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tive, prevention programming must address these critical problems, of which drugs are only one part.

Chronic poverty, high dropout rates (African Americans at 40 to 60 percent), 17 limited access to jobs, and poverty level wages provide little hope for economic advancement. Dr. Bowser's research isolates hopelessness in a community's future as a determining factor among African Americans who seek refuge in drugs. It also indicates that it is often the best and the brightest youth who turn to illicit drugs because they see more clearly the hopelessness of their situation. A recent study by the Rand Corporation conducted in Washington, D.C. on the role of street drug selling in the economic life of poor youth found that inner city youth who had "legal" jobs supplemented their incomes by dealing drugs part time, earning approximately $24,000 a year tax free.18 The report notes that therefore the common wisdom of trying to fight drug dealing by creating jobs, based as it is on the notion that most dealers are unemployed, may not be viable. Instead, the emphasis must be on creating attractive, i.e. well paid, legal jobs for younger people.19 This study illustrates that youth are willing to risk death, injury and prison because of their frustration with the lack of opportunities in their lives.

BoisSan Moore, Acting Director of the Institute on Black Chemical Abuse, Inc. put it most succinctly before the committee when discussing the war on substance abuse, "This battle is a battle for families, it is a battle for self esteem, for productivity, for a decent quality of life for all our citizens." 20

Increasingly, communities of color are organizing to address and act upon their concerns. Community empowerment is a powerful tool in prevention programming efforts. In one area of South Los Angeles a campaign by community organizations and law enforcement to "Reclaim the Community" led to an actual reduction in all types of crime. Testimony from Dr. Mark Ridley-Thomas, Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, highlighted the work of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment. The coalition seeks to organize African American communities to better understand and develop strategies to address the socio-economic problems that their communities are facing, including taking control of drug prevention strategies.

The Illinois General Assembly passed legislation granting scholarships for minority males to study teaching. Requirements of the program entail having these teachers return to their communities to teach for at least two years. Not only are jobs created for men in economically depressed areas, but they in turn serve as role models for other youth who are at risk of substance abuse.

In Chicago, the community organizing work of Fathers Michael Pfleger and George Clements led to a successful fight to have laws

17 According to the Congressional Research Service, (CRS) there are a number of ways to calculate the dropout rate, and each yields a different result depending on the methodology. CRS indicated that studies show inner city dropout rates are as high as 60 percent for African Americans.

18 The Rand Corporation, "Money for Crime," July, 1990.

19 Ibid.

20 Statement of BoisSan Moore, Acting Director, Institute on Black Chemical Abuse, Inc., before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security, April 3, 1990, p. 3.

enacted forbidding the sale of drug paraphernalia in Illinois. Seventeen other states followed suit. Community awareness and empowerment in these neighborhoods has led to marches on crack houses, parks and schools to rid their communities of drugs and drug-related equipment. Fathers Pfleger and Clements are urging Congress to enact a federal drug paraphernalia bill. As Father Pfleger remarked, "It is indeed hypocritical to say we have a war on drugs, yet legalize the sale of drug paraphernalia in most states throughout this nation.” 21

Mahmoud Baptiste, Project Director of the Talented Educated and Makin'it (T.E.A.M.) testified about his work in the Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg housing project in Washington, D.C. where he is helping to organize residents carry out a prevention program for high risk youth. Although an African American trying to effect change within the housing project, he believes that he may not be totally effective since he is not fully trusted as an outsider working within the community. Baptiste sees progress in efforts to reach younger residents of the housing project who are siblings and children of drug users and dealers. School performance is improving and extra-curricular activities involving these youth are drawing the attention and participation of their parents, mostly female heads of household.22

In Detroit, the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education is an exemplary school-based prevention program that is being implemented in the school system, and in others around the country. While "model" education-based programs assist in developing positive health behaviors and practical "everyday skills", if the programs are not integrated into a comprehensive community strategy there will be little positive reinforcement coming from outside the school.

Witnesses before the committee also addressed the need for more community participation by business and industry to help create jobs and job training programs to develop a more comprehensive prevention strategy for the Detroit inner city youth.23 Testimony by Thelma Brown with the Watts Health Foundation, Inc. in Los Angeles indicated that school curricula in communities of color should also reflect cultural sensitivity toward African American and Hispanic tradition and experiences.24

Hispanics

Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. At 20.1 million they comprise a diverse population with varying histories, culture, and socio-economic status. A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicated that the income gap between Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanics

21 Statement of Father Michael L. Pfleger, Pastor, St. Sabina Church, before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security, July 28, 1990, p. 1.

22 Interview with Mahmoud T. Baptiste, Project Director, T.E.A.M. prior to hearing before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security on April 3, 1990.

23 Statement of Barbara J. Hower, Health Education Consultant for the Comprehensive School, Health Unit, Department of Education before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security and the Subcommittee on Government Information, Justice, and Agriculture, December 14, 1989, pp. 140-3.

24 Statement of Thelma Brown, representative, Watts Health Foundation, Inc. before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security, July 2, 1990, p. 5.

has widened during the past decade, primarily due to a decline in wage levels. Twenty-eight percent of Hispanic households are among America's poorest 20 percent, compared with 19 percent of non-Hispanic households.

The committee heard from representatives of the Mexican American communities which comprise over 60 percent of the Hispanic population. Witnesses stressed that the success of Hispanic community-based prevention models depends to a great extent on the ability of policy makers to respond to the cultural strengths and resources found within the Hispanic communities, or their "Nuestro Bienestar" (well being).

Overall, testimony has indicated that the Hispanic community has not been favorably impressed with the prevention programming efforts of the National Drug Control Strategy. They do not reflect the language and culture of the community. Charlene Doria Ortiz summed it up well:

If Kool-Aid, Jello, Budweiser and Marlboro can produce culturally sensitive, bilingual ads to sell their products, why can't our federal and state substance abuse prevention efforts do the same thing to sell health, individual and family well-being and community unity against alcohol and drug abuse? 25

Testimony by Ortiz was crafted by ten representatives from four states representing the largest Hispanic populations in the Southwest: California, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. There was universal agreement on the fundamental barriers to the development of linguistically and culturally appropriate prevention services targeting Hispanics, including: 26 (1) inadequate resources available to design, develop and maintain targeted Mexican American community-based programs in the Southwest; (2) lack of knowledge and incentives within anglo academic communities that block efforts to undertake culturally focused research essential for the conceptualization of sound prevention programs and strategies; (3) lack of aggressive institutional recruitment supporting the education and graduation of Hispanics committed to prevention research and evaluation; (4) failure of federal and state government to provide culturally appropriate program development services including staff development and training within Hispanic community-based organizations and non-Hispanic organizations serving largely Hispanic populations; (5) lack of attention to the needs of special groups within Hispanic communities, particularly adolescents, refugees, migrants and farmworkers, and women; (6) overall lack of commitment at the federal level to develop and support responsive training and technical assistance for community-based prevention efforts, to expand the capacity of Hispanic leadership by supporting interdisciplinary skills and strategy development, and to support the recruitment and training of Hispanic personnel in service organizations.

25 Statement of Charlene Doria Ortiz, Associate Director, Hispanic Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Institute, Center for Health Policy Development, Inc., before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security, April 3, 1990, p. 4.

26 Ibid., p. 5

There was a general consensus that although prevention efforts need to be enacted by the community, the federal and state entities must set the guidelines and provide the resources. Communitybased prevention practitioners would use these guidelines to frame ideas responsive to the community.

According to testimony, federal and state prevention programming efforts are created on the basis of the substance abuse problems faced by middle and upper class America. These efforts incorrectly prioritize, or omit entirely, key issues relevant to the Hispanic community. First, Hispanics in the Southwest traditionally have problems with alcohol, though there are different patterns of use by women and young children. Second, heroin is still a critical problem and of grave concern due to the AIDS epidemic that is increasingly infecting Hispanic Americans. Third, the use of inhalants is great among young children aged 9 to 13. Finally, while cocaine abuse in the Hispanic community has not reflected nationwide use, Phencyclidine (PCP) is still a major substance among Hispanic adolescents.

Literacy is a significant problem. Hispanic high school dropout rates are the highest in the nation. As a result, prevention programming efforts to produce culturally sensitive and linguistically sound materials that are accessible is a continuing problem.

Even though Hispanic communities are faced with growing substance abuse problems, they remain resilient. Ortiz stressed that prevention programming efforts must begin with a non-deficit model, that is, they must find strength in the family, the traditional source of empowerment within the Hispanic community. As a diverse community, prevention programming efforts must be holistic in nature, and responsive to the differences among the various population groups-Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Chicanos, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Peruvians, etc.

Further, because it is a relatively new, complex, multifaceted discipline, resources for prevention research, information and evaluation of strategies addressing Hispanic populations is sorely lacking. As a result, knowledge of what works within these communities is scant, and the resources targeting these gaps are virtually nonexistent.

Asian American/Pacific Islanders

Asian populations in the United States also are diverse. The committee heard testimony from a representative of the Asian/Pacific community on the West Coast, a community which has experienced a 94 percent increase in population during a ten-year period according to the 1980 census. Recent studies indicate that this population is largely (85 percent) foreign born, prefer their native language and are only marginally assimilated to the mainstream culture. According to Mike Watanabe, these strong cultural ties imply that Asian/Pacific families, more than other groups, have a strong tendency to hide their problems from public view. Yet, as mentioned earlier, the prevalence of substance abuse rivals that of other ethnic population groups.

As a population comprised of recent immigrants, problems relating to language, family welfare, cultural differences, academic pressures, assimilation and acculturation contribute greatly to the high

rate of substance abuse among the youth of these populations. The stereotyping of Asian/Pacifics as academic achievers places inordinate pressure on newly arrived immigrants and masks a dropout rate which is as high as 40 percent in some school districts. Coupled with the tradition of keeping all problems from public view, substance abuse prevention programming within the Asian/Pacific community becomes that much more difficult.

As is the case for Hispanic Americans, the extent of drug and alcohol problems is unknown, and the resources to address them in the Asian/Pacific communities are meager. No national research or surveys have been conducted to assess the problems in this population group.

The history of funding Asian/Pacific community efforts helps explain the current dynamics of this population group. The Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP) was created by federal initiative in 1973, partly due to the lack of response by Los Angeles County. During the early 1980s when federal funding for localbased service groups ceased, the county inherited responsibility for AADAP, and resources to provide continuing service dwindled. With the creation of federal entities such as OSAP designed to fund community-based organizations in the late 1980s, prevention funding once again was funneled to organizations such as AADAP. Still, as the only Asian/Pacific drug abuse program, AADAP can only serve five of the seventeen Asian/Pacific ethnic groups which comprise 10 percent of the county's population. While the prevention situation for Los Angeles County Asian/Pacifics looks grim, San Francisco's Asian/Pacific communities did not receive prevention programming by federal initiative until 1987. It is feared that once again, if federal efforts and interest in demand reduction wane, these programs would cease to function. Also, alcohol prevention programming for both organizations is virtually nonexistent.

A number of barriers to prevention programming were identified during the course of the committee's examination. They include: (1) the lack of appropriate prevention programming in the Asian/Pacific community; (2) the scarcity of trained Asian/Pacific substance abuse workers to work in their communities; (3) the absence of technical assistance for distinct population groups within the Asian/Pacific community necessary to build service delivery infrastructures; (4) the lack of development policy planning and outreach to Asian/Pacific communities to hold prevention programming strategies accountable; (5) the lack of resources for community-based strategies; and (6) the lack of cultural and linguistic sensitivity in programming efforts designed for the general Anglo population.

Throughout the committee's examination of African American, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific target populations the issues of resource distribution and control of the distribution were raised over and over again.

3. Advertising and the media

It is estimated that the alcohol and tobacco industries together spend approximately $2 million each day advertising their prod

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