Groton – After 15 years focusing mainly on preventing alcohol abuse among youth, the Groton Adolescent Substance Abuse Coalition is planning activities in 2016 directed at educating youth and their parents about the hazards of marijuana and opiate abuse.

This spring, the coalition, comprised of representatives of about 20 school, town and community groups, received a state grant of $100,000 for each of the next five years to continue its efforts, Carolyn Wilson, coordinator of GASP and health programs coordinator for Ledge Light Health District, said Thursday. The new round of funding came with a requirement that GASP reassess how it was directing its efforts, using data collected from youth surveys, hospital emergency room visits, schools and mental health and addiction recovery advocates, among others.

“This was a fresh pool of funding,” she said. “Even though we’ve been doing this for years, we had to create a picture of what’s going on in Groton now to determine where we wanted to focus the money.”

This fall, she said, GASP representatives met with about 70 middle and high school students, as well as educators, counselors and substance abuse experts, to learn about needs and perceptions regarding drug and alcohol abuse in the community. What they learned, she said, is that youth are eager to talk about marijuana use and abuse, as well as experimenting with prescription opiates.

“Kids are confused,” she said. “They think (using marijuana) is cool. They talk about the ‘weed culture’ and how it’s become normal to use it and how it’s used as medicine.”

Legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and other states is a main influence on youth attitudes, she said.

In addition, many students in the focus groups were “unaware or unclear of the relationship between prescription opiates and heroin use,” she said.

“That will be an important area for us to address,” she said. “Key informants in the treatment field say opiate users seeking treatment are getting younger. Many of them start with (prescription) drugs, either innocently or through a prescription for pain or through recreational experimentation and curiosity.”

Another finding, she said, was that many students have high levels of stress in their lives, putting them at risk for substance abuse.

“Students are having a really hard time with anxiety,” she said.

The coalition, she said, is still collecting data that it will use to design new programs that will start in the spring. Former Board of Education member Archie Swindell, a consultant to GASP, has requested data from the state Department of Public Health on the number of inpatient discharges and emergency room visits at local hospitals for conditions related to substance abuse. His request covers 2009 to 2014. In addition to the 20 groups already represented in GASP, the coalition has also expanded its reach to include two recently formed local grassroots groups, Shine a Light on Heroin and Community Speaks Out.

Along with the hospital data, the coalition will also conduct another survey of youth in February, Wilson said. After all the data is compiled and analyzed, the coalition will decide on the types of programs it will launch, she said. They will look for projects with a documented track record of success, she said.

“We want to use evidence-based strategies,” she said.

Possible projects would include social marketing campaigns in schools to educate students about the risks of marijuana and opiate abuse, and working with health teachers to incorporate more lessons relevant to the topic in the classroom. Other efforts could promote coping skills and tapping mental health counselors to help deal with stress.

“We could also work with parents and doctors’ offices to promote proper disposal” of prescription opiates, Wilson said. “We may have community forums and speakers — whatever the coalition decides.”

Wilson said the coalition welcomes new members, “especially parents, faith-based organizations, business owners.”

The group’s next meeting is scheduled for noon on Jan. 11 at the town police department. Those interested in attending are urged to contact Wilson at: cwilson@lldh.org or at: (860) 448-4882 extension 318.

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy