Doctors, Lawyers Team Up to Teach Kids About Drugs

Does too much alcohol kill brain cells? How can I get my mom to stop smoking? Can the school principal search my locker? These are a few of the many questions asked by children during a drug education program sponsored by the Harris County Medical Society and the Houston Bar Association.

Dubbed the “Interprofessional Drug Education Alliance (IDEA) Program,” the program teams doctors and lawyers who twice a year visit elementary and middle schools to have frank discussions with kids about the realities of substance abuse. Physicians inform the students about how abusing drugs, alcohol and tobacco can damage their minds and growing bodies, while lawyers discuss the perils that await youth who enter the criminal justice system. In its 11th year, the program has reached more than 35,000 students in many local school districts.

“Every day I see patients in the emergency room because of alcohol and/or drugs. The consequences to young people and our society are enormous,” said Kenneth Mattox, M.D., president of the Harris County Medical Society and chief of staff at Harris County Hospital District’s Ben Taub General Hospital.

Mattox and attorney Melanie Rubinsky were among twelve doctor/lawyer teams who fanned out across the city April 10 to educate 1,300 fifth graders about the medical and legal consequences of drug and alcohol use.

The pair fielded two hours of questions from curious 10 and 11 year olds at Roberts Elementary School, within a mile of the Texas Medical Center. “Show and tell” aids such as a human liver damaged by alcohol abuse and handcuffs worn by juvenile offenders helped stimulate the discussions.

“Maybe something the kids hear today will cause them to think twice if they’re in a situation where they must make a choice,” said Rubinsky.

Samuel Sarabia, school principal at Roberts Elementary, said fifth-graders are especially vulnerable to peer pressure.

“They’re leaving elementary school, where they were the oldest students, for middle school, where they are the youngest students. Peer pressure becomes intense. This is when many either go right or go wrong, and the path they choose follows them forever,” Sarabia said.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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