NANTICOKE'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS TOPIC OF FORUM

Attend The Session Tonight At City Hall Or Watch It On Wvia's "Call The Doctor"

NANTICOKE - Community leaders tonight plan to discuss a city task
force's approach to confronting drug abuse.

WVIA-TV Channel 44 will broadcast the 7 p.m. meeting live from City
Hall for "Call the Doctor," the longest-running program on WVIA. The
meeting is free and open to the public.

Panelists will discuss what the Greater Nanticoke Area Drug Task
Force is doing and how other communities can confront drug problems.

Luzerne County has had more than 224 overdose deaths since 2001, said
Carmen Ambrosino, chief executive officer of Wyoming Valley Drug and
Alcohol Services Inc.

Ambrosino ranks the top four "drugs of use" in the county as alcohol,
followed by heroin, cocaine and marijuana. He said 25 percent of all
admissions to Luzerne/Wyoming County Drug and Alcohol facilities were
opiate-related in 2002.

Drug overdose deaths are increasing because drugs are cheaper and
easier to get, said Ambrosino, who plans to be on the panel for
tonight's program. The Internet has made it easier to get drugs,
Ambrosino said.

Viewers can call the program with questions and talk to Ambrosino,
Greater Nanticoke Area High School Principal Maryann Jarolen, task
force treasurer Don Williams and Nanticoke police officer Kevin
Grevera, the task force president.

"We took a three-prong approach," Williams said. "Our program is
aimed at prevention, intervention and recovery."

The Greater Nanticoke Area Drug Task Force was formed two years ago.
The prevention program involves public education and a youth task
force of about 100 children, Williams said. The children are junior
high and high school age.

"We offer an alternative to the drug lifestyle," Williams said.
"Summer hikes. Picnics. We go to Red Baron games."

The task force provides recreation centers at the Stickney Fire
Station and St. Francis Church, where children socialize and play
pool and ping pong, Williams said.

"People in the community need to respond," Williams said. "It's a
grassroots thing. There has been some affect. I can't hand out
statistics to prove that."

Ambrosino said reasons for the increase in overdose deaths are drug
abusers are ingesting more combinations of chemicals, and those
chemicals are more potent.

The town meeting will be held at 7 tonight at Nanticoke City Hall, 15
E. Ridge St., and be broadcast live on the "Call the Doctor" program
on WVIA-TV Channel 44.