our histories and relations has been diminished. He traces this trend through Enlightenment Rationalism, industrialization, the increasing mobility of Western society, and the pervasion of technology in our everyday lives.

For part 2, click here.

Photo from http://www.librarything.com/

Monday, November 8, 2010

Documentary review: 'Devil's Playground'




Over the weekend I had the chance to watch “Devil’s Playground,” a 2002 documentary on the Old Order Amish community and the first to provide an in-depth look at life in this endlessly fascinating subculture. It’s available at the Richmond Memorial Library in the documentary section, catalog #3147.


Director Lucy Walker follows four teens during their Rumspringa, which is basically a rite-of-passage in Amish culture.


At the age of 16, Amish youth are released from the bonds of the Amish community and allowed to experience life among the “English” (which is what they call mainstream society). After spending time in the outside world, they decide if they want to take their vows to join the Amish Church, thereby officially becoming adults in the Amish community, or break their ties with the Amish community and enjoy the benefits of “the world,” like cars, electricity, etc.


As you might be able to tell by looking at the DVD cover, not all of what they discover outside of the shelter of Amish culture is good or healthy.


Think about this for a second: These young people grow up in a setting with very strict rules, staunch religiosity and virtually – if not absolutely – no use for any modern conveniences of any kind. Now, at an age at which their hormones are in an uproar, they are exposed all at once to the temptations and pleasures of parties, drinking, cigarettes and drugs. Now if this isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.


According to the film, over 90% of Amish teens return to their home communities and join the Amish Church – and, in fact, as of 2002 the Amish community had the highest retention rate since the order was founded (I don’t know how much that has changed since then, if at all). Some of these teens, on the other hand, choose to make lives for themselves within mainstream society. And then there are those of them who, unfortunately, get into some harmful stuff. If you watch this movie, you will see Amish teens smoking a lot, getting drunk, using drugs and, in one case, getting into the drug-dealing game.

I might not mention this if not for the fact that we have some Amish/Mennonite communities in this area – there are none in Genesee County, but I know that Orleans and Wyoming are home to such communities.The work of GCASA’s Prevention Resource Center, which helps to foster other community coalitions in the Western New York area, was also a factor in my decision to post this review on GCASA Cares.


One of the things the PRC folks are always trying to keep in mind is that different communities have different needs and that even if they are experiencing problems similar to those in our community, they may have their own unique risk and protective factors that require attention.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Alcohol more dangerous than illegal drugs, according to UK study

AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng wrote an article entitled "Study: Alcohol more lethal than heroin, cocaine," which was published on Yahoo! News on Monday, Nov. 1, at 7:54 a.m. ET (so I guess it's not really news at this point, but it's still important).

The article covers the results of a study that was published online in the medical journal, Lancet. Funded by Britain's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, this study was designed to assess the dangerousness of various drugs/substances. Researchers determined final "scores" based on harm to individuals, environmental damage, how often families are broken up, and crime and health care costs.

On the whole, alcohol surpassed all other substances. Cheng noted that "[e]xperts said the study should prompt countries to reconsider how they classify drugs."

I haven't read the study itself, so I'm not sure if it was restricted to the U.K. or included other countries as well. If it was strictly a U.K. study, it may be that the enormity of the problem is due, at least in part, to Britain's deregulation of alcohol (see Oct. 15 post). Personally, I would not be too surprised if similar results were found in the U.S. -- but, to be fair, the differences between our countries in this area should be kept in mind.

For the whole article, click here.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Current popular song contains a number of coded drug, drinking-and-driving, and other unsavory references

This song by Far East Movement is very popular among high school students right now. It made #2 on the charts recently, if I'm not mistaken.

See the Urban Dictionary for definitions of terms used in this video -- especially G6 (which has many very disturbing definitions -- in fact, I'll give you the direct link to that right here), 808 and sizzurp.

Monday, November 1, 2010

GCASA celebrates the Great American Smokeout

Psych professor and students to have paper published on "big pharma"

Here is a link to a piece on the research study that Brent D. Robbins, PhD, of Point Park University, recently did with two undergraduate students in the Point Park psychology department.

Dr. Robbins is actually a former professor of mine. I took his Social Psychology class as an undergraduate at Daemen College. He is a brilliant man with a lot to offer the field of psychology.

He and his students are dealing with the over-medication of children, which relates to our concerns with the abuse and/or overuse of over-the-counter and prescription medication.

Click here for more...

GCASA staff member makes the news with William Morgan thriller





















As we all know, one of our own had a book published in August.

Tom Talbot, our grant writer and data evaluator, put his academic background in history and prolific writing experience to work in penning "The Craft: Freemasons, Secret Agents, and William Morgan," a historical thriller based on the disappearance of famed 19th-Century Batavia resident William Morgan.
Chad Zambito (Jen's husband) just recently sent out a press release to local media. The Daily News will likely be doing an article soon; in the meantime, Tom was gracious enough to consent to an interview for The Batavian.

Go to http://www.thecraftthebook.com/ to learn more about the book. You might also want to check out Tom's blog, Tom's Book Pages, where he writes book reviews.
Photo taken by Jen Zambito

Coalition member's nephew-in-law has high hopes for Attica teen center

There are many reasons for teen drug use, and we would be hard-pressed to trace so complex a problem to just one factor.

However, many times the motivation to use is very simple: “There’s nothing else to do.”

This tends to be a problem in poorer, urban communities, but also in rural areas such as those that surround Batavia. Take Attica, for example. How often have we heard youth lament the fact that there is just “nothing to do in this town?”

The Drug Free Communities (DFC) Coalition has, of course, worked hard to engage young people in positive activities towards which they can channel their energies and attention, and it is very important that we encourage any such effort in our region.

The reason I’m talking about this is that Attica resident Wittnes Smith, whose wife is the niece of Coalition member Mary Ellen Wilbur, is hard at work trying to get a Teen Center started in Attica. It’s called Club ALT – as in alternative (to negative behavior) – and will be open to 6th-12th-graders in Attica and all surrounding areas. This is a very ambitious project that would have something to offer just about every teen, regardless of his/her interests.

As a per Diem correspondent for The Batavian, I was recently asked to write an article on Wittnes’ efforts to raise funds for the project. I hope that we here at GCASA, and anyone else who is interested, can in some way help to support his mission.

Click here to read more about it.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Study ties heavy smoking to higher risk for Alzheimer's

This article is from Live Science and available to read on Yahoo! News. Click to read.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Drug Free Communities Website

To read up on what's going on with the DFC, the history and mission of the Coalition, statistics on youth ATOD use and perception, as well as other information, please visit:

http://www.drugfreegenesee.com/

St. Joseph's student artwork would make a great anti-tobacco ad

Care about how you look?

Well, if you smoke cigarettes, this is what awaits you...
















Friday, October 22, 2010

Reflections on the family, otherwise known as the "anti-drug" (Part 3 of 3)

So what are some of the means available to us whereby we might support and build up the domestic family (I’ll use this term as an alternative to “nuclear family”)? There are places, sectors and people right in our midst that I think are pregnant with potential in this area:

Blood Relatives: If grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins live in the same community or close by, that’s great. There’s your wider family support system right there (it’s not the only one that should be available, but it’s one of the best). Unfortunately, this is not always the case – in fact, quite often it is not. We live in a much more mobile society than those of the past, and consequently our domestic and extra-domestic family units do not always stay together. We have to come to terms with that.

Neighborhoods: Neighborhoods have tremendous potential, especially when they include families with young children. And yet how many people nowadays even know their neighbors? Unfamiliarity within the neighborhood is not uncommon, as I suggested (albeit indirectly) in part 2. Recognizing this, the Drug Free Communities Coalition has worked with neighborhoods in the recent past. But we can each take some responsibility for this on our own, in terms of getting to know our neighbors. Granted, there are some obstacles involved, but whatever little we can do could go a long way – even if it’s something as simple as having some leftover brownies we’re not going to eat, and going over to ask the next door neighbor if he/she would like some.

Churches: The parish has the potential to be not only an invaluable support system for the domestic family, but also a source of affirmation – that is, affirmation of the family and of what the family is all about. But I could pose this question to anyone reading this post (and to myself as well): How many people do you know at your church? On a typical Sunday morning (or Saturday evening, if that’s when your church meets for worship), would you know the person sitting in the pew in front of you? Or behind you?

I have visited some churches right here in Batavia where the community and family aspects of the faith-based life are very strong. This tends to be the case in smaller churches. The pastor is almost like another family member, the church community an extension of the family. Any time the domestic family has problems, they can turn to their “family in faith” for support, encouragement, and help.

Schools: First of all, parents and teachers are partners. Both are involved – not equally, of course, but surely – in the development of children. Both are helping to shape the generation that will be the future of our society. Secondly, kids from many families come together to take part in the school community. Parents of children in the same classroom often network and form lasting relationships (sometimes the teachers even get in on that, too). The parent-child, student-teacher, teacher-parent relationships are complex, sometimes frustrating, and always interesting; how much more so are the student-to-student and family-to-family relationships?

The opportunities for communal fosterage in the schools are so diverse that I could subdivide this section into further categories – but for the reader’s sake, I won’t.

The Workplace: Most of us work with other people. Most of the people we work with have families. People who work together support their families through the work they do, and the latter unites them in a common purpose. Like it or not, if you work with others, your family and theirs are connected.

Coworkers should get to know one another’s families. You might say that just as the church is an extension of the domestic family, coworkers’ families form an extension of the professional family (or community, if you’d rather use that term); as such, company families can encourage and reinforce people in their mission with regards to the work they do (after all, no matter what type of place you work for, your workplace is performing some service that has a place in society as a whole).

As we celebrate Red Ribbon Week, let’s take time to consider the indispensability of the family in communal life, and of support systems for the family. My advice to myself and to us all is that we should sharpen our appreciation of our respective family lives, as well as any support systems that make them possible.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

Reflections on the family, otherwise known as "the anti-drug" (Part 2 of 3)

- http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa031702a.htm

- http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?

High divorce rates, child abuse and neglect, single-parent homes – these are only a few signs of the disintegration of the family in our time. Is this a sad occurrence? Certainly. Is it something that’s easily ignored? I don’t think so – people bemoan the trend all the time. And rightly so, I would say. After all, so much of society’s welfare depends on the stability of our families.

Many people consider this matter especially significant in light of the fact that American families were relatively stable for many, many years, right up until the 1960’s. I’ve heard different theories as to what could have hurt the American family so badly, and I’m sure there are at least as many remedial ideas.

In a nutshell, what I submit to you is that the so-called “nuclear family” fell apart because of one thing: non-self-sufficience.

Think about it for a second: What does “nuclear” mean? The first and most obvious thing that comes to your mind is probably stuff that blows up. Granted, even the best family situations can be…well, explosive. But the word nuclear also brings to mind high school biology lessons on the nucleus, which is the central part of a cell. I think that’s probably closer to the intended meaning of the word nuclear as applied to the family. So yeah, I guess you could say that the idea of the centrality of the family is inherent within its designation as nuclear.

Here’s the thing, though: The word nuclear can also denote isolation, sequestration, being cut off from contact with the surrounding world.

If we look at the history of humankind, we may come to find that people across time and in all cultures had a very different conception of the family, one that pretty much endured right up until the modern era. At this point in history, we can barely hear the word family without thinking of the nuclear family – that is to say, a husband, a wife, and the children they have together, all living within a single household.

This is most definitely a correct notion of the family – and, indeed, is the most critical component of any individual’s family (the whole concept of family is, I might venture to say, almost useless without it). And you do see both the existence and the importance of this family situation in pre-modern cultures. However, this is not all that you see.

Throughout most of human history, the place of the immediate family was within a wider network of familial relations. In tribal cultures, for instance, the tribe itself was considered an extended family. To try to conceptualize family apart from this context was unthinkable.

We can see traces of this mentality even today, in what we might call “pre-industrial” communities (for example, the Amish). Among some of these communities, it’s not too uncommon for three or more generations to live together under a single roof, with siblings and cousins relatively close by.

In modern Western culture, this type of thing tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Whereas the most basic and important family unit – consisting of the mother, father, and children – has/had the benefit of a larger support system, to which it has/had constant access, in modern non-industrialized/less-industrialized societies and in pre-modern societies, it’s basically on its own in the modern, mainstream West.

Let’s say you have three children. Given the state of the culture, don’t be too surprised if, when they are all married and have families of their own, one ends up living in New York, one in California, and another in Louisiana. You never know, one of them might even end up overseas.

When external support systems are removed from the immediate family unit, which then takes upon itself more than it should have to bear alone, what happens? Pressure is inevitable, internal hardships more intense, disintegration seemingly imminent.

But this was not always the case -- even in the modern West. For a long time, it was standard practice that the mothers would stay home while the fathers went off to work. Being at home for most of the day, the women in each neighborhood were able to network and foster communities that supported the family. Since then, the majority of women have entered the workforce, and neighborhood bonding has slowly dwindled. So, obviously, this particular opportunity to foster a larger support system for the so-called “nuclear” family has become attenuated.

I’m not suggesting for a moment that we need to go back to the ways of tribal societies, much less that women shouldn’t go into the workforce. But we have to take account of what factors are affecting the modern family and figure out where we can go from where we are. This will be the focus of the third part of this post.

Photo courtesy of Shannon Ford.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Alcohol deregulation wreaks havoc in U.K.


Our Prevention Department was recently given a DVD, the production of which was underwritten by the Center for Alcohol Policy. It was entitled: “The Dangers of Alcohol Deregulation: The United Kingdom Experience vs. American Alcohol Regulation.”

The DVD presentation is very short, but also very informative. It highlights a study (with the same title as the DVD) that Pam Erickson, a former alcohol regulator here in the U.S., conducted on the effects of alcohol deregulation in the United Kingdom (UK), which she believes to be the center of the country’s current “epidemic.”

Here are some of the key points:

1. According to Erickson’s study, which includes information on problems that were identified by members of the British Parliament, there is virtually “no effective regulation” of alcohol at the regional or national level in the U.K. The production’s narrator contrasts this situation with that of the U.S., where alcohol is regulated by each state.

2. Another difference between our two countries is that there is a clear distinction between manufacturers and retailers here in the U.S. The narrator characterizes the purpose of this distinction well: “To provide transparency and accountability.” There is very little such distinction in Britain.
“In the U.K.,” says the narrator, “large international retailers have seen an increase in their ability to drive volume sales.”

3. Alcohol is very inexpensive in the U.K. Retailers sell alcoholic beverages at prices below cost in order to lure customers.

4. In addition to being cheap, alcohol is also available 24/7 in the U.K.

The chart above includes some of the statistics that correlate with the U.K.’s alcohol deregulation. Sorry I couldn't make it bigger -- the first set of bars represents the number of youth who reported drinking alcoholic beverages in the last month, the second represents the number of 15-16-year-olds who reported having been drunk in the past month.

In the year 2006, the following alcohol-related illnesses were reported in the U.K. (Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The Information Centre, 2008):
o 15,900 acute intoxications
o 14,800 cases of liver disease
Erickson urges the U.S. not to go down the same path, because “it’s going to put us on a slope that will bring us the same kind of problems that they have today in the United Kingdom.”
Chart Statistics courtesy of: European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (Youth Drinking) and European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPA) Report, Substance Abuse Among Students in 35 Countries (Youth Ages 15-16 Who Were Drunk).

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Reflections on the family, otherwise known as "the anti-drug" (Part 1 of 3)



The approach of Red Ribbon Week reminds us all of the fact that community, at its best, tends to be among the most effective antidotes to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Community can, of course, take many forms – whether it be municipal (your town), professional, faith-based, neighborhood or otherwise.

But I would agree with commentators from different schools of thought who have said, in so many words, that the foundational community is the family.

Admittedly, this statement sounds a little simplistic. Our research, however, suggests otherwise. When we started our community coalition work in Genesee County, we conducted a needs assessment using the Communities That Care (CTC) Youth Survey; from the results, we were able to identify two primary risk factors for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use, and one of them was Favorable Parental Attitudes and Involvement in the Problem Behavior (also, a recent study in Orleans County identified sibling drug use as a key risk factor). Likewise, we identified four protective factors for improvement, and two of the four were: Family Attachment and Family Involvement. In the cases of both risk and prevention, then, family relations are a good half of the overall picture.

Why is this, exactly? I’m no psychologist, but I think I can point to some key things that everyone can recognize about family. In the midst of a loving and supportive family, people gain a sense of who they are and a sense of belonging.

No family is perfect, and oftentimes the more tightly knit a family is, the more fighting (in the more benign sense) there tends to be. Those of you who have had the experience of being parents and/or siblings can attest to this, right? But at its best, being part of a family can give each individual a sense of his/her part in a communal situation and of his/her responsibility towards others. By the same token, growing up within a broken or troubled family environment can impede one’s development in these areas.

While this is not always the case, people often turn to drugs and alcohol to fill some kind of “gap” in their existences, to compensate for a lack of meaning in their lives. Could it be that the general sense of meaning that comes with and from family life (along with the headaches) has been weakened in recent years, and that this is a key contributive factor behind the aforementioned phenomenon?

A lot of people have talked about how the American family has suffered over the last 30-40 years. Certainly, the family lives of many of today’s youths are cases in point. I’d like, in the next segment of this 3-part post, to talk about my theory of what exactly has happened to the American family, before suggesting a remedial approach in the third part.

Photo courtesy of Shannon Ford

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Media Literacy: Sesame Street and Old Spice

Good thing Grover got to our kids before Isaiah Mustafa -- lol

Click to see it!

New study shows study abroad increases college drinking

This study is included in the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and looks at the drinking habits of University of Washington students who studied in other coutnries.

Click here to read the Yahoo! News article.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Media plays a key role in childhood/teen substance abuse

One of our staff members shared an interesting article with us yesterday. It's from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Click here to read.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Victim Impact Panel is personal for some GCASA staff

At the Victim Impact Panel last evening written about in the article below by Dan Crofts, I showed the audience these pictures as I told my story.

My children were killed on March 10, 1993 by a repeat drunk driving offender. The DWI crash that killed my children was his third DWI. He was driving a tractor trailer truck with 48,000 lbs. of flour going from Lockport, NY to Schenectady,NY. He crashed into my wife and 4 children on Rt. 31 in Ogden between Brockport and Spencerport.

This is Brigid. She was born 04/11/87. She was 5 when she was killed. She would be 23 today.


This is Ryan. He was born 05/09/84. He was 8 when he was killed. He would be 26 today.
This is the crash scene on 03/10/93. My wife Angela and daughter Maureen aged 14 at the time, and son, Joseph who was 12 at the time survived. They all had extensive injuries and trauma.

In the early 80s when Mothers Against Drunk Driving started holding Victim Impact Panels about 40,000 Americans were killed in DWI crashes every year. By 2000 the number was down to about 17,000. Last year, 2009, the number if DWI fatalities in the United States was down to about 12,000 with about 500 per year in New York State. New York State and Utah are tied as being the #1 lowest DWI fatalities per 100,000 miles driven in the United States. While things have improved we had 23 offenders at the panel last night from Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming counties. Between 20 and 35 people attend GCASA's Victim impact panel every month.

I am a Psychiatric Social Worker. I will have been in the field 42 years on 10/31. I have worked with people with mental health and addiction problems my whole career. It seems very ironic that my community, my family, my children, and myself have been victimized by the disease that I have professionally and personally  tried to help so many people fight over the years.

I have been the executive director of GCASA for the last 10 years. The previous executive director had also lost a child to DWI. There are other members of the GCASA staff who have lost relatives to DWI crashes as well. DWI fatalities happen across the board and can happen to any one.

Please do not drink and drive and don't let anyone, anyone, anyone, drink and drive. If you have to, call the police. Hopefully you will won't suffer the tragedies which hundreds of thousands of Americans have.

GCASA's other than personal services almost half the average

As was written about yesterday, Coordinated Care Services Inc., the nonprofit management services company in Rochester, NY recently did an analysis of GCASA's financial operation. Yesterday, we described the personal service cost and benefit costs per units of service and today we are describing what is called OTPS, other than personal services, costs per unit of service.

The average OTPS cost is $11.00 with the highest among the 10 comparable agencies at $20.00 per unit. GCASA's OTPS cost per unit of service in both Genesee and Orleans counties is $6.00 almost half the average.

Other than personal services are expenses such as equipment, supplies, postage, etc.

Once again GCASA is thrifty and frugal in its operations and the taxpayers are getting excellent value for their expenditures.

Here is a graph depicting the findings.

Victim Impact Panel -- An Observer's Review

Our monthly Victim Impact Panel met last night at the Batavia City Centre. A video on the consequences of drunk driving was followed by two very engaging, emotional and honest talks by Brenda Van Horn, who lost a son to a DWI almost nine years ago, and our own David G. Markham, whose two youngest children were killed by a drunk driver in 1993.

Let me tell you what was most interesting to me, as an observer. As people were just arriving, one attendee came in with what seemed to be an emotionally impervious, "I-could-care-less" attitude. But once David was well into his talk, I glanced over -- and it looked like this person was getting misty-eyed.

You almost have to be at a V.I.P. session to truly understand what it's all about. What V.I.P. illustrates is not some wishy-washy, hippie-happy hugfest; nor, on the other hand, is it some vindictive, condemnatory, finger-wagging forum. What V.I.P. does is draw upon the principles of Restorative Justice in order to help people realize how their actions affect others, themselves, and the community as a whole, and to encourage them in their ability to become part of the solution rather than the problem. Those in attendance were asked to fill out an evaluative survey and offer comments afterwards; the resulting comments suggested appreciable changes of minds and hearts.

Hats off to Brenda and Dave for opening up about such a painful and personal topic. By doing so, they may have helped to save many lives. Hats off also to Laura Ricci, who did a marvelous job of coordinating the program. Go Laura!

Articles of interest

As is my custom, I was reading the news yesterday with an eye for what might be relevant to the GCASA blog. I found a couple of articles on Yahoo! News dealing with different topics. We should, of course, take what's in these articles with a grain of salt. The fact that I'm posting these links does not mean that I endorse every statement contained in the articles. But the articles do present some interesting things to consider.

Please click here for an article on the decline of marriage rates due to the poor economy. This is relevant, because family life and attachment are significant preventative factors -- the lack thereof being significant risk factors -- for alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

Please click here for an article on Americans' religious awareness. I thought this would be interesting to look at, given the fact that religious faith is a major preventative factor when it comes to ATOD use.

GCASA's employees productive and efficient in comparison

Coordinated Care Services Inc, a nonprofit management services organization in Rochester, NY, recently reviewed GCASA's financials and compared GCASA to 10 other substance abuse agencies in the Rochester area, 6 of which were stand alone substance agencies and four of which were part of hospital systems. GCASA compared very favorably. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of the findings with readers of this blog.

In looking at the GCASA's treatment programs in Genesee and Orleans Counties the average cost of a unit of service delivered was $38.00 per unit in Genesee and $41.00 per unit in Orleans. the average of the 12 agencies, the other 10 plus GCASA's two clinics was $38.00 per unit. A number of agencies were spending significantly more with three agencies spending $49.00, $48.00, and $45.00 per unit.

In looking at the cost of benefits per unit GCASA was below average with $8.00 per unit while the average was $9.00 per unit. The high agencies were one at $12.00 per unit and three at $11.00 per unit.

GCASA's personnel costs both cost per unit of service and costs for benefits per unit of service are lower than most other agencies. These agencies are all nonprofits. If a similar comparison were done for State and County employees the disparities would much greater.

Is GCASA's salaries and benefits per cost of service a good thing or a bad thing? It definitely is a bad thing if you are an employee. It is a good thing if you are a funder or a client.

It terms of organizational performance, GCASA outperforms most substance abuse agencies in the region for many reasons. It has a great staff who are very productive, a great managerial team, and a great board of directors.

In terms of being accountable to the communities we serve, they couldn't be getting better services at a lower cost by any other provider.

The accusation heard from time to time that GCASA's employees are rich and only want money and that GCASA is only a Medicaid mill bilking the taxpayers out of money is not borne out by the facts. GCASA operates most effectively and efficiently and provides great returns for the money spent.

Click on charts to enlarge for easier reading.


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

GCASA is pioneer in medication supported recovery

This comes from the OASAS update newsletter of 09/27/10:

MEDICATION SUPPORTED RECOVERY INITIATIVE LAUNCHED



New York leads the nation in support of individuals who are in recovery from substance use disorders. As part of September’s Recovery Month, OASAS began an initiative for all programs called “Medication Supported Recovery.” With the support of our prevention, treatment and recovery partners: COMPA, ASAP, NAADAC, ATPA, TCA and NAMA, this will enable programs to provide – directly or by referral – the use of addiction medications as treatment options, when appropriate. The OASAS Office of Health, Wellness, and Medical Direction and the Bureau of Treatment, along with Field Office and Technical Assistance Staff are available to assist providers in integrating addiction medications into programs. Resources to help providers move forward with this initiative are available on the OASAS Web site addiction medicine pages.

I am proud to write that GCASA is a pioneer in Medication Supported Recovery. GCASA's Medical Directors and Psychiatrists have provided psychotropic medications to GCASA's clients. We also have been and still are pioneers in using Suboxone for opiate addiction. In addiction, GCASA has been a pioneer in the use of nicotine replacement therapy and beginning 10/01/10 will begin a pilot project with Electronic cigarettes as a nicotine delivery mechanism.

GCASA also works collaboratively with the mental health clinics in both Genesee and Orleans counties and with many private providers in managing the care of our mutual patients.

Murder of a Mexican mayor brings home perils of community drug activity

As everybody is, I'm sure, aware, Mexico has been struggling with major drug problems for quite some time. Being at somewhat of a distance, we here in the States -- especially if we live in small towns or suburban communities where drug problems are not quite as extreme -- tend to forget that drugs are not just an annoyance, but a a recipe for disaster.



The discovery of small-town mayor Gustavo Sanchez and one of his aides yesterday was a case in point. According to Gustavo Ruiz' article entitled "Small-town mayor stoned to death in Western Mexico," which was published on Yahoo! News last night (Sept. 27th, 2010) at 8:41 p.m., the town in question "is in a region where soldiers have destroyed more than 20 meth labs in the last year." It is not yet clear whether Sanchez' murderers were members of a drug cartel, but given the amount of drug activity in that area it is not unlikely that drugs were a factor in some form or other, directly or indirectly.



The reason I mention the meth labs should be obvious -- we've had quite a few of those in Genesee County in the past year or so. Fortunately, our drug woes have not escalated to anywhere near the level seen in Mexico. But every now and then, we could use these reminders of how important it is to stay on top of it.



On that note, I want to allude to something one of my colleagues said yesterday. Stephanie Armstrong, DFC Program Assistant at the Orleans site, observed that if we limit ourselves to closing down meth houses, culprits will just move to another house. Understanding that we do need to keep closing down any meth lab we find, she noted that we should also addresss the social problems that give rise to such things -- widespread unemployment, for example. Granted, we don't know how much we can do with regard to that sort of thing, but clearly we can't do nothing.



For the Yahoo! News article on Mayor Sanchez' death, click here.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Peaceful Genesee is working to educate the public about restorative justice

Peaceful Genesee, a volunteer coalition dedicated to tackling the problem of community violence, is holding a workshop right now at the YWCA. Let's hope for their current and future success in promoting peace and restorative justice.

Click here for the insert in The Batavian.

Genesee County Drug Court graduation 10/12/2010

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Study shows kids are swearing at a younger age

This might not seem to have any direct correlation to the issue of alcohol, tobacco and drug (ATOD) use, but I think it speaks to the overall moral and family atmosphere in the context of which our youth are growing up nowadays. And this has been shown to be significant with regard to risk and protective factors for ATOD use. One might argue, 'How will kids learn to care about what they put into their mouths if they have no care for what comes out of their mouths?'

Click here for the Yahoo! News article.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Here is the latest on the Muckdogs. Let's continue to support them throughout the next two years and beyond, as they are among our most valuable partners here at GCASA.

See yesterday's articles in:

The Daily News

The Batavian

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

GCASA's 2011 funding sources

As GCASA's Executive Director I often get asked where GCASA gets its money. A lot of people mistakenly think we are a county or state governmental agency. GCASA is a private nonprofit agency which has contracts with State and County government but less than 45% of its revenue comes from New York State and less than 1% of its revenue comes from Genesee or Orleans County.

Here is a chart which lists GCASA's funding sources and the percentage of the revenue that that funding stream makes up of the over 4 million dollar budget.

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

GCASA has four programs: treatment, prevention, residential services, and Employee Assistance. While it serves primarily Genesee and Orleans counties it provides many services to all the counties in Western New York.

DWI in the News

The trial of Ronald J. Wendt, of Alexander, is soon to begin. The Batavian has been tracking the progress of this story since August of last year, when Wendt was accused of manslaughter in the three-car crash that killed 18-year-old Katie Stanley of Dansville.

What has yet to be determined is whether or not alcohol consumption was a factor in the accident. Wendt claims to have had his last beer 15 minutes before the accident occurred.

Two articles on the most recent developments were posted yesterday. Click here for those articles and for all previous coverage on The Batavian (it goes in reverse chronology, from top to bottom).

Sheriff Maha and his deputies help keep Geneseans safe.

Underage drinking TIPLINE on front page of Genesee County Sheriff's Department web page.

Underage Drinking TIPLINE



(585) 343-1932


1-800-851-1932


"You know you care…make the call"

Many thanks to Sheriff Gary Maha and all his deputies for making Genesee County safer due to DWI and underage drinking.