Alcohol Abuse

Carroll County kids -- the first 100 who sign up -- will have the opportunity to learn about drug and alcohol abuse from a police perspective this summer at Camp COPS.The free program, set for July 12-16 at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, aims to provide soon-to-be seventh-graders a healthy dose of physical activity within a police-academy atmosphere, says Tfc. Wendy Bernhardt, camp director.COPS -- Courage to be Outstanding with Pride and Self-confidence -- places emphasis on self-discipline and teamwork.

If Carroll County teens and preteens won't listen to parents and teachers warning them to avoid drugs and alcohol, maybe they'll get the message loud -- and louder -- from members of the 18 rock bands on tap for next month's A.L.P.H.A. concert.The brainchild of Westminster area residents Matt Crum, John Purvis and Steve Bohli, who formed their band the Steel Factor about four months ago, A.L.P.H.A. stands for Active Locals Preventing Heroin Addiction.All profits will go to organizations such as Junction Inc., Residents Attacking Drugs, the state's attorney's Heroin Kills campaign and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

State Sen. Robert R. Neall, a fun-loving conservative and former Maryland drug czar, has discovered that the Naval Academy is not a party school.A former Navy man himself, Neall has angered the academy brass by allowing his son, a sophomore midshipman, and six classmates to drink beer at his nearby Davidsonville home several times in the past year.The problem is David Neall and his friends are not 21. And the honor-and-ethics academy has a firm rule against underage drinking even when it occurs miles from the campus and in the company of parents.

In November 1996, a 21-year-old freshman at Frostburg State University died of alcohol poisoning after attending an off-campus party. Eight students accused of selling him the liquor have been charged with manslaughter.On Feb. 9, 1997, a 17-year-old freshman at a university in upstate New York died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity rush event. Twelve students have been charged in his death.Two summers ago, a 15-year-old boy from the South, visiting Ocean City, consumed a lethal amount of alcohol at a teen-age party and died.

The numbers didn't lie at Hannah More School. They didn't produce a pretty picture, either.Reams of numbers meticulously gathered over eight years showed that girls at the Reisterstown school for emotionally disturbed adolescents came to school less and dropped out more than the boys there.Now, that study in a school of 100 students is leading to changes in programs for emotionally disturbed students throughout Maryland. Those changes will have a wide-ranging impact because the students are expensive to educate -- taxpayers foot tuition bills that can exceed $35,000 per pupil per year -- and their problems are growing more complex, their teachers say.Expanding the Hannah More study to eight other schools in the state "will result in more of these kids being successful and . . . in a lot fewer prison placements and a lot fewer welfare placements," said Sue Murray, a Hannah More faculty member who started collecting data in 1988 to track the student body.

A UNITED FRONT to help prevent drug and alcohol abuse is the focus of presentations by the county Health Department's prevention services staff at the 8: 30 a.m., 9: 30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday services at the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, 7606 Quarterfield Road.Sponsored by the multidenominational Faith Coalition, the program is offered in cooperation with a public awareness campaign sponsored by the Health Department.Representatives of the 14 congregations that make up the coalition have been meeting regularly for a year with Marlane Fissell, a community certification specialist with prevention services.

A nervous excitement filled the top floor of Shrum's Bridal as 15 teen-age girls, many of them more used to blue jeans and tennis shoes than formal gowns and high heels, tried on dresses for their debutante ball.This evening's affair is being sponsored by the Planning Action Committee of Anne Arundel County. The nonprofit organization provides activities like the ball as part of its effort to prevent drug and alcohol abuse in the community."The teen-agers need something to get involved in so they don't get in trouble on the streets," said Carolyn Butler, committee member and debutante coordinator.

The first new drug in 47 years to treat alcoholism has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism announced yesterday.Unlike Antabuse, the currently used drug, which makes the user severely nauseated when he or she uses alcohol, naltrexone works by blocking both the craving for alcohol and the pleasure of getting high."This is the beginning of a new era . . . in alcoholism treatment," said Dr. Enoch Gordis, director of the institute, which funded testing of the drug.

Howard County's substance abuse programs will gain national prominence tomorrow morning when President Clinton comes to Elkridge to urge Congress not to cut funding for drug-abuse education legislation.Launching a national drug-awareness campaign at Mayfield Woods Middle School, Mr. Clinton is expected to highlight the Howard school system's use of the federal funding and how the various county agencies have worked together to fight substance abuse."I'm really pleased that we get a chance to show off our drug education program," said Debbi Lange, the health education teacher at Mayfield Woods.

Hoping that discipline and rigorous training will shake some sense into young offenders, state officials agreed yesterday to set up Maryland's first boot camp for juvenile delinquents.The Board of Public Works awarded a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization a $7.8 million contract to run the program for three years at a Juvenile Services facility in Doncaster in Southern Maryland.Modeled in some ways after boot camps for adult prisoners, but with a greater emphasis on education and vocational training, the new program will handle 30 young men at a time.

Nearly half of college-age adults struggle with a mental health disorder, from alcohol dependency to depression and anxiety. But only a quarter seek treatment, according to a study published today. "This study gives a picture of the magnitude of the problem and the extent to which these disorders go untreated," said Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and lead author of the study. "It really lays out the challenge of providing services to meet the need, particularly of alcohol use disorders."

Is 18 too young to drink alcohol? As a 20-year-old college student who does not drink alcohol and has no desire to do so, I want to express my gratitude to William E. Kirwan, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and to the university presidents speaking out against, and encouraging others to reconsider, the insanity of the current drinking age of 21 ("Colleges: Drinking age 'not working,'" Aug. 19). I am offended and appalled that at the age of 18, I am considered competent enough to vote for my elected officials, sign legally binding contracts and serve in the military, yet if I were to be found drinking a beer, I could be treated as a criminal.

A Glen Burnie man was sentenced to 40 years in prison yesterday for fatally shooting a man in a crowd outside his girlfriend's Annapolis apartment, resolving the first of four homicides in seven months in the troubled neighborhood. Tyrone Craig Williams, 39, was given life in prison with all but 35 years suspended after being convicted of first-degree murder in the 2007 death of Cole J. Collins, 24, in front of the Bay Ridge Gardens apartment complex. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Michael E. Loney sentenced Williams to five years for use of a handgun in a violent crime, to be served consecutively, and five years for firearm possession with a felony conviction, to be served concurrently.

Underage drinking, alcohol abuse to be discussed The Columbia Association Teen Center, Howard County Library and Howard County Health Department will co-sponsor a discussion on preventing underage drinking and alcohol abuse from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the east Columbia library, 6600 Cradlerock Way. The free program is made possible through Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a national initiative to prevent alcohol use by children ages...

There's a worthy effort in Annapolis to increase money for substance-abuse treatment around the state, using funds from the proposed $1 increase in the cigarette tax. A proposal that will be considered by the General Assembly would dedicate as much as $30 million a year to fighting drug and alcohol abuse - about half going to Baltimore - a desirable change from the yearly catch-as-catch-can funding that treatment typically receives. It's another good reason, in addition to providing more money for health insurance, to support the cigarette tax increase.

Debra Furr-Holden wasn't born in Baltimore - she's a native of Prince George's County - but her roots reach much deeper in this city than many who have been here for generations. Personally, she lives in the northeast Baltimore neighborhood of Glenham-Belford, sending her three young children to the local public school. Professionally, she spends most of her time either out on the streets of Baltimore or analyzing data from her team of observers, trying to catalog the ills and assets of the city, to help direct government and community leaders in appropriate directions.

Most pregnant women have little trouble kicking caffeine once their doctors warn them that the common stimulant found in coffee, tea, cola, chocolate and other foods could endanger their babies' health. But researchers have found a group who does have trouble - women with a family history of alcohol abuse. "It's not just an academic issue," said Dr. Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine whose earlier research established caffeine as an addictive substance.

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood By Koren Zailckas. Viking. 343 pages. $21.95. She doesn't remember her first kiss but Koren Zailckas can recall with elaborate detail the very afternoon, when at 14 and still in eighth grade, she took her first sip of alcohol. It was a Friday -- June 17, 1994, to be exact -- and the Southern Comfort bottle resembled something her grandfather might drink. The liquid inside smelled sweet, and tasted terrible. But it was her initiation to a ubiquitous social drug that would both prop her up and, ultimately, bring her down.

As Carroll County prepares to build a $4 million drug treatment center in Sykesville, it will also use a federal grant to keep youths out of the facility. The federal government will provide $100,000 annually for the next five years from the Drug Free Communities Grant Program. The money will help coordinate programs to reduce substance abuse among youths and expand local prevention efforts. About 20 percent of the annual funds, which are included in the federal budget for 2006, can be used for treatment services for those trying to recover from drug and alcohol abuse.

As Carroll County prepares to build a $4 million drug treatment center in Sykesville, it will also use a federal grant to keep youth out of the facility. The federal government will provide $100,000 annually for the next five years from the Drug Free Communities Grant Program. The money will help coordinate programs to reduce substance abuse among youth and expand local prevention efforts. About 20 percent of the annual funds, which are included in the federal budget for 2006, can be used for treatment services for those trying to recover from drug and alcohol abuse.