Completing anti-drug training with 700 children in the course of just one school day may sound like a difficult task, but the Turn Around New Cassel/Westbury (TANC/W) Drugfighters and the Greater Westbury Lions Club were up to the challenge last week, when they visited the Park Avenue Elementary School.

The Drugfighters and Lions Club members worked tirelessly training the students on the principles of two anti-drug programs - the Wrice Process, which is employed nationally, and Quest, a Lion's Club International initiative. The training took place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the school, which is located in New Cassel and has about 700 children between the ages of 6 and 8. The training followed adoption of the school by the Drugfighters and Lion's Club on Dec. 22.

The adoption of the school and training sessions are part of ongoing efforts by the Drugfighters, a grassroots organization formed in 1998, to rid the New Cassel/Westbury community of drugs, gangs, and other crime. Reaching young people is a key part of this movement, according to Margaret-Miller Scott, head of the local group.

"We're training the kids to be themselves - to know that they have a mind and a brain, and they can be what they want to be - drug-free," said Miller-Scott. "If they let someone steal their mind and their brain, then they're doing what someone else wants them to do, not what they have the ability to do."

During the training, instructors encouraged the students to say "no" to drugs, and to work hard on their reading, writing and arithmetic. They also described the differences between legal and illegal drugs. Students received an anti-drug coloring and activities book, which will be used in class, according to Miller-Scott. The book will be reviewed when the drug-fighters and Lions Club members return to the school for additional training in April, she noted.

"We're determined to reach the young people, so that they will know that someone cares enough for them to take a bold stand. So that they know that someone is addressing the issues in the parks, playgrounds, in the neighborhood and around the school area, that they are exposed to," added Miller-Scott.

"And so that they also know the power in them to run, and tell someone, whomever they trust, if someone offers them drugs."