Five Towns faces off against substance abuse

Prompted by the relaxing of New York state’s marijuana laws and cultural concern over the alcohol consumption at synagogue kiddushes and the example it sets for young people, Madraigos, a Woodmere-based nonprofit that focuses on youth counseling, and Achiever, a community resource center in Lawrence, combined to hold a program at Congregation Beth Sholom, also in Lawrence.

Former State Assemblyman from Queens, Phil Goldfeder, moderated the July 12 panel that included Dr. David Pelcovitz, a professor and the Strauss Chair in psychology and education at Yeshiva University, Dr. Elliott Salamon, clinical professor of neurology at Northwell Health and Dr. Binyamin Tepfer, founder and director of Tepfer and Associates, a counseling group with offices in Cedarhurst and Brooklyn.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder spoke before the panel and provided a framework for the night time event’s discussion.

Ryder said that Nassau is the “safest county in America,” where crime is down substantially compared to many others across the nation, but “substance abuse remains an issue,” and pledged support for what the Five Towns is doing to stem the tide of marijuana and alcohol use.

Noting the marijuana law relaxations that allow an individual to carry up to 3 ounces of pot and every legal adult in a household to grow up to 10 plants per person, Ryder said that the changes need to be watched as legalization has increased problems in Colorado.

Those ramifications was the first issue the panel delved into as Pelcovitz said that he anticipates, “much more active conversations on the part of parents because potential marijuana users will “no longer worry about it being legal.”

Tepfer said legalization is a danger as it opens the door to increased use. “Why should I not use it being legalized, the government agreed it is not so destructive,” he said could be the logic of a young person.

Saying that substance abuse of any kind takes away a person’s spark, Tepfer said, “We have to convey to our children that greatness will come from experiencing life.”

As access to drugs and alcohol has always been a problem, Salamon said legalization is another hurdle. “The trouble is when dealing with a young, immature brain,” he said about the damage that taking such substances could incur such as memory retention and the ability to hold down a job. “There is no good way to go back on this,” he added.

Other issues could be sending a person looking for drugs or alcohol, Tepfer said. “Three is always a deeper issue going on,” he said, “it doesn’t happen in a void.”

Substance abuse could also cause other problems, Salamon noted, including such psychosis as schizophrenia. Tepfer added that research has shown that people retain their strongest connection to the music of their youth and that connects to the habits, including substance abuse, they form in their teenage years.

“The younger you are when you start [using], the more likely you are to become an addict,” Salamon said.

All three agreed that young people must have limits and boundaries that are set by parents that are immersed in the children’s lives. That includes limits on using technology that appears to isolate people instead of bringing them together.

“How am I going to deal with things in life,” Tepfer said, about young people if they are cut off from others. “There has to be limits, the limit is what is important,” Salamon said.

Bringing joy into our lives is one antidote,” Pelcovitz said, noting that Shabbos is a good time for connecting with others without electronic devices.