The popular “Be the DD and Win” campaign, which started in downtown Ventura in 2011, has expanded its reach to Thousand Oaks recently. The Prize Posse, who promote awareness and appreciation of designated drivers at nightspots, has given away pamphlets, candy, and wristbands, as well as big-value prizes, to participating entrants — who are the Designated Drivers for their group.

The first event in Thousand Oaks, in May, attracted a lot of positive attention and more Prize Posse events will be scheduled, both in Ventura, and Thousand Oaks, throughout the rest of the year.

• Read the Thousand Oaks Acorn article, Designated drivers win big with new incentive program at 3 T.O. bars
• Find out more about Be the DD and Win
• Be the DD and Win on Facebook

Tears don’t always mean you’re upset. They’re not always signs of giving up. The tears that pour from my misty eyes could be hope; Hoping that maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll stop.

Hope:

Hope isn’t just faith waiting and praying until the day. It’s not just encouragement to the brightest extent. Every day hope appears. But, it doesn’t mean that I don’t question; Questioning if you even care.

Question:

I question the meaning of it all. Though answers don’t seem to exist, I still wonder about the last brief thought that occurred. Was it a memory? It’s sad to think that if anything did happen to you, I would have no choice but to remember you like this… all the time.

Memory:

Supposed to be seemingly, wonderful appearances we have shared. The times we laughed or couldn’t seem to bare but smile. They are unforgettable. I shall never lose our love, though. it has been buried under all the booze. Do you even still love me?

Love:

A feeling of unconditional gratitude and care. Seems to make and break, conquer and defeat, heal and, together, make stronger. (example: a father loves his daughter unconditionally.)

But, these tears.. every single drop.. tears me us in different directions. These tears tear me further away from you. They don’t mean I am upset. They don’t mean I am giving up. These cold, wet, frightful darting tears that pour from my misty eyes, are fulfilled with hope. Hoping only that you will get better. Never questioning my life’s worth to you. Don’t you love me? Why are you still doing this? Don’t you remember how happy you were when I was born? Remember, mommy told me. What about all of our memories? Once they’re lost, so is our love. Our love that we we’re yet so lucky to have gained. You told me that you felt like the luckiest man in the universe. So, everyday, I pray to heaven. I send out this virtue to the highest sky that has found it in his heart to look past our imperfections and help us heal, as a family; That has loved each & every one of us enough to give us this miracle, in which, we can cry … together.

Haydence is a Ventura County high school student. You can find her blog here.

According to the Associated Press as reported by The Partnership at Drugfree.org, 27% of teens have recently reported using marijuana in the past month, an 8% increase since 2008.

The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study  suggests an association between teens who smoke marijuana more regularly and the use of other drugs. Adolescents who smoked 20 times or more a month were almost twice as likely, as those who smoked marijuana less often, to use Ecstasy, cocaine or crack.

Read more on The Partnership at Drugfree.org’s site

Come and support this resolution!

Tuesday, April 24, 10am
County Government Center
Hall of Administration
Board of Supervisors Hearing Room
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, California 93009

About Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, Saturday, April 28

The Drug Enforcement Administration has scheduled the fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day for Saturday, April 28. This would be an ideal time to rummage through your medicine cabinet and safely dispose of any unwanted, unused prescription drugs.

On the last Take-Back Day, Oct. 29, 2011, Americans turned in more than 188 tons of unwanted or expired medications at the 5,327 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the three prior Take-Back Days are combined, 498.5 tons of medications have been safely disposed of in the past 13 months.

The event is free and anonymous, and no questions will be asked.

• Camarillo Police Department, 3701 East Las Posas Road, Camarillo (805) 388-5100
• East County Patrol Station, 2101 East Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks (805) 494-8260
• Fillmore Police Department, 524 Sespe Avenue, Fillmore (805) 524-2233
•  Headquarters Station, 800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura (805) 654-2304
• Moorpark Police Department, 610 Spring Road, Moorpark (805) 532-2700
• Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) has installed three drop boxes where anyone with base access can turn in old or unused prescription medications. At NBVC Port Hueneme, the drop box is at the west entrance door of the Navy Exchange. This is the door next to the patio, which leads into the food court. At NBVC Point Mugu, the drop box is next to the ice box as you exit the Navy Exchange. At NBVC San Nicolas Island, the drop box is just inside the galley.
• Ojai Police Department, 402 South Ventura Street, Ojai (805) 646-1414 
• Oxnard Police Station, 251 South C St., Oxnard (805) 385-7740
• Port Hueneme Police Department, (805) 986-6530
• Simi Valley Police Department, 3901 Alamo Street, Simi Valley (805) 583-6950
• Ventura Police Department, 1425 Dowell Drive, or at the Westside Resource Center, 110-K N. Olive St., Ventura (805) 339-4400

Haydence is a Ventura County high school student. You can find her blog here.

This may be the hardest thing I’ll have to do in my life. My actions may be considered “wrong” to you or to our society. And yet, I still feel complete injustice because I’m doing this for myself. I am making sure that I am safe.

I just wanted to know you. I just wanted to try to have a real relationship. Not because I was being forced to here and there, but, because I am a part of you. As a young girl, I knew you as “Dad”, nothing more. I understood that you were my father and I adored you. I looked up to you even though you’ve hit so many rough patches with my brothers and me.

Things were always complicated. My parents being separated, for one, but, living across the country from another… having to fly back and forth, knowing that when we left back home, we wouldn’t see you again for a long, long time; never knowing exactly when we’d ever see you again… or if we even would at that point.

Being so young and able to let go that easily; being so confused and angry; feeling unworthy and guilty; having so much built up jealousy towards your own brothers because they actually got to feel what it was like to have TWO parents, together. Feeling like the mistake, the problem, the cause. Stress, anxiety, pressure I have put on my own self to redeem my faults. Striving to be perfect in everything. Just wanting the spotlight or sympathy for once.

Wanting someone to feel bad for me. Saying, “She was daddy’s little girl, I feel so bad for her because he’s gone.” Everyone forgot about me.

Now, the roles have switched & I feel guilty. How come I am so close to my father when he won’t even make an attempt with my brother? I feel selfish.

Stop the relationship. He isn’t even worth it. You put us in harm’s way too many times. You don’t understand me, trust me, and love me. I don’t need you. None of us need you. I do not want a relationship with you. I do not want you in my life. I do not wish to spend any more days questioning the past or future. I will not cry over you leaving, once again. It’s my turn to be the mature one in this equation. I’m leaving. I left. I’m gone. I’m done. Leave me be.

I have so many bottled up emotions I don’t know what to do. I could cry for days and still feel the pressure. I don’t even understand how to let this out. The only thing I can do is forget about it. Push it to the side & leave you in the past. Sure, you’ll always be my dad… but i can never forgive you. I won’t.

I feel like you did something to me. I don’t exactly know what. I always have this flashback of a day dream- [You’re drunk.] *screaming* “Please don’t do this?” “Daddy, what are you doing?” I see blood. I see tears. I see sweat. I see a pillow. I hear music. I see the kitchen. I smell booze. And yet… I don’t understand. One day it will all be clear, and I will speak up. Until then, you stay out of my life.

This month, National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) celebrates the 26th Anniversary of Alcohol Awareness Month with the theme, “Healthy Choices, Healthy Communities: Prevent Underage Drinking.”

NCADD President/CEO, Robert J. Lindsey said, “We chose a theme that will allow NCADD’s National Network of Affiliates and other NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month supporting organizations across the country to address this critically important public health issue through a broad range of media strategies, awareness campaigns, programs and events in their local communities.”

In addition to promoting and providing resources for Alcohol Awareness Month, NCADD offers a wide variety of information:

• Getting help
• Learn about alcohol
• Learn about drugs
• For parents
• For youth
• For people in recovery
• For friends and family

Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
Scherr Forum Theatre
2100 East Thousand Oaks Blvd.
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

A fourth Conejo Valley Community Forum is planned for April 25, from 6:30 – 9:00 PM at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Staff from various agencies, including law enforcement, medical, behavioral health, and local schools will be available to meet the community and provide resource information. A panel of speakers will address the trends in prescription drug and heroin abuse in our community, and parents and concerned community members will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Nationally, deaths from prescription medications have reached alarming levels in the past decade. The number of overdose deaths is now greater than those of deaths from heroin and cocaine combined. In 2010, about 12 million Americans (age 12 or older) reported non-medical use of prescription painkillers in the past year. Youth and young adults are the fasting growing segment of the population abusing prescription drugs. The misuse of prescription drugs is second only to marijuana as the nation’s most prevalent drug problem. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, among people age 12 or older who reported using pain relievers non-medically in the past year, 55 percent got the drug from a friend or relative for free. See Monitoring the Future Survey, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Get more details on the Ventura County Limits website.

Straight Up Ventura County has been teaming up with Saving Lives Camarillo, a coalition dedicated to reducing “alcohol, tobacco, and other drug problems among Camarillo youth using media advocacy and proven public health and safety strategies that reduce availability.”

Recently co-collaborators on the recent Reality Party for Parents in Camarillo (along with Camarillo High School’s SADD Group and DCH Lexus of Oxnard), Saving Lives Camarillo and Straight Up have been finding ways to work together to bring awareness of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and other issues to local communities.

Want to get involved? Saving Lives Camarillo’s Drug Free Coalition (DFC) meets monthly, and the meetings are open to adults and youth who are concerned about making a positive change in Camarillo. Find out more!

This true story was written by a high school student. She lives in Ventura County.

When I was 12 years old, in 7th grade, I met this girl named Leta. We were best friends after like a week of knowing each other. She taught me to sneak out, to have sex, and to drink. I really liked to drink. I thought it would solve all my problems and I knew I felt so much better when I was drunk.

Since I was little I always had issues with my mom. She was very abusive and we would always be fighting. When I started drinking I realized it took away all my pain and I didn’t always have my mom in the back of my mind. I wasn’t always stressed out and upset because of a fight we might’ve had. I was never home. I would go to school, go to a friend’s house, come home and wait for everyone to go to bed, and then I would sneak out and drink. I hated my life at home so I would do anything to avoid it. Drinking was my solution.

That year I went to a huge party. I remember thinking I was so cool because I was going to a party with all my friends and a bunch of high school kids. I was very excited. Of course there was alcohol and marijuana so as soon as I got there me and my friends started taking shots and playing beer pong with all these older kids.

I was having a good time but pretty soon I realized I could no longer control myself. I had drank way too much and I felt like I was going to pass out so this guy helped me up the stairs and I laid down. That was the last thing I remembered.

The next day I woke up in my backyard. I called my friends and asked them how I got there and they said they didn’t know. My friend Leta told me that they couldn’t find me when they were trying to leave and some guy told her I was going to spend the night at his house. That’s when I realized something bad happened that night. I couldn’t remember anything because I was passed out and I was taken advantage of. I was raped.

The only way I knew how to deal with the situation was by drinking and not thinking about it. I never told anyone and never talked about it until the summer ended and my parents finally decided to send me to rehab. I then learned how to cope with my emotions and how to cope with things that were going on at home. I also was able to make amends with my mom and dad and since rehab we have continued to build our relationship back together and it gets stronger and stronger every day.

Things have definitely gotten a lot better since I have been sober. Today, I am 15 yrs old and this is my first year in high school. There’s not one day that goes by without me thinking about drinking. I hear people talking about it, I see people doing it, I’ve been offered alcohol plenty of times but every time I say no because I think about how hard i’ve worked to get where I am today and I wouldn’t want to give it all up for a temporary fix.

Alcohol can ruin lives and the lives of others, so why even take one drink?

There is increasing awareness — and increasing concern — surrounding the rise in popularity of synthetic marijuana. The healthcare community is stepping up its efforts to educate themselves and the public about synthetic marijuana and the dangers in using it.

This substance, sold under product names such as K2, Spice, Black Mamba, Blaze, and Red X Dawn, mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. However, the side effects are more dangerous and severe than marijuana. Additionally, since the substance has only been developed and distributed since 2006, long-term dangers are unstudied and still unknown.

The chemicals that are used to produce synthetic marijuana have recently been banned by United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the DEA, in order to investigate health and safety issues.

More information can be found at the following links:

• Pediatrics Group Tells Physicians How to Spot Symptoms of Synthetic Marijuana Use [The Partnership at Drugfree.org]
• Synthetic Drugs: Bath Salts, K2/Spice: A Guide for Parents and Other Influencers [Ventura County Limits]
• The Dangers of Synthetic Marijuana [DrugRehab.us]
• Governor of Georgia signs bill to outlaw synthetic marijuana [wrcbtv.com]