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Community Corner

Local Residents Form Community Coalition

Bayport and Blue Point parents came together to establish a coalition to prevent teen drug and alcohol use.

Bayport resident and parent Susan Schartner met with community members at the high school , which plans to keep drugs and alcohol out of the hands of underage youth.

Schartner partnered with Blue Point resident Robin McKinnon, a prevention specialist at Long Island Prevention Resource Center, and Laurel Hoffman, the district’s social worker, to create the coalition, which promises to battle the influx of drug and alcohol use by local teens.

“People want to make a change,” Schartner said. “People want to keep our children safe and healthy against the use of alcohol and drugs.”

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According to McKinnon, there are 25 similar coalitions in Suffolk County communities. Some include East Islip, Babylon Village, and Huntington. She said so far coalitions have been very effective.

“It’s actually one of the only things that will work to prevent drug and alcohol,” McKinnon said.

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Schartner and McKinnon said they hope the coalition will help take action against—and possibly shut down—businesses in the area that are rumored to sell alcohol to minors.

“Businesses must be held accountable,” Schartner said.

The coalition agreed to ask local businesses to sign a pledge promising not to sell alcohol to minors. Schartner said the coalition might create and distribute stickers saying, “Please don’t buy alcohol for my child,” and “Thank you for not selling alcohol to my child.”

Schartner said the coalition will also be used as a support group for parents.

“It’s really hard to tell your teenager, ‘No, I don’t want you to go to that party,’” Schartner said. “We just want to say to parents that you aren’t the only one facing these decisions.”

Schartner invited Officer Stacey Copozzi from the 5th Precinct to speak to the coalition about teenage drug and alcohol use. Copozzi said SCPD is really trying to minimize the problem with the social host law enacted in 2007.

The social host law means if a minor is having a party at a house, the homeowners are liable for everything. Police can raid the home and make arrests, whether the host is the parent, guardian or the 18-year-old throwing the party.

“It’s a nice tool for us to use,” said Copozzi. “It allows us to not only clean up the area and get the nonsense out, but to have consequences for it as well.”

Copozzi said the main drug threat in the area is heroin.

In the past few years, the price of heroin has significantly dropped. A bag only costs about $10 and users can now snort, smoke and ingest heroin instead of shooting up, which makes it more appealing to younger kids.

Copozzi said she thinks the coalition will help prevent teenage drug and alcohol use and the SCPD will work hand-in-hand with the coalition to combat this problem.

“Any time you have a community get together to work on problems is a great idea,” she said. “If you give us tips and communicate with us, we will be able to respond and prevent something from happening.”

No date has been set for the Bayport- Blue Point Community Coalition’s next meeting, but check the Patch calendar for events.

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