Published: October 09, 2008 04:49 pm         

SAVING LIVES: Organizers say grants will help the group stop underage drinking, smoking

Orleans United Against Substance Abuse Coalition had cause for the celebration breakfast held Wednesday morning.

The Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Inc., which operates the Orleans coalition, was meeting to give an update to participating members and agencies on the achievements the organization had earned, including substantial grants to help fund the group.

“For the next five years, $125,000 will be coming into the county,” said Maryann Bowman, GCASA director of prevention. “What does that mean? It means we’ll be able to complete more surveys in school, compile more data, have more compliance checkpoints and expanded media campaigns in addition to expanding the coalition. I know it’s going to grow, because I know it’s been growing for the past couple years with no funding at all. Having this grant means saving lives.”

Corey Black, investigator for the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, reported that during alcohol compliance checks, there was a failure rate of only 19 percent.

“What we do is take an underage person, 19 or 20, wire them up and send them out to purchase alcohol,” Black said. “We don’t scam the businesses, we don’t use fake IDs — we make it as fair and honest as we can. We did a total of 52 checks on five separate dates, and a total of 10 were failures, meaning they sold alcohol to a minor.”

The Community Planning Committee, a smaller group of GCASA members, is currently on a number of smaller projects.

“I know resources and staff can be very difficult to come by for non-profit agencies,” said Jim Graziano, director of the Orleans County Mental Health Services. “If anyone is interested in serving on the committee, we’d love to have more members. More people with a more diverse view would be helpful as we move along.”

Tom Talbot, assistant director of the Western New York Prevention Resource Center, said it is important to continue working toward the organization’s goals.

“Every community is not as fortunate as Orleans County — it takes the effort of a whole community to make (these organizations) work,” Talbot said. “The money the grant has given us is a lot, but not enough.”

He said research shows in communities where there are coalitions, substance abuse among high school students is significantly lower than in communities where no coalition existed. GCASA is used to primarily fight abuse of three substances: Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. Chris Lewis, GCASA Smoke Free NOW coordinator, said that statistics show that in New York state 250,500 people die from tobacco use annually — and for every eight smokers who die, one other dies from second-hand smoke. Lewis said that each year, state residents pay about $904 in Medicaid taxes that go directly to smokers. Additionally, it is the No. 1 cause of home fire fatalities.

One of the most successful projects GCASA has launched has been the Underage Drinking Tipline, said Holly Baxter, executive director of the crisis hot line.

“The Tipline originally started in Genesee County and then moved to Orleans, Wyoming and Monroe counties,” Baxter said. She explained the 1-800 number is free and anonymous and available in 154 different languages. The caller is asked where the party was, what the nearest intersection was, whether there were adults on premises and other questions.

“Once we have that information, we have connections and relay information to the police dispatcher and they prioritize,” she said. “It’s interesting to see how we’ve been getting calls — people are calling in with information off myspace.com and facebook.com and even from fellow students who haven’t been invited to the party. In addition to calls about parties, we’ve also received some about restaurants and stores who are selling alcohol to minors.

“The more we get the word out, the more difference it’s going to make. The best thing everybody can do in this room is get the line out,” Baxter said. “It is going to continue to grow — maybe in a year from now, we’ll be representing all of New York state.”

For more information on GCASA, visit the blog GCASA cares, a forum relating to substance abuse issues and prevention at http://gcasacares.blogspot.com.