and touch all the nooks and crannies of the

and touch all the nooks and crannies of the rest of the county.

Mr. Nettles said that in his clinical experience, “I have worked with abusers of every drug out there - we have heroin addicts in Rappahannock ... In 1985, there was an epidemic of people asking for help with cocaine - we had six people in the clinic in two weeks.”

“However,” he quickly added, “the biggest problem in Rappahannock continues to be alcohol. The average alcoholic’s drinking affects seven other people: family members, friends and co-workers.”

Brett Taylor pointed out that “most kids won’t listen to someone coming in and preaching. It would be better to have an exuser come in and show by experience what drugs can do.”

Mr. Nettles explained that substance-abuse • counseling usually has a three-tier approach. Tertiary counseling involves working with hard-core users. Secondary counseling deals with those people on the fringes of the abuse pattern — those who may be dabbling with drugs and/or alcohol, but who probably do not yet have a serious and long-term abuse problem - the so-called experimenters.

Primary counseling involves education — attempting to reach young people with information about what substance abuse can do to their minds and bodies before problems have a chance to begin. “In most cases, this means education at the elementary school level,” Mr. Nettles emphasized.

Robert Estabrook, Superintended of Rappahannock County Schools, told the group that the school system has a drug and alcohol education program in place.

“This effort,” Mr. Nettles replied, “will be like a scoop of ice cream on top of the pie.”

Peggy Woodward, representing the Rappahannock Fire and Rescue Association, suggested that a hotline be set up for the week of the program, so that people with problems would have a resource to reach for near at

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