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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
“In recent months there has been a heightened awareness, growing out of a general recognition across the country that there is a problem (with substance abuse),” said clinic site director Lee Nettles, speaking with a group of about 25 concerned residents gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church. “We need to join in the war that the President has declared.”
Mr. Nettles said that he finds a general consensus among professionals in the mental health field that there is a “golden opportunity” to benefit from the public’s heightened awareness of the problem, which has been evident the past few months due to the massive media coverage of the substance abuse problem following the deaths due to drug overdoses of University of Maryland basketball player Len Bias and Cleveland Browns running back Don Rogers.
But we must answer two questions, Mr. Nettles continued. “Is there a need for a substance abuse program in Rappahannock?” And, “If so, do the citizens want it?”
“I think the number of people who showed up tonight shows something for the concern,” replied the Rev. Jennings Hobson III, rector of Trinity Church.
Paul Nichols, representing the Rappahannock Lions Club, asked Mr. Nettles how the program might be designed.
“In my six years as site director at Family Guidance Services of Rappahannock, the program has been mostly hit or miss,” Mr. Nettles replied. “I envision something along the lines of Mi's. Reagan’s ‘Just Say No’ program ... an intensive effort by diverse elements of the community to educate and put out the message that it’s OK to say no.”
Mr. Nettles proposed a weeklong campaign with “something going on each day and night: discussions, films, speakers...” He added that the organizational meeting was proposed to establish a base, so that community leaders could go back and discuss the proposals with other members of their organizations, to decide the best ways to reach out
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