County Calls Meeting To Address Drug Abuse
Use of legal, illegal substances major concern to health officials
By Logan Hall
The phrase, “Just say no to drugs,” seems to be easier said than done for many people throughout the world. In the Ojai Valley, drug abuse is a constant issue. Over the years, Ojai has seen many of its residents — especially the valley’s youth — succumb to the pitfalls of drug abuse. Many times, the sacrifice has been death and the devastation that it leaves with family, friends, and the community as a whole. Friends and families of addicts can often feel helpless when trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation.
The Alcohol and Drug Program, part of Ventura County’s Behavioral Health Program, will hold a meeting in Ojai at Chaparral Auditorium on Wednesday at 6 p.m. to help educate the community about the ongoing issue of drug use involving the valley’s young citizens. According to the ADP, the meeting will be geared toward educating the community about drug abuse and the causes that lead to it. The focus will be directed toward parents and how they can help their kids find other ways to deal with the negative aspects of life.
“We are going to explore with parents and the community about the risks and realities of substance abuse,” said ADP’s division manager Patrick Zarate. “Studies indicate that parents are the primary source of direction and influence that kids receive. Our goal is to raise awareness and get information out there.”
Bruce Gladstone, Ph.D., has years of experience with the valley’s youth, and is no stranger to the issues that kids face every day. While Gladstone believes that town meetings are a good thing for communities, he believes that the issue requires much more. “The problem is systemic,” he said. “We have an epidemic of drug abuse and it’s not going away. The problem is, these people that attend the meetings will take in what they hear, but after awhile, they push the snooze button and go back to sleep.”
Gladstone, who plans on attending the meeting, believes schools need to be more involved in drug prevention and awareness. He agrees that people need to learn how to live life without turning to substance use, but parents shouldn’t be the only source of drug abuse education in a youth’s life. “The key is education on a larger scale,” he continued. “Town meetings are important, but unless it gets into the educational system, not much will change. We need to really teach these kids how to cope with the difficult parts of life without turning to substance abuse. It’s a struggle because a lot of parents don’t have the time, energy or desire to be involved. Some parents have problems with substance abuse themselves. The kids need to know the downfalls of drugs and they need to grow up with that knowledge, starting at an early age.”
The ADP will have experts speak at the meeting, including their prevention manager Dan Hicks, and they expect a broad turnout of people who will represent the Ojai Valley. Ojai Police Chief Chris Dunn will be on hand to represent the law enforcement community. “I want to show support for what they (ADP) are trying to do,” said Dunn. “I will be there to answer law enforcement questions and put out some statistics. I also want to let the community know that we can always be a contact to direct people to the right place if they need help.”
One of the things that attendees can expect is a chance to find out where the local contacts are who can help with drug abuse prevention and education. “The valley has a number of resources that people can access,” said Zarate, “including the Youth Foundation, Safe Coalition and Help of Ojai. We are really targeting parents who want to connect to resources.”
For more information on the ADP go to vchca.org/bh/adp.
Barbara Boxer makes mw WANT to take drugs. Bud – you have a perfect name!
Most of you are just steept in hate! All you do is blame the Hispanics for all of your woes, and also put the blame on the police. I would bet that the police here actually shake down these poor migrants that do the work none of you would ever do. I have asked them about problems they had with the police and they say other than the open hand there is no problem. It’s the white simpletons that are the problem in the valley that have no respect for anyone. This is a fact due to the fact of so many postings here and the way you attack anyone that isn’t white. Open your minds, maybe if you learned to relax and smoked some bleesed herb you can look at people differently rather than in your hate pit!
Homie,
A bit of a rant, but well said! Most of you property owner have no idea that a self promoted corpuration/ ecological group asseses your property for possible weed abatement. These creeps are paid because the county doesn’t think you have to look at your own property to see if there may be a threat or not. Also if you do responsably take care of an weed issue they still will pass judgment wether or not you responsibly did the job right. Your charge under any of the loophole Misc added on’s.So this group of pot smoking hippies are policeing your property.
So Homie, I agree with you. Oh…by the way one of these members of this group is suppose to have been working for A.C.O.R.N. A small group of us are investigating this group and it’s not hard to get the information from the direct source since a joint passed, works wonders.Infiltration works!Educate yourself and research everything you here.
I don’t know if Das W. went to school here, nor do I care. I WILL say that I agree that Sup. Bennett is a typical “elitist” politico, who gives not a whit for the 30,000+ valley dwellers who DON’T live in “Ojai Proper,” despite his being THEIR representative, too. (Of course, us non-incorporated folk are purdy hard to figger… i.e., come election time[s], we CANNOT always be counted on to “vote the ticket”/jerk our knees LEFT, so why court us? Who cares that we want our streets paved/didn’t want a Starbucks/don’t want a loony bin in our backyard/want OUR gang graffito reported in “Crime and Courts” just like the city-dwellers’ is/pay the most for water—Yes, Ojai Proper residents and all you Audubon Society or CalTrout members who’re forever protesting recreation on the [ARTIFICIAL] lake WE pay for: You wouldn’t even HAVE any yellow-bellied sapsuckers to gaze at, wouldn’t even HAVE any damned-near-extinct steelhead to photograph “for posterity” were it not for OUR ever-increasing CMWD rates/blahblahblah) But forget Bennett—until the next election, anyway—The REAL joke is WHO (Patrick Zarate) and WHAT (the County) are behind this “community education” forum. Of course, having worked for ADP for 7+ years, I knew Zarate “when.” When he but a lowly part-timer, albeit a fiercely AMBITIOUS part-timer, who cared as much about Community Outreach (his job title when I left the COunty’s employ WAS, in fact, Community Outreach Worker) as Bennett cares for the registered Republicans in his district. Zarate is an Indian when it’s convenient/there are salary incentives; Hispanic when “outreaching” to Oxnard/there are salary incentives; a “recovering” insert-drug-of-choice addict whenever some scenic locale’s Dept. of Alcohol & Drug Programs is looking to book a “professional speaker” for its annual “The 13th Step is the First Step of the Rest of Your Life” convention. (To be fair, several other of my colleagues took advantage of the County’s “minority” incentive, e.g., claiming Hispanic heritage in order to go to the head of the line come intradepartment promotion time…)
Yet none were so brazen as Zarate. Though I’ll concede that, the fact that he—and countless other “Division Managers”—are obscenely overcompensated [ON OUR DIMES, remember! I mean, who do you think ends up paying for your local government\'s department heads\' mileage? Room and board whilst dispensing \"expert advice?\" Not to mention designer eyeglass frames, chiropracty, boil lancings, et al?] speaks more ill of the County than it does him. (Hell, you’d probably act “as if” if you could get away with/get paid for it, too. See: 80% of our Legislature)
In closing: Next time the County sends you a bill for, say, having the audacity to CALL them for advice about to dispose of, say, a gypsy moth… you’ll know why. (True story: I was BILLED—am STILL being billed!—for ANSWERING a letter the County sent ME. Their audacity is such that, after receiving my reply, they sent me an invoice with this description: “$17.00 p/hr for communication/$23.00 p/hr for overtime…”)
Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT attend this “forum” expecting to learn something you didn’t know about alcohol and/or drug abuse. (I mean, c’mon: You know it’s bad; you know it’s bad for your kids; all that’s left to know is knowing how to recognize “the signs” of abuse… and you surely don’t need Big Brother for that—not with all the freebie info on TV, at the library, on the Internet, at your church, synagogue, etc. Because, trust me: Whatever the County is “giving out” is NOT free.
What elementary and high school did Das Williams attend?
Yes, November and I will vote to bring back our hard-working and honest Barbara Boxer!
Gee, I heard a message today that was soken by several people in their own way. Yet this message was the same. You need to refect on yourself and stop looking outside of youe self for answers.But at the same time you need to stand up and say NO MORE!!! Some of you may know what I’m talking about, and will villify me for saying this, I don’t care… I have to live with myself, and I chose to elect the people that will stand behind us ans say enough is enough! and will fight for us. Ojai was one of the best places to live years ago, and when these problems started the Police hands were tied and the powers to be chose mearly to put a “Bandaid” on the problem.
They are doing it again as you can see it this article…But this problem is far beyond a bandaid because it has become a full blown “HEMORAGE”! It’s time to get rid of this touchy feely BS, and see that the true hard working citezens of this valley have worth too! Now I’m going to be stupid again and use the “N” word!And we should all learn it’s meanning and learn how to use it to our advantage!
November!
November!
November!
and all the stupid white people
(gabachos) that keep breeding…
Das did not go to school here
Many people from Santa Paula (LULAC) and Oxnard (MECHA)
have chosen to live and work in Ojai.Assembly Democrat
Das Williams proposed many years ago to bring them here
on his “buses.” Most of them at one time or another
actually attended NHS (elitist and wealthy democrats like Supervisor Steve Bennett). Das was a typical dropout there. Mr. Williams is in love with his minimum
wage $8.00 hr. (typical dropout wage for illegal aliens
that have moved here from Oxnard and Santa Paula). Hey,
they love the valley and all the stupid white people
(gabachos) that employ them.
Since when are MECHA and LULAC active in Ojai? Not happening!
Ojai Doctors and Pharmacists give drugs to anyone who asks. And then the drugs are sold onto the street. Law enforcement refuses to address the issue. Sounds increasingly like a case for Internal Affairs.
The police do nothing. They know nothing. Many citizens
have called them to come and pick up the criminals
(illegals). They came here without a legal passport or
a thorough medical from their personal physician. Sheriffs Office refuses to arrest these types of drug
dealers due to interference by MECHA and LULAC.
I hope that during these meetings, and those trying to end this drug epidemic in the valley will also impart to the youth that: it’s not okay to see drugs used and sold and do nothing about it. I hope Dunn explains that “citizen informants” allow the police a means to investigate. And..the youth have to fully understand that it’s not “narking” or any other kind of crap phrase to place a call when they see drug activity of any kind. They can also step up to the plate and help the community to be some of the “eyes and ears” too.
Parties are the big avenue for drug and alcohol abuse. It’s also time for the youths, and parents to put a stop to and disallow any form of these substances at any party, and…limit the amount of people attending. You get party crashers: call the Sheriff’s Office!!
It’s time that the youth do their part, which doesn’t seem to be happening at all. It takes a team effort and it’s far overdue for the youth to join the community team.