Reform Congregations to Launch City-wide Program to Combat Use of Drugs by Youth

Reform congregations in New York City are about to embark on a city-wide program to combat the use of drugs by the young. The program will rely entirely on volunteers from among the membership of affiliated temples and on parents of school aged children willing to help, according to Rabbi Daniel Davis, executive director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Rabbi Davis said it was hoped to get the program started before the end of the current school year. The plan was initiated by the New York Federation of Reform Synagogues at its 28th annual assembly. Rabbi Davis said the program would be coordinated by the rabbis of each participating congregation. He said they would cooperate with anti-drug programs already under way by other agencies or congregations. One facet of the program calls for neighborhood surveillance to detect drug pushers. Rabbi Davis said experts and people with experience in the drug problem would be solicited to help instruct the volunteers. There is no budget for the project but printed material is being prepared by drug experts at the UAHC’s expense. The program calls for the establishment in synagogues and schools of centers for parent and teacher training in the recognition of illegal use of drugs, for an intensification by city, state and federal authorities to track down, apprehend and punish traffickers in drugs.