NHS Substance Abuse Forum

Last Thursday evening, October 28, Newtown Youth Services sponsored a substance abuse forum in the high school’s lecture hall. The purpose of the forum, according to Youth Services’ Roseanne Loring, was to give parents timely and correct information about issues facing their children. There was a panel of nine presenters at the forum: Doctor Bill Begg from the Danbury Hospital ER; Judy Blanchard, Health Coordinator for the Newtown School System; Theresa Federicic, middle school social worker; John Hamilton, senior vice president of LMG Programs; Georgia Hynes, assistant vice president at Cornerstone-Eagle Hill; Judith Nickse, attorney at law; Debbie Richardson, Newtown Youth Services director; Carol Skolas, student assistance counselor at Newtown High School; and Sgt Chris Vanghele, Newtown Police Department. Discussions focused on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use among students, and the different situations in which students find themselves while under the influence of a substance. Nicotine was identified as the greatest substance threat to students in the long run, while alcohol abuse was dubbed the most significant substance problem in the short run.  Said Mrs Loring about the forum, “[Youth Services] is trying to be preventative rather than intervening.”                                                                                                                    —Bee Photo, White