Interesting article in the Town-Crier, “PBSO, Wellington Collaborate On Anti-Drug Discussion”.

This article by reporter Julie Unger has a lot of very good information for those involved in the anti-drug efforts here in the City of Lake Worth. For example, PBSO is using a “Scout Patch Program” in the Village of Wellington and there’s another program as well called, “Too Good for Drugs”:

All they [teachers] need to do is attend a half-day training session, and they will receive an evidence-based 10-week prevention curriculum. For more information, contact [Dr. Susan] Klarich at klarichs@pbso.org or (561) 688-4055.

Here are two more excerpts from the article by Julie Unger:

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Village of Wellington presented “Drugs of Abuse and Addiction” for Wellington Neighborhood Watch members on Wednesday, April 19 at the Wellington Community Center featuring guest speakers Dr. Susan Klarich and Mariana Lovecchio.
     Klarich works for the PBSO, talks to people in communities and offers school presentations.
     “The Board of County Commissioners just approved the county to get $1 million to do something about the heroin epidemic that has been running rampant across the entire nation [emphasis added], not just Florida,” she said.

And there is interesting historical background in the article as well:

     Bayer Pharmaceutical created heroin because so many people were addicted to morphine. In its early beginnings, mothers would put it on the gums of teething babies to ease their pain and put them to sleep.
     In 1914, addictive substances were put under the control of doctors, but until 1920, heroin and morphine were unregulated and sold legally. By 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was formed. Twenty-one years later, in 1951, a bill was passed differentiating between prescription and non-prescription drugs, limiting prescription refills. Other drug-control laws followed, and in 1988, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act created a drug control policy.
     Sixty percent of the pain relievers used for nonmedical purposes were acquired free from a friend or relative; 17 percent from a doctor; 8 percent bought from a friend or relative; 4 percent taken from a friend or relative; 4 percent bought from a drug dealer; and 7 percent from other sources.

Possibly PBSO’s Dr. Susan Klarich (561-688-4055; email: klarichs@pbso.org) can be invited to prepare a presentation for the Lake Worth City Commission some day or have one for our Neighborhood Assoc. Presidents’ Council (NAPC) in the near future.

If you recall, the Parrot Cove Neighborhood Assoc. here in the City of Lake Worth recently had a “Sober Homes Conversation” given by West Palm Beach Commissioner Shanon Materio and Lake Worth Commissioner Andy Amoroso.