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Teen Alcohol, Drug Prevention a Priority
for Schools, Police

By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
4/1/10
With warm weather on its way, this is often an exciting of time of year for young people who are anxious for school to end.

For graduating high school seniors, especially, the coming months will mark an important life turning point, as they leave behind one chapter of lives and enter another.

Some will pursue higher education; others will enter the workforce.

One thing many of this year’s seniors will do will be go to prom. The night will undoubtedly be a special life memory for many young people.

In Milton, another annual tradition for seniors is the All-Night Party, which is held at the high school after graduation. Although it is offered as an alternative to alcohol, it often does not stop some kids from drinking on the sly.

The bottom line is it is an issue that is hard to control.

Countless stories are told of teens losing their lives in post-prom, alcohol-related accidents. An occasion of great joy – because of one bad mistake – can suddenly become a devastating blow to a family.

“As a community, we’ve been lucky. We haven’t had a death after prom or graduation. But time after time, that story is told,” said School Committee member Kristan Bagley Jones, as she prepared for a special underage-drinking seminar scheduled to take place March 31 in the high school auditorium, after the Times’ press deadline.

The seminar, titled “Adolescents: What Are They Thinking?”, was led by Dr. Linda Grant, the medical director of the Boston public schools and a Milton parent.

According to Jones, it was required that all Milton High School students playing spring sports and their parents attend the event. A flyer stated that it was an “opportunity to open lines of communication with your youth.”

“This is very, very valuable. We just think the more opportunities we can put out there for the kids, the better,” said School Superintendent Mary Gormley in an interview with the Times prior to the event.

Jones serves as chair of the School Committee’s subcommittee on health and wellness, which she said has as one of its missions raising awareness and getting both teens and parents talking about the dangers of alcohol and substance abuse.

“We try to be proactive and not reactive,” said Jones.

The subcommittee members are Jones, Gormley, Assistant Superintendent John Phelan, Athletic Director Steve Traister, Head Nurse Margaret Gibbons, Science Director Barbara Plonski, Youth Counselor Vicki McCarthy, and additional members Jason Bouffard, of Milton Hospital, and Todd Ducharme, a resident who serves as executive director of CATZ Sports Performance Center in Wilmington.

Jones explained some initiatives they have been working toward, including collecting data through a nationally recognized youth risk behavior survey that will be given to high school and middle school students this year. The survey is done on an anonymous basis and asks questions about alcohol consumption, she said.

“It [will ask] them if and when they drink, how often, and when they started drinking. How young you start can [increase the risk] later on of alcoholism and binge drinking,” Jones said.

The survey was administered to public school students a few years ago and Jones said the results were “sobering” in terms of how many kids admitting to underage drinking. She said once the data from the upcoming survey gets collected and reviewed, it will be presented to the public.

“It’s not that we’re higher than other communities. [The degree of underage drinking] is too high in every community,” said Jones. “The data has to be driving what we do.”

She said part of the problem is that there is a “lack of things for kids to do in the town,” and they often turn to drinking as the perceived best option. In response, Jones said, school officials are working toward opening up the high school gymnasium at least one night on weekends, likely Friday, to give kids something constructive to do.

“It’s something we haven’t got off the ground yet,” she said.

Police Get Ready

Meanwhile, police are busy themselves gearing up for the summer months. It is a time of year when young people like to move their drinking parties from indoors to out in the woods, according to Police Chief Richard Wells Jr.

“There has always been the quarries issues,” Wells said of one popular youth hangout. “They use Cunningham Park, and Andrews Park sometimes … Kelly Field and also Houghton’s Pond. Also, [Milton] Cemetery is another one. It’s something we’re constantly on top of. It’s definitely on our radar. We lay it right out there. We don’t try to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

Wells, 54, is a 26-year veteran of the Milton Police Department and the son of a former chief. He said police in town have long had to deal with the issue of teens drinking in the woods.

“It’s cyclical. The warm weather definitely spikes it,” he said.

While not giving out specifics of operations strategies, Wells said his department knows most of the hangouts and targets those areas with patrol and surveillance. He admitted that youth drinking is something that is “going to happen” to some degree regardless of the efforts of authorities.

“We know that no one’s kid is going to go long before alcohol becomes present. The peer pressure is so great,” he said.

But according to the chief, a lot depends on the attitude a community adopts in handling the problem. While some preach zero tolerance, taking an aggressive approach in pursuing charges against underage offenders, Wells said he sees other ways of handling the problem.

“I’ve looked at it,” he said of the zero-tolerance approach. “The thing is, zero tolerance means zero crime, and … you’re never going to have zero crime.”

According to Wells, zero tolerance will “increase our arrest statistics” but often does not address the source of the problem. He said he favors an approach that keeps an open line with the community, encouraging awareness and cooperation.

“Truthfulness goes a long way,” the chief said, talking not only about how police approach teen drinking but also how parents can improve the situation by staying alert and being open with their kids. “It’s the battle of attentiveness versus inattentiveness.”

Additionally, Wells stressed that teens who are arrested have a criminal record, which means “you have a mark on you your entire life.” Rather than pursue charges, he said his department often keeps cases open on high school students or requests that the court implement mandatory alcohol or drug counseling.

In two recent examples, for instance, house parties involving underage drinking on Dyer Avenue and Brush Hill Road did not result in any arrests. Officers did however transport a few of the youths to their homes. Wells said many of the parties happen when parents go away.

“We say, ‘If you’re going away, be attentive. Be good detectives,’” he said.

And it is more than just alcohol. Wells said police are seeing increased marijuana use since state voters approved eliminating the criminality of possessing small amounts of the drug. Since the start of last year, anyone caught with less than an ounce of the drug is subject to a fine but no longer arrested.

“There was a huge spike in the use of marijuana [in town] after the new law,” said Wells.

Wells said authorities throughout the state have been battling an increased use of two other drugs in recent years – heroin and OxyContin.

“That tragedy has been written time and again,” he said.

Although the town formerly had a D.A.R.E. officer assigned primarily to the middle school level, state grants for the program were cut back under former Police Chief Kevin Mearn, who has since moved into the position of town administrator.

Wells said the Police Department maintains a two-week D.A.R.E. program during the summer that reaches about 150 students going into eighth and ninth grades. Those interested in signing up for this summer’s program can contact Maria Poles at mpoles@mpdmilton.org