Unalaska, AK – Various agencies around the community are trying to develop an action plan to deal with local drug problems highlighted by the recent bust, especially the issues with the community's young people. The interagency cooperative, which includes representatives from all of the local non-profits, behavioral health agencies, schools, and others, began a discussion about different ways to approach the issue.

School counselor Teri LaGrand is part of the group and reflected on how the high schoolers are reacting. She said the kids talk about the drug use in the community and some talk about using drugs themselves as well. And they are very aware of the recent slate of arrests.

"I'm hearing that the kids are concerned about it," LaGrand said. "They're kind of worried that either themselves or their friends or their parents might be next in the line of people to be arrested. And they're kind of concerned about maybe it's going to move on from the people who are selling the drugs to the people who are buying the drugs."

LaGrand said that she likes to get the students' reactions to different presentations about drugs and how effective they are. The students tell her that some messages, like blanket statements of "Just Say No," just aren't effective.

"If you have somebody who just says all drugs are bad,' just say no,' don't do drugs,' sometimes that message kind of falls on deaf ears because they look at it in a different way. They look at it like some drugs are bad, some drugs are really bad, and some drugs are really, really, really bad. They look at it like that. They sort of differentiate."

For the students, it depends to a certain degree on how addictive the drugs are and how they affect people. LaGrand said she doesn't have the answer to how to curb drug usage among local youth, but we can start by listening to them.

"I think we have to talk with them more than talking at them. Get their input, get their answers, find out what's going on with them and how we can help them. I think they are the only ones who really know how we can reach them. So we have to keep talking with them."

She also thinks that the presence of law enforcement in the community helps the situation. "I've lived in villages where we didn't have a police force, and we had troopers that were hundreds of miles away. So it's just really nice to have the police presence here and to have them enforcing the laws that we have because it makes our community a safer place to be."

Mayor Shirley Marquardt helped coordinate a meeting about the drug issues to collect ideas from agencies that have worked with these problems before.

"I felt it was just important to draw together some folks and talk about how do we have that conversation. You just have to start the conversation at some point and say what is it that we think we'd like to do and how do we go about actually trying to make it happen."

Suggestions ranged from setting up a mentor program like Big Brothers, Big Sisters to bringing in speakers who can help parents and community members learn how children develop and the best ways to effectively talk to them. Others suggested letting youth who want to be involved in the conversation have their own public voice.

People who are interested in getting involved with the community's efforts can contact M. Lynn Crane at U-SAFV at 581-1500 or the mayor at city hall and find out more ways to get involved.