Prevention is the best investment we can make

Published 1:10 pm Friday, January 25, 2008

You do not have to open your eyes too wide in our state to see the horrific devastation to families and communities caused by substance abuse. Addictions and abuse of alcohol, opiates, prescription drugs and meth are commonplace and continue to keep the treatment centers a thriving concern.

Domestic violence involving children and spouses is pervasive, often inflicted by people who wouldn’t think of harmful behavior if not under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. Abuse also takes place in the form of neglect and there are plenty of sorrowful stories of kids being ignored while their parents are high.

I’d like to see the demand for our state’s treatment centers drop to the point where they can safely go out of business. I’d like to see places that treat hundreds of drug-effected babies each year go out of business, too. Sadly, these places will not shut their doors, nor should they, until we can all stand together and fight substance abuse like never before. Only then do we even begin to think about eliminating these facilities that are so important and badly needed today.

Some of the hardest working and dedicated people I know are already soldiers of this fight. These are the people who put lives back together after they have been lost or nearly lost to substance abuse. They are the ones who counsel our drug-addicted youth and try to keep them from continuing on the march toward self-destruction. These are officers of the law, prosecutors, judges and probation officers. They are nurses, doctors and other health-care professionals and many others who could focus their extraordinary time and talents elsewhere if our collective craze for mind-altering substances wasn’t so rampant.

There are not enough of these amazing people to do the job, yet their services continue to be in high demand. What’s worse is that they are forced to fight the battle on the wrong front, and they all know it. The right front of course is prevention.

Numerous studies have confirmed the adage: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In Granite Falls, a relatively small investment by the school district in counseling and life skills training yielded reductions in alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use among eighth graders by 27 percent, 21 percent, and 20 percent, respectively, over just a six-year period. There were significant declines among tenth graders as well. Granite Falls also implemented strong mentoring programs, another key factor in keeping youth away from harmful substances.

Different communities take different approaches. Some, like Clallam County, organize forums for fathers with a focus on prevention. Others, such as Kittitas County, organize community-wide coalitions that combine law enforcement, prevention, treatment, education and youth activism to reduce substance abuse. Still others are able to rally themselves together with healthy sporting events that serve as a great diversion to harmful activities.

All of these efforts matter. None of them are enough. We need to be diligent, aware and even combative in our communities to keep them healthy and safe. We need to continue to fund prevention. We need to encourage organizations that set priorities on prevention.

Let’s continue to send a message to those who are telling our kids that alcohol and drug use is OK. We do this by being united in saying it is not OK. The problem of substance abuse will not stop until we take this on as our top priority.

Preventing harmful substance abuse and violence pays in many ways. Our kids are worth it, and our communities are worth it.

Brad Owen has served as the lieutenant governor of Washington state since 1997. He regularly speaks out on issues of substance abuse.