Health Department presents to Ritzville Council on youth substance abuse

Karen Potts and Karen Palmer from the Adams County Healthy Department presented to the Ritzville City Council about placing no smoking or vaping signs around the city during the May 2 regular meeting.

The Health Department has been taking strides to prevent youth substance abuse by establishing the Youth Prevention Program, said Potts.

She informed the council of the dangers of tobacco and marijuana products for youth and the health risks involved with premature consumption.

Potts stated electric cigarettes have become popular in the youth community, and the use of the cigarettes and vaping products has tripled in the past three years. She said the companies use a variety of desirable flavors and colorful designs for the juices of the electric cigarettes to appeal to young people.

Since beginning the youth prevention program, Potts said they have recognized the three main reasons for premature substance abuse in youths, including parental oversight, stress and the level of exposure to use in social environments.

In an attempt to reduce the amount of exposure to tobacco and vaping products, Potts and Palmer have requested placing signs in multiple locations in the city encouraging community members to not smoke, vape or consume marijuana.

The focus for the signs are in heavily youth populated areas.

The department has received funding for the signs through the Youth Marijuana Prevention and Education Program and are provided at no cost to the city, stated Potts.

She said they intend to order around 12 signs to be distributed to locations in Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna.

They presented examples of signs from the Snohomish Health District to allow the council to view the potential and verbiage options.

The metal signs would measure 12 by 18 inches and could be placed on posts or fences at the city’s parks, swimming pool and Little League field.

She said they also plan to contact the schools to request signs be placed at the sport fields.

Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick expressed his concern for the signs being vandalized and requested they place them high enough to prevent the issue.

He also said it would be difficult to enforce the signs due to a lack of ordinance.

Potts advised the purpose of the signs are to encourage people not to smoke in the area. The council agreed the signs would be beneficial to the community, and suggested Potts and Palmers continue to pursue the project.

Cook said the city will receive an invoice for an estimated $7,500 from the branding process, which took place on April 28. The payment will be made from the 110 Fund, he explained.

Robbins said the process proved to be successful as they had over 100 participants for the roundtables, not including those on the steering committee.

They plan to keep those who attended the event informed about the results of the roundtables sessions, she added.

The city has also applied for the Rural Aging Responsive Grant on April 28 in an attempt to receive funding for the development of the walking trail, Cook explained.

He stated the Ritzville Golf Association has purchased a new mower for $13,000 and $10,000 of the funds were accumulated by the members of the association.