The Safe and Drug

CLICKS

(Community Leadership in Cyber Knowledge & Safety) Training

Thursday, May 29, 2008, 3 - 4:30 pm

Perry Hall High School

4601 Ebenezer Road

Baltimore, MD 21236

(Baltimore County)

As part of his ongoing statewide Internet safety initiative called CLICKS (Community Leadership in Cyber Knowledge & Safety), Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler invites you to attend a "Train the Trainer" program on Thursday, May 29, 2008 from 3 - 4:30 pm at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County. In partnership with Internet safety experts from The NetSmartz Workshop (www.NetSmartz.org) and the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, this program is designed to familiarize Community Leaders with Internet Safety issues affecting young people and the extensive menu of web-based, age appropriate, interactive resources, available free from NetSmartz that can be integrated in lesson plans or in presentations to parents and community groups about keeping children and teens safer online.

Background: MSDE has partnered with the office of Attorney General Douglas Gansler, the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (MDICAC) and other groups to develop The C.L.I.C.K.S. Train the Trainer program to equip Maryland’s Community Leaders with the tools they need to speak with students, parents and community groups about how to keep children, 'tweens and teens safer online. In partnership with Internet safety experts from The NetSmartz Workshop, an educational safety resource developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Train-the-Trainer program has been designed for Maryland’s Community Leaders, including:

• Law Enforcement Professionals - Police, Sheriffs, Prosecutors, School Resource Officers, and State and Other Government Lawyers

• Teachers - Classroom Teachers, Instructional Technology Specialists, Library Media Specialists, School Counselors, Pupil Personnel Workers, and School Administrators

• Librarians - School and Public Library Administrators, Public Librarians, Public Library Youth Coordinators and Staff Development Specialists

• Parent Leaders - PTA Officers and Representatives

Community Leaders who attend the C.L.I.C.K.S. Train the Trainer program will receive a thorough overview of Internet safety issues affecting young people, including: online risks, such as exploitation and loss of privacy; how to report online incidents; social networking sites; and risks from other devices popular with youth, such as cell phones and online games. Community Leaders also will learn about the extensive menu of web-based, age-appropriate, interactive resources available free of charge from NetSmartz and how to integrate these resources in school classroom lessons or assemblies, or in making presentations to parents and community groups about keeping kids safer online.

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O'Malley delays signing 'alcopop' bill

Measure, opposed by MADD, continues to tax drinks as if they were beer By Bradley Olson, Baltimore Sun reporter

1:39 PM EDT, April 24, 2008

Gov. Martin O'Malley has put off signing a bill that would allow so-called "alcopops" -- fruity libations such as Mike's Hard Lemonade -- to continue to be taxed and distributed as if they were beer, saying he needs more time to think about the measure.

The law, which passed by wide margins in both legislative chambers, is controversial because activists, such as the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, believe the drinks are marketed to underage drinkers and that the broader distribution and lower taxes they have traditionally enjoyed in Maryland make them more available to teenagers.

O'Malley met this morning with the CEO of MADD, leaders of several state and national public health organizations and several parents in Maryland whose children have been killed recently in drunk driving incidents, all of whom urged him to veto the bill, which he said today that he had planned on signing.

Instead, he decided not to sign it this morning after having "a good talk" with them.

"I want a little more time to think about it," he said after signing nearly 200 bills, including many dealing with environmental and energy-related reforms.

The governor has several options: He could sign the alcopops bill, veto it or allow it to become law without signing it, which would put the measure into effect next month. Two more bill signings are planned in the coming weeks.

O'Malley also signed bills today dealing with the environment and energy, including the General Assembly's ratification of the final settlement to the state's longtime squabbles with the parent company of Baltimore Gas and Electric and measures that strengthen Maryland's law protecting shoreline from development, set "green building" standards for new state structures and establish a state goal of achieving a 15 percent reduction in per capita electricity consumption and peak demand by 2015.

Along with House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, he also signed into law funding for renewable energy programs and Chesapeake Bay cleanup.

Under the terms of the settlement, 1.1 million residential BGE customers will get a check for a one-time rebate of $170 and other benefits totaling $2 billion. The rebates are worth a total of $187 million.

The pact reached by state officials and Constellation last month would also secure $346 million in credits that the company had sued to reclaim and would spare ratepayers the obligation to pay up to $1.5 billion more over the years for the eventual dismantling of the aging Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plants in Southern Maryland.

The agreement ended a bitter public and legal feud, with both sides agreeing to drop lawsuits against each other.

HHS' SAMHSA NAT'L SURVEY ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH (NSDUH) REPORT FINDS QUANTITY AND FREQUENCY OF ALCOHOL USE AMONG UNDERAGE DRINKERS

In 2006, a majority (53.9 percent) of American adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 20 had used an alcoholic beverage at least once in their lifetime. Young people aged 12 to 20 consumed approximately 11.2 percent of the alcoholic drinks consumed in the United States in the past month by persons aged 12 or older.

Research shows that underage drinkers tend to consume more alcohol per occasion than those over the legal minimum drinking age of 21.

The following are brief findings from the report:
- Combined 2005 and 2006 data indicate that an annual average of 28.3 percent of persons aged 12 to 20 in the United States (an estimated 10.8 million persons annually) drank alcohol in the past month.

- Past-month alcohol users aged 12 to 20 drank on an average of 5.9 days in the past month and consumed an average of 4.9 drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month.

- Underage drinkers aged 12 to 20 consumed, on average, more drinks per day on the days they drank in the past month than persons aged 21 or older (4.9 vs. 2.8 drinks).

Download the NSDUH Report:

Quantity and Frequency of Alcohol Use among Underage Drinkers

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NAT'L ADOLESCENT HEALTH INFORMATION CENTER ANNOUNCES THE MENTAL HEALTH OF ADOLESCENTS: A NATIONAL PROFILE, 2008
The National Adolescent Health Information Center recently published "The Mental Health of Adolescents: A National Profile, 2008" which was written by David Knopf, M. Jane Park, & Tina Paul Mulye.

Parents, practitioners, and policymakers are recognizing the importance of young people’s mental health. Youth with better mental health are physically healthier, demonstrate more socially positive behaviors and engage in fewer risky behaviors.

Conversely, youth with mental health problems, such as depression, are more likely to engage in health risk behaviors. Furthermore, youths’ mental health problems pose a significant financial and social burden on families and society in terms of distress, cost of treatment, and disability.

Most mental health problems diagnosed in adulthood begin in adolescence. Half of lifetime diagnosable mental health disorders start by age 14; this number increases to three fourths by age 24. The ability to manage mental health problems, including substance use issues and learning disorders, can affect adult functioning in areas such as social relationships and participation in the workforce.

Federal initiatives have highlighted the importance of mental health for youth and adults. Both the Surgeon General and the White House have convened major meetings on mental health, with significant discussion on issues related to adolescents. Several mental health objectives are among the Healthy People 2010 21 Critical Health Objectives for Adolescents and Young Adults. In addition, clinicians increasingly recognize that mental health and related problems are important and demanding parts of their practices, with pediatricians reporting that nearly one fifth of their patients have an emotional, behavioral, or school problem.

To improve mental health, policy-makers and program administrators need accurate information about the issue. This brief highlights existing national data about adolescent mental health status. Despite limitations of current research, we can draw some conclusions about adolescent mental health. The evidence shows:

• One in five adolescents experience significant symptoms of emotional distress and nearly one in ten are emotionally impaired;

• The most common disorders among adolescents include depression, anxiety disorders and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and substance use disorder.

This brief also assesses shortcomings of current data and offers recommendations to address these limitations. We hope this brief helps strengthen systems that monitor the mental and emotional health of young people at national, state and local levels.

Monitoring systems are an important component of efforts to promote mental health, and prevent and treat mental health problems. Such efforts promote a healthy adolescence and lay the groundwork for healthy adulthood. Before turning to mental health data, we review definitions of mental health and describe methods for assessing mental health status.