Prevention Council

Providing Substance Abuse Education, Information and Referral Services

Local Businesses Acting on State’s Ban of Four Loko

November 17, 2010
By Mareesa Nicosia
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A couple of local businesses are clearing their shelves of the controversial caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko, ahead of a Dec. 10 deadline the state has put in place for distributors to purge their inventory.

“We carried Four Loko in less than half of our shops and we pulled it all this morning,” Stewart’s Shops Marketing Director Tom Mailey said Monday.

He said the fruity malt drinks — which are sold in colorful, 23.5 ounce cans — weren’t a huge seller and that one shop might sell seven or eight a week.

Four Loko is 12 percent alcohol by volume — an amount equivalent to about four beers — and has as much caffeine as 12-ounce coffee, in addition to taurine, guarana and sweeteners.

“It’s been a controversial beverage late in its life, and we just watched as the story unfolded and we made our moves accordingly,” Mailey said.

An agreement announced by Gov. David Paterson and the state Liquor Authority over the weekend assures that the makers of Four Loko, three Ohio State University graduates who operate as the company Phusion Projects, will stop shipping the beverages to New York by Friday. According to the company’s website, the agreement doesn’t prohibit it from selling non-caffeinated versions of the drink in New York.

The state’s largest beer distributors also agreed to stop selling caffeinated alcoholic drinks, no matter the brand.

Four other states — Michigan, Washington, Utah and Oklahoma — have already banned Four Loko, and the federal Food and Drug Administration has been reviewing the drink’s safety since 2009.

Price Chopper spokeswoman Mona Golub said the supermarket chain never carried Four Loko because it didn’t receive any customer requests for it.

Daniel Robbins, an assistant manager at Minogue’s Beverage Center on West Avenue, which sells a variety of alcoholic energy drink brands, said he believes sales of Four Loko specifically picked up following news in October that several students at a Washington state university were sickened after consuming it in excess at an off-campus party.

“Until recently, it hasn’t been a big seller. But then you hear on TV about the kids getting sick because they were slamming these down, and people ask for it,” Robbins said.

He added the store would clear out its inventory of the drinks by the state deadline.

Local officials seemed to be in agreement with the state’s decision.

“Anytime (the state) takes steps to help ensure people stay safe, we’re all in favor of it,” city police spokesman Lt. Greg Veitch said.

The police department has no confirmation that the drinks have been involved in any recent incidents in Saratoga Springs, Veitch said, but “we suspect in a number of cases that they may have played a part.”

Maureen Cary, coordinator of the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention, said the caffeinated alcoholic drinks were the topic of discussion at a meeting of the organization last week.

“The combination of the caffeine and the high percentage of alcohol is a very dangerous mixture,” Cary said. “I’m glad to see that the government and the state Liquor Authority have stepped in to ban the distribution of these drinks.”

Cary said she’s just as unhappy with the product’s contents as she is with its packaging — a colorful camouflage similar to the labels of other drinks that do not contain alcohol.

“The packaging is targeted directly to a young audience, and any consumer, kids especially, might not understand that the alcohol content is exceptionally high,” she said.

If the state hadn’t gone ahead with its decision, Partnership for Prevention members had planned to petition local store owners to voluntarily pull it from their shelves, Cary said.

But the issue is less about any certain product and more about underage abuse and binge drinking, said Dale Cocca of Saratoga Springs.

“Banning the all-in-one combination of a few legal substances is fickle and pointed legislation,” he wrote in response to a reader query on The Saratogian’s Facebook page Monday. “I doubt we’ll see fewer kids giving up on the idea of binge-drinking because you can’t buy the energy drink already mixed with the alcoholic drink.”

James Lyness, a sophomore at Skidmore College, said Four Loko and similar beverages, like Joose, “embody binge drinking and irresponsibility.”

“It’s just a way for young high school and college kids to get drunk fast and inexpensively,” Lyness said. “It’s pretty frightening because it’s just one can, yet it has such a high effect. I agree with the banning of it, but it’s a matter of the people who have been (abusing) it, not just the drink itself.”

Prevention Needs Assessment Survey Sample Now Available

November 1, 2010

Saratoga Springs City School District students in grades 6-12 took the bi-annual Prevention Needs Assessment Survey in November 2010. Burnt Hills, Galway, and Shenendehowa school districts are also using the survey to gauge risky behaviors among their 6-12th grade population.

For more information about Bach Harrison, the company that owns the survey tool, please click here.

For a sample survey, click here.

If you are interested in seeing an exact copy of the survey your child recently took or will take in the future, please call the Prevention Council directly at 518-581-1230.

Seminar for Students, Parents Seeks Solution to Dangers of Bullying

October 18, 2010
By Patrick H. Donges
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A girl walks into a classroom without her shoes after another student demands she either give them up or face the ridicule of her peers.

How should parents address this incident with their children if they are involved? How can parents and students address bullying with school officials? How can parents and students effectively help those who are the target of bullying?

In the wake of several tragic incidents involving schoolyard and cyber bullies who tormented their victims to the point of suicide, local officials, parents and students are asking themselves how they can help prevent bullying and address it when it occurs.

“What can we do to help people prepare?” asked Mike Piccirillo, Saratoga Springs City School District’s assistant superintendent for secondary education, at the third and latest installment of the Parent University series on bullying, held Sunday afternoon at the Saratoga Springs Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church.

Launched last year through collaboration between the school district and the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention, Parent University offers free programming for parents dealing with a range of issues, from bullying to technology, child development and physical and emotional wellness.

Maureen Cary, coordinator for Saratoga Partnership for Prevention, explained to attendees that while bullying is not an area specifically addressed by drug and alcohol prevention organizations, students who are victims of bullying will often turn to substances as a coping mechanism.

“They’re looking for ways to relieve the stress and anxiety,” she said, addressing about 40 students and their parents.

Representatives from other organizations, including the Franklin Community Center, Four Winds Saratoga and Mediation Matters, were also on hand to help facilitate Sunday’s conversation.

Students were divided into three groups according to grade — kindergarteners through fifth-graders, sixth- through eighth-graders and high school students — while their parents also formed groups to discuss solutions to bullying scenarios.

“If I’m nobody, and nobody’s perfect, then I must be perfect,” said sixth-grader Lia Chabot, giving an example of a comeback that could be used to keep a bully at bay.

“I wouldn’t just want to talk to the principals,” said sixth-grader Hannah Lefevre, when asked who students should talk to at school if they see or experience bullying.

When parents were asked if they had been bullied, the majority of those who answered “yes” had been victims in the sixth grade.

“Middle school is the worst,” Saratoga Springs High School junior Renee Martin said after facilitating the conversation among sixth- through eighth-graders.

As a student liaison for Parent University, a participant in both the National Coalition Building Institute and Student Court at Saratoga Springs High School and a victim of past bullying, Martin said officials should examine opportunities for younger students to mediate and confront incidents of bullying among themselves.

“We’re always reviewing our policies,” Piccirillo said, noting events like Parent University programs were a chance to educate as well as receive important feedback from parents and students.

Along with traditional physical or emotional bullying, cyber bullying was also discussed as a growing problem, with almost all of the students from kindergarten to fifth grade saying they had witnessed or been a victim of a cyber bully.

“It’s very difficult to monitor,” Piccirillo said of taunts sent by cell phones or other devices.

One group of parents cited the importance for students to have someone, be it a teacher or administrator, to advocate for them at school.

“The one week when I wasn’t there he wanted to quit baseball,” said Samantha Giknis of her 9-year-old son Phillip’s experience with bullying on his Little League team.

Giknis suggested that parents of bullied children get to know the parents of those doing the bullying as a first step toward addressing their behavior.

“Stand up for yourself,” said Isabella Mastrion, a fifth-grade student, when asked what students should do if they are a victim of bullying. Isabella and her sister both take Tae Kwon Do, training which their father, Guy Mastrion, said not only makes them safer, but also helps them build the confidence to confront and prevent bullying.

“These experiences are things that are passing through their lives,” he said, noting that incidents of bullying or unfair treatment usually do not end after high school.

The next program in this series on bullying will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.

Organizations with venues that would like to host a Parent University program can call 583-4714 or e-mail m_piccirillo@saratogaschools.org for more information.

Smoke-free Housing Contributes to Health of Tenants and Economic Benefits to Landlords

September 22, 2010
By Barbara Brewer LaMere
Saratoga Business Journal

The Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition, in cooperation with the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition, recently commissioned a study by Siena Research Institute of the benefits to owners of multi-unit dwellings of making their properties smoke-free. Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition frequently partners with Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition on matters of interest to property owners, as there are many property owners who reside in one coalition’s state-assigned counties of interest who own properties in the areas served by both of the coalitions. Both coalitions are among 30 state-funded not-for-profit agencies of the New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program.

According to Janine Stuchin, project coordinator for the Southern Adirondack coalition based in Saratoga, which serves Warren, Washington, and Saratoga counties, the purpose of the study was, in part, to ascertain the level of interest shown by property owners in local areas in creating or maintaining smoke-free-status on their properties.

A total of 420 responses were received to the surveys mailed out, representing the owners of 10,000 housing units in the six-county region. In addition to the level of interest in smoke-free housing displayed by these landlords, the study sought to discover the level of awareness of stakeholders, both landlords and tenants, of the benefits of smoke-free status for their dwellings. Questions also addressed the matter of how many residential units are already designated smoke-free and the accuracy of perceptions of stakeholders of the benefits of going smoke-free.

The coalitions were pleased to discover that among the survey respondents who owned one or more multiple-residential units, 54 percent had policies in place for at least some units to be designated smoke-free. Smoke-free policies as defined by SmokeFreeHousingNY.org prohibit “tenants and others from carrying or using lit tobacco products anywhere within a multi-unit dwelling, including places where people live.” Policies may also extend to outdoor areas connected with a property, such as balconies, terraces, gardens, pool areas, and within established distances of building entrances, among others. Of property owners who had smoke-free designated units, 53 percent had had such policies in place for five or more years.

Sixty-one percent of landlords in the survey noted positive feedback from tenants residing in units designated as smoke-free. As noted in Steps to Smoke-Free Housing NY’s “Landlord and Property Owners’ Guide,” tenants of smoke-free dwellings benefit from not being exposed to the smells and more than 4,000 carcinogens of second-hand smoke through light fixtures, around doors, through cracks and through shared heating and ventilation. The same document notes that 74 percent of non-smokers prefer to live in no-smoking dwellings and that apartments that smell of secondhand smoke are harder to rent.

The economic benefits to property owners cited in literature presented by the Southern Adirondack coalition at a smoke-free housing luncheon on June 8 were noted by participants in the survey as well, with 80 percent of property owners with smoke-free units noting decreased maintenance costs. Smoke Free Housing New England 2009 noted in literature that to make an apartment occupant- ready after it has been vacated by a heavy smoker costs nearly six times as much ($3,515 compared to $560) as to make the apartment ready when it has been occupied by non-smokers. Even light smoking increases the costs three-fold versus a non-smoking unit.

Fire concerns were rated high on the list of reasons that landlords chose to make units smoke-free.

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of residential fires. Some insurance companies offer discounts for smoke-free buildings, so that there can be additional monetary savings. (http://www.smokefreehousingny.org/)

For landlords who may be hesitating to initiate smoke-free policies due to legal concerns and uncertainty about just how to implement such policies, Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition can be of assistance. Property owners have a right to protect their properties against damage from fire and other smoking related causes just as they have the option to make a dwelling pet-free. They may be protecting themselves as well from liability to which they may be subject for not protecting the health and lives of their tenants from the dangers of secondhand smoke and fire.

In addition to information on how to go about making units smoke-free, including negotiating such matters as informing current tenants that a smoke-free policy may be implemented and enforcing a policy already in place, the Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition can provide sample leases, signage to keep tenants and their guests reminded of smoke-free policies, and other advice as well. Janine Stuchin can be reached at The Prevention Council, 36 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs. The telephone number is 581-1230. The website address for the coalition is http://www.tobaccofreeadirondacks.com/.

Middle Schoolers Learn How to Prevent Bullying in School

August 12, 2010
By Melissa Downer
Saratoga Today

While bullying in and outside of school has always been a problem, Saratoga Springs Middle School has become proactive on the topic and has started a student-run club called “Get Up Stand Up.”

As the eighth-graders head off to high school in the next school year, founding members Bobby Griffin, 14 and Kenny DeLoria, 15, are relying on the incoming sixth graders to join the club and make Saratoga Springs Middle School a positive place to be for all students. To help motivate the new middle-schoolers to join the club, Griffin and DeLoria participated in this years D.A.R.E. All-Stars camp that acclimates and prepares fifth-graders with their transition to Middle School. About one-third of the fifth grade class participated this year.

“When the new sixth-graders enter middle school, they will only recognize maybe 10 other students from their elementary school. This gives them a good chance to meet students from other elementary schools and make them feel more comfortable,” said Camp Director Erin Llyod.

Each day of the camp touches on a different topic such as life skills (including fire prevention, nutrition and the anti-bullying seminar), sports, arts and substance abuse awareness and prevention. The camp is organized around a substance abuse prevention curriculum and is designed to reinforce shared group norms against substance use, promote the development of goals and a positive vision for the future and to support children in making and publicly declaring commitments that will help them to achieve those goals.

“If we ask the children individually what they think about people who do drugs or drink and drive, they will most likely say they are stupid. We have games and surveys that show them that they all agree and share the same opinions,” Lloyd said.

The “Get Up Stand Up” program is new this year, and teaches children techniques in dealing with bullies and getting help from teachers on how to prevent bullying. In school, the club meets on Thursdays after school and addresses bullying in school and how to prevent it. Some of the techniques include making a scene when a bully is harassing a student to grab the attention of a teacher, walk away or stay with friends when a child is expecting to run into the bully because, according to DeLoria, “a bully’s biggest fear is getting caught.”

As a way to report bullying confidentially, the club made it possible to report bullying through EdLine, an online system that the school and students use to check grades or homework assignment. An act of bullying can be reported on this website and will only be read by the principal, assistant principals or guidance counselors.

According to eighth-grade social studies teacher Evan Williamson, the club came to fruition through an idea by a teacher, but it really grew as the students became involved.
“Only they can really prevent bullying. This is a club made up of students helping students,” he said.

Though the All Stars Camp is affiliated with D.A.R.E., which is no longer available through city budget issues, All Stars Camp will continue to run each year to help the large transition between elementary school and middle school.

For more information on the All Stars Camp, visit http://saratogapartnership.org/programs/AllStarsCamp.

Easing Transition Jitter: D.A.R.E. Camp Prepares Students For Middle School

August 11, 2010
By EMILY DONOHUE
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Middle school can be a tough place, but the 200 incoming sixth-graders who attended the D.A.R.E. All-Stars Camp at Maple Avenue Middle School will have a leg up on their peers come September.

About one-third of the incoming sixth-grade class will attend the camp this summer.

The camp, in its 10th year, offers several weekly sessions for former fifth-graders to become acquainted with life in the middle school and learn skills to help them through the transition. Camp also gives students from the district’s six public elementary schools a chance to meet one another before beginning classes together in September.

One of the highlights of this year’s camp is a new anti-bullying program created and run by two soon-to-be ninth graders. The “Get Up, Stand Up” program — which complements a club at the middle school by the same name — teaches students techniques to counter and avoid bullying.

“They’re so real, the kids can relate to them,” Camp Director Erin Lloyd said.

Bobby Griffin, 14, said they are skills he and his classmates could have used when they were in sixth grade.

“It’s how to prevent it for yourself and be a little more self-sufficient,” he said.

Griffin developed the “Get Up, Stand Up” curriculum after his football coach said he wanted to do something about bullying.

“A lot of bullying goes on in the locker room,” Griffin said. The message carries more weight coming from a fellow student rather than a parent or teacher, he said.

He said the program’s slogan is “by the kids, for the kids.”

Griffin and his friend, Kenny DeLoriea, 15, have put on the program, which includes skits, props and music, weekly at the camp. “The kids get really into it,” DeLoriea said.

A group of about 20 students shuffled into the gym Tuesday, and Griffin and DeLoriea began their program with a series of questions.

“How many of you have ever been bullied?” DeLoriea asked. A few hands went up.

“How many of you have ever seen bullying?” he continued. Nearly every hand was in the air.

The first technique they taught the students was how to “rescue” someone they see being bullied.

“(Bullies) steal positive energy,” Griffin said. The students learned through skits how to walk away from bullies, draw the attention of adults by reacting loudly, and report bullies to teachers or the principal in a variety of ways, including the online EdLine which students can log onto from home and file reports directly to the school’s principal.

Griffin said his own experience reporting a middle school bully did not go as planned and prompted him to talk to teachers and principals about how to better handle the situation.

Rather than call the victim and bully into the same room and make the bully apologize — which happened to Griffin when he was a student at Dorothy Nolan Elementary School and just led to more bullying — the boys promote a technique that allows the victim to avoid being known as a “tattletale.” The adult wouldn’t confront accused bullies until well after the victim has told their story, and would avoid saying the victim ratted them out.

“A bully’s number one fear is getting caught,” DeLoriea said.

The anti-bullying class fit into Tuesday’s theme at camp — life skills. Members of the Saratoga Springs Fire Department also taught students fire safety, and a representative from Cornell Cooperative Extension taught nutrition.

Each day of camp has a theme, such as arts or sports, designed to prepare students for the possibilities and challenges they’ll face in middle school. The program covers decision-making, “what it means to be a good citizen here at the middle school,” and “what type of reputation you want to have here,” Lloyd said. It also includes “homework” for parents, which asks them to review the day’s discussions. Many of those assignments give parents a jumping-off point to talk to their children about subjects like drinking, drugs and sex.

This is the last year the camp will have “D.A.R.E.” in its name, Lloyd said. In years past, the city’s former D.A.R.E. officer, Tony Straus, was on hand to work with students.

“Unfortunately, with the budgetary cuts and the program being cut, we’re just going to have to take the D.A.R.E. out of our name,” Lloyd said.

The camp is funded with money from the school district, the Prevention Council and an $85 camper fee.

Authorities Try to Prevent Underage Gambling

July 26, 2010
By Mark Mulholland
WNYT News Channel 13

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Hundreds of thousands will experience the highs and lows of betting on horse racing in the coming weeks. People of all ages will pass through the turnstiles at Saratoga Race Course. But problem gambling groups say leave the betting to the adults because adolescent brains aren’t capable of processing the potential consequences.

Click here for link to video coverage

“Our kids aren’t equipped to handle the wins and losses yet. We know that. We know that they’re not going to be ready until about 24,” says Jim Maney, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling.

According to a recent state survey, 48 percent of students in grades seven through twelve had gambled within the past year. That number was a little higher in SaratogaCounty.

So problem gambling experts are teaming with law enforcement and the New York Racing Association to prevent kids from gambling. Security will keep a watchful eye on automated betting machines and NYRA will remind parimutuel clerks every day to ask for ID.

“It’s something that’s very important and if someone wants their job, they’ve got to do what they’re asked,” says Charles Wheeler, NYRA’s Facilities Manager at Saratoga.

Teens can be charged with trespass for trying to place a bet. Parents, who sometimes send their kids to the betting window, can be arrested for endangering their welfare.

“It’s a crime to send a kid in to make a bet,” says Jim Murphy, Saratoga County District Attorney. “The message is, if you’re going to make a bet and you’re a parent, do it yourself.”

Anti-Bullying Book has Rachel Alexandra as Main Character

July 26, 2010
By Mark Mulholland
WNYT News Channel 13

SARATOGA SPRINGS – “I feel for the kids who don’t have someone to turn to,” said Dr. Bambii Rae. Rae has been the victim of bullies. She was teased so badly that she was forced to drop out of the Buffalo high school she attended.

Click here for link to video coverage.

She went on to get her Ph.D. in education and now she’s teaching the lesson of her life through the eyes of a champion race horse.

Rae fell in love with Rachel Alexandra, the thoroughbred filly who beat the boys on her way to becoming Horse of the Year. In Rachel she saw the perfect protagonist for her children’s book, “Girl Power: Running Against Bullying.”

“Rachel has a lot of people who believe in her. I don’t think the kids or anybody can do it without that,” Rae said.

The book tells how owners tried to keep Rachel out of the Preakness, but Saratoga socialite Marylou Whitney came to her aid and Rachel entered and won the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

The book’s paintings are the work of Saratoga Springs artist Frankie Flores, who — because it’s a children’s book — didn’t want the bullies to be too menacing.

“We tried to make it fun, a little light and airy in some aspects,” Flores explained.

Profit from the book will benefit anti-bullying groups like the Prevention Council of Saratoga.

There’s a big public unveiling of the book at a reception at the Flores Art Gallery, Friday night at 7. It will be available in local bookstores in August.

Officials Discuss How to Protect Youth from Gambling

July 16, 2010
By Paul Post
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — State and local officials gathered Friday, a week before Saratoga Race Course opens, to address the growing problem of underage gambling.

Local high school freshmen and sophomores are 20 percent more apt to face such challenges than teens of similar age throughout New York, a state study says.

Saratoga Springs has more gaming venues — the racecourse, Saratoga Gaming & Raceway’s racino — than most cities its size, in addition to easily accessible temptations found everywhere, such as supermarket vending machines that sell Lottery scratch-off tickets.

“Exposing kids to gambling at a young age just increases their likelihood of having problem gambling later on,” said Heather Kisselback, executive director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Council of Saratoga County. “Kids, especially teens who are so impulsive, feel like nothing can happen to them.”

Younger teens are especially vulnerable, she said.

Saratoga Race Course is a fun, family place, but parents need to keep a watchful eye on young people to make sure they don’t try to use self-service betting machines illegally. Also, young children shouldn’t be encouraged to make even small, “make-believe” bets on races, Kisselback said.

A 2008 poll conducted by the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services found that 49 percent of Saratoga County youths in grades seven through 12 have gambled in the past year. Males are four times as likely as females to have a problem.

“With greater acceptance of gambling and increased access, there is increasing risk for problem and pathological gambling,” said Mary Silberstein of the New York Association of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Providers. “It is imperative that we increase prevention efforts.”

The agency says the state shouldn’t allow any more casinos or new gambling opportunities without committing a portion of such revenue to problem gambling services.

New York Racing Association polices automated betting machines to make sure underage people don’t use them. This year, posters will be placed throughout the track, discouraging young people from using such machines.

The Prevention Council was joined by state and NYRA officials and Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III at a Friday press conference at the racecourse.

Kisselback said the council has a variety of in-school programs to deal with underage gambling, the same as drinking, smoking and substance abuse. “It’s the same scenario,” she said. “We haven’t addressed this issue until now.”

Informal sports betting, such as basketball and football pools, are extremely popular among young people, she said.

The council also hosts workshops to help parents recognize and deal with such problems.

Anyone with a gambling problem may call the state’s 24-hour HOPEline at 1-877-8HOPENY.