Members from the Lake Orion community gathered at Lake Orion High School on Monday night with one clear message: It’s not okay.
‘It’s not okay to party, it’s not okay to get drunk at 16, it’s not okay to have your friends over and serve alcohol,? said Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh in regards to underage drinking.
In efforts to create a community coalition to help educate and prevent underage drinking, Lake Orion High School, along with the Lake Orion Police Department, Oakland County Sheriff’s Department and Judge Lisa Asadoorian of 52-3 District Court, hosted a Town Hall Meeting to help inform the community about this problem.
‘The greatest loss a community and a parent will ever suffer is the loss of a child,? Narsh said. ‘This is a community problem and it needs a community solution.?
At the meeting on Monday, substance abuse prevention advisor Michele Novak released results of a survey that was completed through 8th, 10th and 11th graders last year. These figures reflect how frequently Lake Orion youth are using substances, how easy they feel it is to get their hands on different substances, at what age they first tried substances and other information related to substance abuse. Included with the results is similar information from county-wide, state and national surveys.
While going through the information, Novak pointed out that Lake Orion percentages were frequently higher than those percentages at the county, state and national level. For example, in a question asked if they had ‘got drunk once or more in the last two weeks,? which Novak qualified as having five or more drinks in a row, 10 percent of Lake Orion 8th graders answered yes, while the county number was 6.8 percent. Approximately one-third of Lake Orion juniors had gotten drunk in that time period compared to 27 percent at the state level.
The statistics showed that the Lake Orion youth are not only using alcohol, but frequently are using marijuana, tobacco and other drugs. Seven percent of Orion 8th graders, 20 percent of sophomores and 35 percent of juniors answered yes to having used marijuana once or more in the last 30 days.
According to Novak, when you look at these numbers, it’s clear that the Lake Orion community needs to work together to reduce this problem.
Judge Asadoorian, along with her colleague Judge Julie Nicholson, shared some of their experiences in dealing with underage drinking and substance abuse, and challenged the group to come together and work together to combat the problem.
‘We fight a battle every day to keep your kids alive – won’t you help us? The schools are trying to combat it, the courts are trying to combat it, it only makes sense that you try to combat it at home,? Asadoorian told the crowd.
Figures released from a survey conducted in Lake Orion schools last year show that the most common place that teenagers use substances is at their own home.
‘We’ll never change what we choose to tolerate, so if you tolerate (underage drinking), these numbers are going to continue to grow,? said Asadoorian.
With help from the Troy Community Coalition and the Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities, Novak hopes that the community will come together and develop an Orion Community Coalition to work on keeping Lake Orion youth safe. The idea for a coalition is that it takes a community, and that means the schools, the police, the businesses, the faith communities, the government officials and the families need to work towards a common goal.
The Orion Community Coalition will have its first organizational meeting next Monday, May 7, 2007 at 7 p.m. at Lake Orion High School. Interested community members are invited to attend. For more information about the coalition, contact Novak at (248)693-5638 or email mnovak@lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
For community members interested in seeing all of the figures released in ‘A Profile of Our Youth,? Novak says that the survey results will be posted online at the school’s website, www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us/lohs.