Substance Abuse Affects Everyone

Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership director Anne McGee has an op-ed piece in the Huntington, WV, Herald-Dispatch about the costs of substance abuse and the Governor's Comprehensive Strategic Plan to Address Substance Abuse in West Virginia. The strategic plan was unveiled Nov. 16 at the Governor's Drug Summit in Charleston.

She said substance abuse cuts across simple classification.

"It is an insidious social and public health issue that crosses age, gender, economic, social, racial, cultural, and other boundaries," she writes. "With substance abuse, there is no cut-and-dried determination that a particular party is going to bear the cost: in fact we all pay for substance abuse whether we use substances or not."

To read more of McGee's article, see here.

Medical Marijuana Supporters Tout Job Growth

This story from The New York Times profiles Med Grow Cannabis College, a school in Michigan that teaches the ins and outs of medical marijuana.

It's not a college per se, but instead a class training people in the state's newly legal medical marijuana industry. The Times calls it "a cross between an agricultural extension class and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs."

The class is founded by 24-year-old Nick Tennant, who said that hundreds of jobs can be created in the medical marijuana industry.

Yet there's still a stigma. An instructor and several students interviewed for the article didn't want to be photographed or their names used.

Youth Key to Anti-Drug Coalition's Success

Youth have been a big part of the success of the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition in 2009.

They have been an integral part of two Project Sticker Shock events, one in April and the other in November, that aims to eliminate youth access to alcohol. And local youth were the driving forces behind two community events, June's "We Bark Against Drugs and Alcohol" family fun day and July's sand-volleyball tournament. The last two raised money for two local charities, the We Bark No-Kill Animal Shelter and the Marshall County Special Olympics.

Sticker Shock is designed to eliminate the sales of alcohol to adults who purchase alcohol for youth. Youth volunteers from all over Marshall County, with the help of adult chaperones, place specially made stickers on alcoholic beverages to remind customers that it's illegal to purchase or provide alcohol to minors. Students from Bishop Donahue Catholic High School in McMechen, Cameron High School, John Marshall High School in Glen Dale and Sherrard Middle School, as well as Cameron High School's SADD chapter, the Young Panthers and the Marshall County 4-H Club.

On Veteran's Day, Nov. 11, more than 100 youth and adults spent a portion of their holiday giving back to the community by participating in Sticker Shock.

Earlier this year, the Marshall County Youth in Action held the family fun day at the 12th Street Park in Moundsville. The event included face painting, tie-dying of shirts and games, with the money raised going to the We Bark shelter. In July, the sand volleyball tournament included a dozen teams and raised $235 for the Marshall County Special Olympics.

Governor Unveils Substance Abuse Plan

The West Virginia Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being said Monday that it is recommending the state spend $23.5 million annually on substance abuse prevention.

The board's strategy comes from a call by Gov. Joe Manchin to coordinate efforts to reduce drug and alcohol abuse in the state. Manchin told the Associated Press that he's making it his highest priority.

Among the proposals:

-- Establish community groups in all 55 counties to organize local solutions and channel funding.

-- Require all secondary schools in WV to conduct surveys every two years to gather data on substance abuse.

The governor's plan came from a drug summit that he held with state and local officials, including from the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition, on Monday in Charleston. The two-day Share the Vision conference is Tuesday and Wednesday.

WV first lady: "We are losing young people, destroying families"

With the governor set to announce his substance abuse plan on Monday at the Drug Summit in Charleston, first lady Gayle C. Manchin is weighing in with her opinions on the work of the West Virginia Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being. It's the partnership, along with Gov. Joe Manchin, who have developed the plan to counter substance abuse in West Virginia.

"They have created an investment plan to make significant reductions in the social and financial burden these issues places on all West Virginians," Mrs. Manchin wrote in the HuntingtonNews.net. "More importantly, it encourages and explains how each of us, in our own unique role, can become involved at some level in the state wide prevention system."

She added: "What we do know is that there is not a person in the state that has not been touched by the destructive force of substance abuse in some way -- a family member, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor -- it is at epidemic proportions and growing every day. This is not someone else's problem anymore."

Governor to Unveil Substance Abuse Strategy

The Associated Press says that WV Gov. Joe Manchin will unveil his plan to alleviate the substance abuse problem in West Virginia next week.

The plan will be made public at substance-abuse summit being held next week in Charleston.

Members of the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition and employees from the Marshall County Family Resource Network will attend the events.

Sticker Shock A Smash Success

Project Sticker Shock, held Nov. 11, involved 109 adults and youth and 15 retailers throughout Marshall County. For more pictures of the event, become a fan of the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition and the Marshall County Family Resource Network on Facebook.

"Marjuana Nation" Special at CBSNews.com

CBS News has a special report this week called "Marijuana Nation: The New War over Weed," which is on its website at CBSNews.com.

One of the features is a point-counterpoint between David Evans of the Drug Free America Foundation and James P. Gray, a retired Orange County, Calif., judge who works with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

"Drug legalization advocates claim that marijuana is less dangerous than drugs like alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine," Evans says in the piece. "However, studies over the last few years give us a lot of new information about marijuana. They show that marijuana is not harmless but that it is toxic and addictive."

Project Sticker Shock Nov. 11

The Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition is once again bringing Project Sticker Shock to Marshall County to address the continuing issue of youth access to alcohol.

Project Sticker Shock is an event designed to eliminate the sales of alcohol to adults who purchase alcohol for youth. Youth volunteers, with the help of their adult chaperones, place specially made stickers on alcoholic beverages to remind customers that it’s illegal to purchase or provide alcohol to minors.

Participating retailers are Greg's Market on Fourth Street and Jefferson Avenue in Moundsville and in Cameron; Dragon Mart in Cameron; Kroger in Moundsville and Benwood; Rite Aid in Moundsville; Butch's Corner in Sherrard; Jerry's Mini Mart in McMechen; Gumby's in Moundsville and Glen Dale; Speedway in Glen Dale; Limestone General Store; Wal-Mart Super Center Store #2852 in Moundsville; and Smith Oil in Moundsville.

The program, held annually in November, is in need of youth volunteers and adult chaperones from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at local retail locations.

The event will wrap up with a “fiesta” at the Acapulco Restaurant on Route 2 in Moundsville from 11 a.m. to noon, where volunteers can enjoy lunch. To volunteer, please call Kimberli Green at (304) 845-3300 or email marshallcountysdfc@comcast.net.

FDA Seeks to Cut Prescription Drug Abuse

The Food and Drug Administration wants to know how to help Americans from misusing or abusing prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

The Safe Use Initiative is designed to reduce what the FDA calls preventable harm from the 3 billion prescriptions that are written annually in the United States. At least 1.5 million preventable prescription-drug related events happen each year, causing $4 billion in costs and at least 60,000 ER visits by children under 12 every year.

"Through coordinated efforts, we can make significant improvements in the safe use of medications and reduce preventable harm from medication misuse, abuse and errors," the FDA said.

The initiative includes identifying risks and implementing cross-sector approaches including federal agencies; healthcare professionals and professional societies; pharmacies, hospitals and other health care organizations; and patients, caregivers, consumers and their representative organizations.

A fact sheet and other material can be found here.

West Virginia has a growing problem with prescription drug abuse, with West Virginia's increase in fatal drug overdoses rising 550% from 1999 to 2004, according to the West Virginia Prescription Drug Abuse Quitline. One estimate said that 250,000 West Virginians were using prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons.

State Votes to Expand Medical Marijuana; Two "dry" towns go wet

Add Maine to the list of states that will be ramping up medical marijuana.

It wasn't the most high-profile referendum question in the Pine Tree State -- that went to the gay marriage issue, which was defeated -- but Maine voters approved, 59% to 41%, to expand its medical marijuana law.

For 10 years, Maine has made it legal for patients to grow their own marijuana or have someone grow it for them. Tuesday's approval widens the number of conditions that can be treated by medical marijuana and creates a delivery system through dispensaries.

Police and prosecutors, who came out against the referendum question, say they're worried that the marijuana will be used for other uses.

Meanwhile, the "dry" town of Friendship, Maine, has decided to allow beer and wine sales for the first time in 90 years. Voters, in the fourth referendum in 20 years, decided to allow sales in the coastal town.

So too was another town, Winona, Texas, which voted Tuesday to approve off-premise alcohol sales.

Sweetin, Agassi Cause Controvery over Crystal Meth Use

You may know her from playing Stephanie Tanner on the 1980s sitcom "Full House." But Jodie Sweetin has done a lot of living in the past 15 years, including an addiction to crystal meth. She writes about it in her new autobiography, "Unsweetined."

She's the second celebrity in a week to write about her experiences with crystal meth. Tennis star Andre Agassi drew controversy when he wrote about how he used to use the drug.

"It's a lot more widespread than people realize," Sweetin told E! Online. "It's not just people with no money who are sitting in a trailer somewhere with no teeth doing cyrstal meth. There are a lot of people -- people who have money, people who have families."

Sweetin, who has a year and a half old daughter, is clean now and said using crystal meth or any other drug is unthinkable.

"This time is the best quality of the sobriety I've had," she told E! "Comparitively, I couldn't ask for a better life."

More of the interview here.

Election Day Has "Dry" Status on Ballots

While this year's Election Day isn't anywhere near as frenzied in the news media as last year, there are at least two alcohol-related questions on ballots around the country.

The small towns of Friendship, Maine, and Winona, Texas, will vote Tuesday on whether to allow alcohol sales. Both towns are dry and have been since Prohibition was repealed in the early 1930s.

For Friendship, it will be the fourth time in recent years that residents have voted on the matter. Friendship voters, which number under 1,000, shot down alcohol sales in 1987, 1992 and 2000. But the owners of a grocery store say that being allowed to sell beer and wine will help them survive the economic downturn.

In Winona, the issue is whether to allow alcohol sales for off-premise consumption. The last vote, earlier this year, was tied but disallowed after several people who didn't live there apparently voted.

Maine has 40 towns that have some kinds of bans on alcohol but Friendship has the strongest rules.

"That's as dry as you can get," said a state liquor enforcement agent.

In West Virginia, there are only a few places that are dry, including Lincoln County (but not Hamlin) and Calhoun County. Kentucky has several more dry counties.