The July 20 Az Star reports that the Oro Valley police have a major concern about the escalation of heroin use by our local teenagers.
Recently one of our bloggers pointed out that parks are an ideal place for those interested in the illegal activity of drugs.
Perhaps it is not fair to relate the potential bond issue of the Naranja Park to the potential of even more illegal drug activities, but we believe the reality is---it certainly could be.
Although we have a tendency to address our senior citizen contemporaries on many issues, this issue, although it should concern us all, is predominantly one for those with youngsters, mainly in high school.
The following statement from the Star article is chilling.
"Last week's bust brought the number of felony arrests in drug cases linked to high-school-age youths (in Oro Valley) to 22 since January."
Please take the time to read the Az Star report here. Thanks to reporter Lourdes Medrano for bringing this issue to the attention of Oro Valley citizens.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/249064
5 comments:
You may have heard this before but it is common advice among experts to parents on how to keep their children from using drugs, and one of many tips is to have your children participate in sports. SO the park would be a needed attribute for this, since now that Oro Valley was voted as one of the top 100 cities to raise a family by a well know magazine publication. The fields are already in need for our youth's sports, their are young children who have to get up early for school yet have to wait to have a game practice at 8PM or later, or for the even younger ones- they have to travel out of town limits to practice at a reasonable time. There is a need for more fields in Oro Valley. Getting kids involved in sports will keep kids out of trouble which helps keep the current low crime rate of Oro Valley low, which is one attribute that residents of all ages would like to remain the same. ALso getting more children involved in sports will help (at least this area's children) in combating the child obesity problem we face as a nation.
Moe,
I do agree with you that kids who aren't involved in sports or other activities are more likely to use drugs, but aren't sports programs offered in the schools? When I was in high school we had a football team, track team, softball team, swimming team, gymnastics, etc. Are these things no longer offered in school?
I also have friends who pay for their kids to take classes in dance and gymnastics and karate.
I'm still of the mindset that I already pay for athletic activities in the schools though my taxes and I shouldn't have to pay a second tax to duplicate them somewhere else.
As Zev stated in another post on this topic, you can drive by other athletic venues in this town and they are empty so why do we need more of them?
Moe, your analysis presentation is unfortunately flawed. I have 3 sisters with Masters in Social Work, 2 of them retired, and 1 of whom is still practicing as a school counsellor in the Washington, DC area. Sports participation is NOT a primary answer to the drug problem; as a matter of fact it appears that the extreme competitive aspects that might become 'awakened' within the participants may even increase what would normally be their aversion to the stigma of llegal drug use, anabolic steroids being just one example.
Involvement in family within a loving home is usually the best deterrant; unfortunately many a current mindset of the parent is to let the rest of the world babysit their children, sports activities being just one of many devices.
Look at the sports world, Moe, how 'clean' is it? I'm afraid your promotion of it falls short and is an oversimplification of a deeply complicated solution.
Another good post, VC!
To VCowgirl: for younger children (k-5) there are no sports offered by the schools. So then yes you can sign them up for Gymnastics, Karate, dance, etc. But I feel that if you don't at least expose them to a sport or two at a young age, they may feel they are not good enough to play on a team when they get older. Thus the need for the park fields.
See my other post about empty fields. When did he/she observe this?
To Zev: I did not say this was a "primary answer", I said it is one of the many tips/suggestions. Of course yours is a primary one: involvement in family within a loving home. And yes drug use by teens is a major problem, but the post on here implied that a park would add to the problem and I feel the other way. That was the point I was trying to make.
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