The results of the 2005 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey suggest that the state's D.E.T.E.R. (Drug Education, Treatment, Enforcement and Rehabilitation) program is effective at preventing youth alcohol use, the Burlington Free Press reported in an opinion piece on March 26.

Since 1999, the survey results indicate, the number of 8th through 12th graders who reported using alcohol has declined from 46 to 37 percent. Nonetheless, Vermont still has one of the ten highest rates of binge drinking among 18 to 25 year olds in the country.

In 2003, Governor Jim Douglas initiated the D.E.T.E.R. program, which funds Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) that operate within schools to help connect students and their families to school personnel and community service agencies that can help them, according to Cynthia LaWare, secretary of the Vermond Agency of Human Services.

Substance abuse counselors funded by the D.E.T.E.R. program serve 92 of Vermont's 157 public schools with grades seven or higher, and the governor's 2007 budget proposal includes funding to bring counselors to the remaining 65 schools. Douglas also proposed a Mentoring Initiative to serve at-risk youth.

The Vermont House Appropriations Committee has eliminated the governor's SAP expansion and mentoring proposals from a bill that the House will vote on this week, but LaWare urges the Senate to restore funding.