City leaders and parents look for solutions to combat teen drug and alcohol problems.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff Station-sponsored juvenile intervention team, designed to combat drug and alcohol problems within Malibu and Conejo Valley cities, is working to curb Malibu teen substance abuse, including an increasing abuse of prescription medication.
Officials said a lack of organized activities and parental involvement within the city has directly contributed to the problem.
“That increase [of prescription drugs] has gone through the roof,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Rotella of the Juvenile Intervention Team.
Rotella said parent’s prescriptions, dealers who have access to “less than scrupulous doctors” and the few children who are prescribed the medication are the sources of access.
Sheriff’s Detective J.T. Manwell, also on the intervention team, said these drugs include Xanax, OxyContin and Vicodin, among other painkillers and sleep aids. Additionally, alcohol and marijuana are serious problems among teenagers. Heroin, coming from Santa Monica/Venice, Oxnard or the San Fernando Valley, is also an issue, he said.
A fair number of youth users are combining different types of drugs, and drugs and alcohol, Rotella said, which are discovered when teens are caught using at school, on the road or in an overdose situation.
“By the time we reach these children, there’s already a problem there,” said Lt. Debra Glafkides, City of Malibu liaison. “Law enforcement alone can’t stop this problem. It has to begin in the home. Parents have to be aware of what their children are doing … We can only enforce the existing laws. We can’t set the standards for families.”
From a law enforcement angle, some of the drug and alcohol problems are hard to control. Unlike in some of the other cities the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff Station services, many of the large weekend house parties in Malibu with underage substance abuse is a regular occurrence according to one parent, are unreported due to distance between homes and a lack of calls on the part of parents. Most underage “busts” occur with drunk driving pullovers on Pacific Coast Highway.
“In Malibu, we don’t get as many party notifications as we get on this side of the hill,” Detective Manwell said. “Parties are usually something we roll up on rather than get the intelligence on. I think it’s a tighter knit community so these parties are more spread out and more secretive.”
Sgt. Tui Wright of the Juvenile Intervention Team said many of parents have a false sense of security because they believe Malibu is a safe place to live. Boundaries are set, but overall rules are not, and many parents do not know the peers, or the parents of peers, their children are spending time with.
“A lot of parents think things like [drug and alcohol use] don’t happen in communities like Malibu,” Wright said. “That’s not true. There’s a general sense of denial with the parents. Parents want everything to be touchy feely with their children.”
But some community members are hoping that, through better programming, they can actually curb potential problems before they come to fruition.
The Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families, a non-profit community organization, was founded in 1999 with a top priority in establishing a teen center in the city with the goal of getting teens involved in organized activities, and away from substance abuse. MFYF also facilitates Angels at Risk, a drug intervention program for teens and their families.
In 2000, MFYF, through partnerships with the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, opened The Club, located on the campus of Malibu High School, which is now a direct foundation subsidiary, and offers programs for area youth.
These include tutoring, environmental and service clubs, and arts and sports programming. But they mainly serve middle school aged students, not older teens. Foundation leaders have been attempting to work with the city to build a new facility with programming for older youth.
“The need for a new teen center that will serve our older teens is not going away and I am glad the issue is starting to get a fair hearing in the community,” Daniel Stern, president of MFYF, said. “Our town is a beautiful place to raise families, but our teenagers are especially challenged not only by their geographic isolation, but also by the risks that come with living in an affluent community.”
Earlier this month, the Malibu City Council heard from community members about the potential purchase of the DeWind property in the Point Dume area as a possible future site for some additional city facilities, including a new teen center for Malibu youth. Stern, representing MFYF, spoke in favor of the property acquisition.
“I walked the DeWind property and thought it had amazing potential. If that doesn’t work out there are many other options, including being part of any new development that goes in the Cross Creek area, having other land donated by civic-minded citizens or taking over an existing facility and transforming it,” Stern said.
City Councilmember Sharon Barovsky said she campaigned to build a facility for a new teen center, but has been unsuccessful as of yet. “The city does not have money to buy the land and build [on its own],” said Barovsky, who hopes a partnership with a foundation or club, like MFYF, could be fostered to build a new teen center.
Barovsky also mentioned the possibility of sharing a facility, such as the Santa Monica College satellite center, in the works since the bond was passed in 2004, as another option.
The Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission, founded in 2002, is comprised of student representatives from both middle and high school, and meets monthly with city representatives to develop programming for Malibu youth and address pertinent issues.
Gianna Fote, a commissioner and junior at Malibu High School, said the commission submitted surveys to fellow classmates to get input about what students are interested in, and have tried to implement programming, such as an annual Battle of the Bands competition, to meet their needs. Fote said she thought a teen center, if planned well, could be a good idea.
“Kids get bored,” she said. “Nightlife is an issue. We are living in a small town. We have events every once and awhile, but there’s not a great place to go and hang out at the end of the week. The more [the city] puts out there, the more we could participate.”