by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
A free presentation called “St. Cloud State University’s IMPACT Diversion Program” will be given from 6-7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11 in the Multi-Purpose Room at Sartell Middle School.
This is the last of four programs sponsored by the Sartell-St. Stephen Drug-Free Coalition, which has presented one program each month September through December.
The Dec. 11 program features speaker Jen Johnson. The statistics on alcohol-related accidents and reports of binge drinking among young people may scare some parents. U-Choose is SCSU’s education-based prevention effort and will share resources to help ease these conversations with youth, as well as sharing a data-driven, evidence-based approach that works to empower students to make informed choices and understand the consequences of high-risk drinking and drug use.
The Drug-Free Coalition’s programs focus on substance abuse, its causes and ways to prevent the terrible scourges of addiction and abuse.
Other programs included the following: the September “Generation X” to inform people of all ages about the potential dangers of misuse of prescription medications; the October “TXT4Life” a free, crisis-based suicide-prevention texting program that provides counseling 24/7 every day of the year; and the November “Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force,” the recently renamed task force which investigates crimes involving narcotics, prostitution and gang behavior, as well as other forms of violent offenses. More in-depth write-ups of each may be found at www.thenewsleaders.com.
