OAK PARK HEIGHTS - The Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club on Tuesday morning announced an ambitious campaign to fight teen drug use across District 834.

Outlined at Joseph's Restaurant during the club's regular weekly meeting, the campaign includes a $15,000 contribution toward hiring a chemical health prevention specialist for area schools, developing activities and programming for teens, and linking parents with local anti-drug resources.

"The (teen drug) problem is, in fact, bigger than most of us realize," said Orwin Carter, Sunrise Rotary president.

Dubbed the Youth Alcohol and Drug Program (YADP), the campaign will run at least four years; the club has committed another $15,000 next year and the same amount for 2009.

Paul Jennings, YADP co-chair, said the Sunrise Rotary created the campaign - which has been in the works for half a year - because too often club members heard from schools and service organizations that the business community has not involved itself in the ongoing battle to prevent drug use among St. Croix Valley youth.

Club members got a detailed look at the drug situation inside Stillwater Area High School and the district's two junior highs on Tuesday morning. In a wide-ranging presentation, Kelly Volkmann, who worked as a chemical heath prevention specialist for District 834 last year, charted drug use in the schools.

"It IS an issue and we all need to take part (in the solution)," Volkmann said.

Among seven Washington County schools, District 834 students accounted for about 30 percent of the alcohol- and drug-related violations, Volkmann said. Most of the drug offenses were for marijuana, though toward the end of the past school year she saw a raise in ecstasy use among students as the pot supply dried up. Methamphetamine hasn't been as much of a problem, Volkmann said.

Despite the figures, she said drug use in SAHS and the junior highs isn't much different from other county schools.

"You can't go strictly by the numbers," said Volkmann, a licensed addiction counselor who also has a master's degree in social work.

She touched on the many program schools offer to teens who want to quit using and how parents and the community can do a better job of helping them stay clean. That includes parents not viewing drug use as a rite of passage and the community creating more activities for youth.

As teenagers deal with growing up and mental health and self-esteem issues, they often succumb to the "shell of drug use," she said. "But underneath, there's a pretty special kid."

A Rotary-organized symposium scheduled for Sept. 21 at Stillwater Junior High will include a five to eight-person panel of area law enforcement officials, community leaders and representatives from community-service agencies. The symposium's goal, Jennings said, is to better determine how the community can address drug use among teens and what can be done to prevent relapses.

Also, the club is planning two upcoming YADP fundraisers - a basketball game set for Sept. 22 between area "all-stars" and the Harlem Ambassadors and the annual Mary Jo Weingarten golf tournament on Sept. 16. Rotary members are looking for players and sponsors. Additional YADP meetings and events will be held in the coming years, as well.

Look for updates to the Sunrise Rotary Club's YADP events in upcoming issues of the Gazette.