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Show fAoab Ladies Attended Recent Salt Lake City Alcohol-Drug Conference The Utah Alcohol and Drug i , Abuse Conference sponsored by the Utah Federation of Women's Clubs and Utah Division of Alcoholism and Drugs was held May 26-27 at the Rustler Lodge at Alta. Lt. Gov. David S. Monson was the keynote speaker on the first day of the two-day conference on alcoholism and drug abuse in which participants received training in the importance of the family in drug and alcoholism prevention, communication com-munication skills and identification, identifi-cation, clarification and intervention inter-vention skills. Lt. Gov. Monson blamed the use of drugs on parents who put too much pressure on their children to "be equal to or better than the kid nert door." He added that he thought a parent sometimes lived out a second childhood through one of his own children. He suggested parents set a good example for their children to follow when it comes to drinking and drugs. "No success can compensate for failure at home," he said. He urged those attending the conference to stand behind Utah's present alcohol and drug abuse laws and said he would work to support them. Robert L. Christiansen, director, di-rector, Division of Alcoholism and Drugs, said there is a need to focus on rehabilitation of the alcohol and drug abuser, not continuing to punish him. "I don't think there are any more laws we can pass," he said. Mr. Christiansen called alcohol and drug abuse "insidious," "insid-ious," declaring that persons need to be more aware of what drugs they are taking and why. He recalled a doctor friend of his giving him a free bottle of pills which made him S feel wonderful while he was trying to diet and he had no idea what the pills were no whether the coulb become addictive! ) Dr. Gary Jorgensen, director, direc-tor, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Clinic, University of Utah, '! emphasized in-one of the 'i afternoon workshops that the major drug abuse problem in this country is alcohol, even though it gets low priority. "Alcohol is a powerful, dangerous dan-gerous drug," he said. Dr. jorgensen said half a million people are addicted to heroin in the United States. "Ten million are truly addicted to alcohol," he said. He told the women that marijuana smoking is not as serious as alcohol consumption, consump-tion, pill popping, or glue sniffing. "I don't advocate it legalization," Dr. Jorgensen said, "but I do think it should be decriminalized." The reason persons turn to alcohol or drug abuse, according accord-ing to Dr. Jorgensen, are anxiety, depression, paranoia, and the desire to withdraw. How to prevent this abuse? "Teach your children at home how to get along with every day problems," Dr. Jorgensen suggested. On getting the women together for the conference, Mrs. Marguerite Wright, state chairman for the Utah Federated Feder-ated Women's Clubs, said, "Alcohol and drug abuse effects every one of ns, whether we realize it or not. "As women's groups, we are very concerned about the growing percentages of young people who are involved in these areas. We feel our organizations, working with others in our communities, can make a real contribution, especially in education and prevention." Organizations and women's clubs from throughout the state sent representatives to the conference. Representing the Woman's Literary Club of Moab were Mrs. Joan Sherm-er, Sherm-er, retiring president and now vice-president and Mrs. Rosalie Rosa-lie Robertson, Treasurer for this year, who report the conference was indeed informative inform-ative and profitable, and the two-day association with all the women club members was an enjoyable experience. The scenery at Alta with snow falling off and on made one think of a "White Christmas"! |