Introducing… The First Selectman’s Task Force on Substance Abuse!

The Task Force a group of dynamic, caring young people and adults from Clinton who work together to enrich life and help make our community a healthier, drug-free place. I'm Kristin and I'll be the voice of the Task Force on Clinton Patch's new blog.

The Task Force has been active in Clinton for over 20 years and I’ve been a member at two different points in my life. As a student at Morgan (shout-out to Class of 2004!) I acted as a youth representative. Now, seven years later, I’m back as a staff member. My job is to coordinate all of the Task Force projects that are funded by our Drug-Free Communities grant. To read more about the Task Force visit our brand new website. We also love friends and supporters so “like” us on Facebook while you’re at it! 

If you were out and about in Clinton this weekend, chances are you ran into us (or one of our signs). Here’s a list of some of the places we’ve been:

• Package stores and grocery stores – on Thursday a group of Morgan Peer Advocates visited all seven of Clinton’s off-premise liquor outlets for Operation Sticker Shock. They placed stickers on all 24-packs of beer and boxes of alcopops (aka Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Ice) that say “You MUST be 21 to purchase alcohol – It’s the Law!” in an effort to remind adults that it is illegal to purchase alcohol for minors.
• Clinton Police Department – if you were one of the 135 residents who dropped off unwanted, expired or unused medications at the PD on Saturday – thank you! In collaboration with Clinton Police and the CT River Area Health District, the Task Force sponsored a drop-off site as part of National Drug Take Back Day. Clinton was one of 67 disposal sites that the DEA set-up across the state. In an effort to protect both the environment and our young people (2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time every day!) Clinton residents helped us to fill five huge bags with prescription and OTC medications.
• Bike Fest – even though I got sunburn, I am thrilled that the Task Force participated in the first ever Bike Fest! We set up a booth behind the old police station to hand out some great freebies – water bottles, pens, sticky notes and highlighters – advertising our new Be the Wall campaign to combat underage drinking. This event was the first of many at which we’ll be asking Clinton community members to help us build a wall between youth and alcohol. We also passed out Be the Wall balloons to all of the young bike riders who stopped at our table. If you were there you probably saw one or two balloons tied to the back of a bike, or witnessed one of the many escapees floating through the air.

If you missed us this weekend, fear not! We have lots of great events planned for the rest of the spring and summer.

Our next big event - a screening of the must-see documentary “Race to Nowhere” - is fast approaching! The film will be played in the Gagnon Auditorium (Morgan) on May 17 at 7:00pm, followed by a Q&A session with local youth development experts Marie Giraldo (Clinton Youth and Family) and David Melillo (Madison Youth and Family). Our emcee for the night is Mary Jane Engle, director of the CT River Area Health District. Purchase your ticket online and you’ll save $5 over the door price. When you’re at the screening come find me before the movie – I’ll be eating a cupcake from the night’s Morgan Class of 2011 bake sale – and tell me how much you love my Patch blog!