DRUG PANEL SAYS ABUSE PREVALENT IN SUBURBIA

Middle-Class Workers Are Just As Likely To Have A Problem, Say Commission
Members.

Members of the Luzerne County Drug/Alcohol Study Commission wondered aloud
how to make the public understand that many individuals who snort, shoot
up, swallow and smoke drugs in these parts live in nice homes.

"We're still dealing with a perception problem. How do we combat that?"
asked Ned Delaney, the commission's community representative, during
Tuesday's monthly meeting.

When people think "drug abuse," they picture dealers nabbed in busts, he
said. But in reality, it is just as likely - if not more likely - that it
is teachers, production workers or other professionals who are abusing
drugs, Delaney added.

People from the middle and upper-middle classes are "toking up" at night,
he said.

"What is the real face of the drug and alcohol problem?" Delaney asked.

Mike Donahue, head of the county's drug and alcohol treatment department,
agreed.

"We've got to stop suburbia from disqualifying itself," he said.

Mike Lombardo, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce's senior vice
president and chief operating officer, said people have kept the myth alive
to avoid facing the reality that the drug trade is "perpetuated" by people
who can afford to buy drugs.

Commission member Gerald Deady said he'd like to see an effective ad
campaign to get the message out, but there's no money to fund it.

Delaney said the media should do investigative pieces to reveal how many
professionals abuse drugs. However, some members said it's harder to get
professionals to speak openly about their addiction or recovery because of
the stigma attached to drug use.

The Rev. Thomas O'Hara, also a commission member, said the group must try
hard to attract new people to meetings planned to address the drug problem
so the sessions don't become pep rallies for those already devoted to the
cause.

Commission members also decided that they might back two new initiatives to
help restore shrinking funding for drug and alcohol treatment and prevention.

Lynn Cooper of the Pennsylvania Community Providers Association told the
group about a statewide push to obtain drug and alcohol funding by
increasing the beer tax and reprogramming an existing tax on alcohol and
spirits that goes into the state's general fund.

The proposal would raise tax on beer from 8 cents per gallon to 66 cents
per gallon.

Cooper said the governor failed to get the beer tax passed because he
wanted to use the money for education, but she thinks legislators and the
public would be more supportive if the money was going directly to drug and
alcohol treatment and prevention.

Donahue said something has to be done. One funding stream was recently cut
by $70,000, he said.

Ed Pane, head of Serento Gardens Alcoholism and Drug Services in Hazleton,
said demand for services increases while government funding is shrinking.

"This is insane. This is absolutely insane," Pane said.