Pubdate: Mon, 05 Sep 2005
Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2005 Asbury Park Press
Contact:  http://www.app.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26
Author: A. Scott Ferguson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

HER CAUSE: PREVENTING DRUG ABUSE

Task Force's Leader Retires

In 1982, Joan A. Spinelli was working in one of the few drug treatment 
centers, not only in Monmouth County but, in the whole state, the Monmouth 
Chemical Dependency Treatment Center.

At about that same time, two local students were killed in a 
drunken-driving accident in New York state, and Spinelli started to ask why 
there were no programs that dealt with the issues involving young people, 
drinking and driving, and substance abuse.

Soon, Spinelli, along with 13 students from different Monmouth County high 
schools, formed the Monmouth County High School Task Force on Drinking and 
Driving, which became one of the first organizations to deal with issues 
facing teenagers.

"At the time, we really saw an increase in the the number of students 
drinking and driving," Spinelli, 68, who lives in Middletown, said 
recently. "We wanted to do something countywide and get out the idea that 
students didn't need drugs and alcohol to have a good time."

The task force continues to this day and still serves as a model for other 
student organizations throughout the state. However, the organization will 
have to continue now without the input of Spinelli, who officially retired 
last month.

Barry Johnson, the director of the Monmouth County Division of Alcohol and 
Drug Abuse Services, first met Spinelli in the late 1970s, and he said 
recently that she has touched the lives of thousands of students.

"Joan liked dealing with the kids, and she knew how to talk to them," 
Johnson said. "Those kids then turned around and talked to other students 
and that helped make a real impact on the dangers of drinking and driving."

After several years, the task force became part of the Monmouth County 
Prosecutor's Office, and Spinelli said that former Prosecutor John Kaye 
helped the organization grow.

Spinelli's replacement was supposed to be announced by new Prosecutor Luis 
A. Valentin last week, but there was no one officially named as of Friday.

What started with just a handful of students, eventually blossomed into 125 
to 150 students participating in the county every year. Membership in the 
task force was open to all students, whether they attended private or 
public school, and gave the teenagers an alternative that they never had 
before.

The task force eventually started handing out scholarships, hosted an 
annual calender contest and spurred a number of awareness campaigns about 
the pitfalls of drug and alcohol abuse.

Through the years, Spinelli said she dealt with just about every hot-button 
issue, whether it was underage drinking, drinking and driving, cocaine and 
marijuana abuse, or steroid use.

"It seems like every five years we had a specific problem and then 
something else would take its place," Spinelli said.

Throughout the early years of the program, notables like Nancy Reagan and 
former Gov. Thomas H. Kean praised the task force's efforts. Other counties 
also followed with their own programs.

In retirement, Spinelli said that she hopes to keep active and volunteer 
her time to other organizations that deal with dependency and abuse.

"I started with a handful of kids and now they have grown up and they are 
now lawyers and doctors," said Spinelli, adding that watching her students 
grow into adults has been one of the joyful parts of the job. "The kids I 
used to know now have kids of their own."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman