HCPSS and HC DrugFree Reinforce Partnership

Dr. Sydney Cousin, superintendent of the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), and Joan Webb Scornaienchi, executive director of HC DrugFree, joined together at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center on Dec. 2, 2009, to reinforce the partnership between HC DrugFree and HCPSS.

Scornaienchi also took this opportunity to launch a new fundraiser, Friends of HC DrugFree. HC DrugFree is a nonprofit organization committed to empowering the Howard County community to raise drug-free teenagers.

The sponsors of the event were Children & Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (CHADD) of Greater Baltimore; Individual Differences in Learning (IDL); The Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) - Howard County Chapter; and St. John the Evangelist's Catholic Church Youth Ministry. The event was coordinated by Nanette Schweitzer, president of LDA-MD. These sponsoring groups are committed to creating better lives for children and teens with learning disabilities.

After Cousin introduced Scornaienchi, who recently assumed her position with HC DrugFree, she explained to the audience that the event demonstrated the four sponsoring groups' unified concern that teens with learning disabilities often self-medicate. As Scornaienchi explained, while teenagers in general are at high risk of using alcohol and other drugs, research indicates a prevailing outcome: Teenagers with learning disabilities are at even higher risk of abusing alcohol and other drugs to fit in with their peers, feel normal, escape rejection and embarrassment, and cope with isolation.



Community Effort

When teens with learning disabilities abuse alcohol and other drugs, it's not just a family issue, or a school issue, or an issue to be addressed by the religious community. It's an issue for the entire community to work together to solve.

Scornaienchi surprised some members of the audience by noting that learning disabilities are more common than many realize. According to the National Institutes of Health, about one in five of us has at least one learning disability. Research indicates that 60% of teens being treated for substance abuse have learning disabilities and between 30% and 40% of all alcoholics have undiagnosed learning disabilities.

HC DrugFree's goal is to empower all teens in Howard County so they can make good choices when tempted to experiment with alcohol or other drugs. This includes preparing adults to recognize the behavior changes or warning signals that indicate when a teenager is using alcohol or other drugs so they can intervene quickly.

Scornaienchi shared the comments made by a young recovering addict at a recent HC DrugFree program. The young woman said that even when the people around her knew that she had a problem and helped her get counseling, everyone talked about why she was using, but no one told her how to stop. Looking back, the woman did not remember anyone telling her to stop hanging out with her old friends who were still using drugs, and no one told her to stop going to the places she always went - the very places where she got the drugs and alcohol.

The young woman believed that if someone had told her how to make these changes years earlier, she would have listened because she wanted to quit using drugs. However, in the midst of the addiction, she simply did not know what changes to make.



Informational Tools

Scornaienchi explained to the audience that telling teens to "just say no" without giving them the information they need to make an intelligent decision is leaving them unprepared for the situations they will face. Teens think they are invincible and their "it-probably-won't-happen-to-me" attitude is what gets them into trouble in many areas of their young lives. HC DrugFree's purpose is to help the community to work together to give teens the tools they need to make better choices.

Concerned citizens can take action to help empower the Howard County community to raise drug-free teens. Attend HC DrugFree's free educational programs. Attend the free annual Teen Job and Volunteer Fair to be held on March 6 at Long Reach High School or volunteer to assist with preparations for the fair. Encourage teenagers to become a member of HC DrugFree's Teen Advisory Council.

For a donation of $10 per student, $25 per adult, $50 per family or $100 per business, become a Friend of HC DrugFree. For $500, become a sponsor of HC DrugFree or ask your employer to become a sponsor. The names of Friends and Sponsors will be listed on the HC DrugFree web site; the names of Sponsors will be printed on the back of the fair t-shirts and on all advertising for the fair, and posted at programs throughout the year.

For more information about HC DrugFree, the Teen Job and Volunteer Fair or upcoming programs, visit www.hcdrugfree.org or call 443-325-0040.