SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION
Grade: C+
Issue Statement:
The issue of substance abuse is a complicated and involved one, even in a relatively small geographical area like Boone County. Information from the Columbia Public Schools indicates that our student population is engaged in high-risk behavior at a relatively high rate, although we are below the state average. In 1997, CPS Seniors reported that 55.7% had consumed alcohol within the last thirty days, however, 57.5% of them said they had never smoked cigarettes and 44.7% of them stated they had never tried marijuana. Illegal drug use is listed in the Boone County Health Assessment in the top five of problems facing citizens of Columbia. Unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, were listed in the top five of problems faced by neighborhoods in Boone County. Columbia residents perceive illegal drug use as considerably more of a problem than do Boone County residents.
Goal:
To reduce the incidence and reported use of abuse of substances, legal or illegal in Boone County, and to continue to involve Columbia and Boone County youth and their parents in activities which promote a drug-free lifestyle, and to allow those youth and adults to help
plan the events.Progress Statement:
Nationally, the incidence of drug abuse has fallen in the last twenty years. Locally, while we fall within those national figures, we have not seen decreases in overall use, or a raising of the "age of first use", in the past few years. These are indicators of the effectiveness of drug prevention information which is strongly sent at some levels of the Columbia/Boone County community.
Strategies:
Three of the Health Report Card teams, Teen Pregnancy, High School Drop-Outs and Substance Abuse have been collaborating over the last several years, as we view the issues that we are facing as interrelated. We continue to push toward that integration of effort through the Mid-Missouri Coalition on Adolescent Concerns (MMCAC). Events sponsored by the teams will include a CPS School Board Candidate Forum, Junior High and Middle School drug free events, MudStock and a Kids Fishing Day. Boone County Resource Mothers, Men As Parents and other like minded efforts are seen as part of the overall Coalition. Many efforts may be occurring in the community at large which have, at their heart, drug prevention.
Contacts:
Officer John Warner, Crime Prevention Unit, Columbia
Police Department, 874-7406.Return to Index
Last Revised: 07 April 2000