With the formation of a new educational program, Rye City Court, the Police Department and anti-drug coalitions will look to deescalate a growing drug problem through professional intervention.
In tandem with Rye Action for Children and Teens, Rye-ACT, the police and court system have already kick started a trial run of a rehabilitative program meant to curb teens’ usage of marijuana and alcohol, which launched in mid-February.
The program, according to Rye Police Commissioner Michael Corcoran, who has helped spearhead the initiative, could provide a second chance to Rye teens who are convicted of a marijuana or alcohol-related offense.
For teens taken into custody on a drug or alcohol-related charge, Corcoran said the course would offer them a conditional discharge, contingent upon its completion.
Since 2011, at least five former Rye High School students have died of drug-related causes, leading to the issue of drug intervention to rise to the surface.
Aside from the educational benefits, the police commissioner added, the program would be a way to keep juveniles in the city from incurring a criminal record.
“You wouldn’t have a record if you bring back satisfactory course completion,” Corcoran said. “There’s not an easy answer to the drug problem, and enforcement is just a small part of the equation.”
Currently, according to Rye City Court Judge Joe Latwin, minors who are convicted of a marijuana or alcohol-related offense are able to leave court without any mandatory rehabilitation or having to alert their parents. Since it’s not a crime, many of Rye’s minors can afford to pay the fines on their own and their parents never know, according to Latwin.
“It’s a problem of [Rye’s] affluence,” he said.
According to Lilly Neuman, the community outreach and education coordinator for St. Vincent’s Hosptial in Harrison, who has been responsible for conducting and spearheading the counseling assigned by Rye City Court, the initiative could help galvanize the community against drugs.
According to Neuman, the counseling process not only incorporates her and the teens involved, but their parents and the officers who handled their enforcement.
“I want to get us all on the same page,” said Neuman, who has worked with chemical dependency for more than 20 years.
In the wake of several drug-related overdoses among young adults in Rye over the past five years, the city has begun to coalesce around drug prevention to help save its youth.
Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican and co-founder of Rye-ACT—which is mostly made up of members of the Rye community—characterized the initiative as an important step forward in Rye’s fight against drugs.
“It’s all about education and teaching the kids and the parents what are the dangers,” Killian said. “They don’t necessarily understand how dangerous this stuff can be.”
Neuman, who said she will continue to help develop the program and take on additional juveniles assigned to her by the courts, explained that her job is to give Rye’s youth the tools necessary to make an informed decision.
“I can’t stop [them] from using,” she said. “But I can give you information so when someone passes you a joint or gives you alcohol you can say, ‘Not today.’”
