Youth drug use at Laurelhurst Park

A recent post to the Laurelhurst Blog describes the ongoing parties at Laurelhurst Park.  Following is an excerpt:

We regularly smell cigarette and marijuana smoke coming from that direction and have seen kids (only boys although that doesn’t mean girls haven’t been there) running up there with backpacks on (often coming on bike or scooter and even out walking their dog in daylight). They tuck deep in the corner and have complete coverage.

Currently there are broken beer bottles, in-tact bottles as well as a strong smell of urine.

If people are missing their junior high boys, I suspect they’d find them here… I’d guess these kids are junior high or early high school.
 
On Friday, I posted information to this blog about underage drinking parties at Magnuson and Golden Gardens.

Coalition general meeting January 20

Prevention WINS General Coalition Meeting
Thursday, January 20, 2011
8-9:30 a.m.
Seattle Children's Hospital, G-1026

Agenda
1. Welcome & Networking

2. Telling Our Community's Story

-- What's going on with our kids?
Kelly Kerby, Eckstein Middle School/Seattle Children's
Matt Wiley, Nathan Hale High School/Puget Sound ESD
Annamarie Kirkpatrick, Lakeside Milam

-- What's going on in our community?
Kipp Strong, Seattle Police Department
Danielle Bock-Grande, Partners in Prevention, Center for Human Services
Dan Higgins, King County Juvenile Probation

3. Drug Free Communities Grant: What is it?

4. Prevention Activities: Who is doing what?


All community members who are interested in preventing youth substance abuse in northeast Seattle are welcome!

For more information please contact the coalition coordinator.

Alcohol & marijuana use

Students in Washington State recently took the 2010 Healthy Youth Survey. Results should be available in the spring. Below are charts showing the 10th and 12th grade rates of current alcohol and marijuana use in the state, King County, Seattle Public Schools, Nathan Hale High School, and Roosevelt High School as reported in the 2008 Healthy Youth Survey.

We did it!

Prevention Works in Seattle (WINS), the community coalition serving northeast Seattle, was awarded a 2010 Drug Free Communities grant! This five year award will enable us to continue our community-based youth substance abuse prevention work.

From 2006 - 2010, the coalition's grantee was Seattle Public Schools. The DFC grant was written in collaboration with Seattle Children's Hospital which will now act as the coalition's grantee.

Thanks goes out to all who have built the coalition over the past few years and who contributed to our successful grant proposal.

Community meeting & coalition celebration

Keeping Our Adolescent Children Healthy
May 20, 2010
Eckstein Middle School
3003 NE 75th Street

6:00 p.m. free supper
7:00 p.m. keynote from Dr. Leslie Walker, Seattle Children's Hospital
8:00 p.m. celebrating Prevention WINS

This is a community event and everyone is welcome!

NE Seattle parent survey

Prevention WINS is conducting a survey of northeast Seattle parents about underage drinking and youth marijuana use in our community. If you are a parent of a child in grades K-12 in NE Seattle, please take few minutes to take the survey!

While all Seattle parents are welcome to take the survey, the coalition is targeting NE Seattle parents since the survey results will help us develop prevention strategies for NE Seattle families. Prevention WINS has funding to serve NE Seattle due to the high underage drinking rates in our community's high schools. Coalitions in other areas of the city are addressing youth substance abuse in West, South, and Central Seattle.

Some parents who have taken the survey have voiced concerns about questions asking about what they think other parents in our community do when it comes to preventing substance abuse among their children. One of the reasons this survey is being conducted is to assess social norms among parents in NE Seattle. The questions in the survey are asked specifically for that purpose.

Perceptions of others' behaviors about, for example, parenting practices and attitudes toward the risk of using marijuana, have a significant effect on and individuals own behavior. If the survey results indicate a discrepancy between parenting behaviors and perceptions of parenting behavioral norms in our community, the coalition may use that information to develop a social norms marketing campaign.

Teenagers, drinking & driving

Nearly all high school juniors and seniors believe their peers are more likely to drink and drive on prom and graduation nights according to the Center for Substance Abuse Research. Despite this perception, students do not think driving on these nights is dangerous.

In northeast Seattle, 23% of high school juniors and 33% of high school seniors report riding with someone who has been drinking.

Source: 2008 Healthy Youth Survey results for Eckstein Middle School, Nathan Hale High School, and Roosevelt High School.

January coalition meetings

January 2009 meetings of the NE Seattle Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking
Anyone interested in preventing underage drinking is welcome at all coalition meetings!

Media Advocacy Workgroup

1/7 at 7:00 p.m. at UVillage Barnes & Noble Cafe

Enforcement & Consequences Roundtable

1/8 at 9:00 a.m. at Eckstein Middle School

Parenting forum planning meeting

1/8 at 7:00 p.m. at Starbucks on 35th Ave. NE

General coalition meeting

1/26 at 8:00 a.m. at University Family YMCA