Study Cites Major Latino Alcohol Abuse : Health: The report says the percentage of liquor- and drug-related arrests is much higher than that of the population.

Alcohol and drug abuse problems among the county’s Latino population are disproportionately high and more bilingual treatment programs for Latinos are severely needed, a new study concludes.

One quarter of the county’s population is Latino, but 44% of the alcohol- and drug-related arrests in the county during 1988 were of Latinos, according to the study commissioned by El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, an Oxnard-based advocacy organization for Latinos.

Last year 35% of county residents on probation for driving under the influence were Latinos, and 20% of those spoke only Spanish, the report said. Yet the bilingual treatment services available to Latinos cannot handle the need, it added.

“The findings are very startling,” said Marcos Vargas, executive director of El Concilio. “They will serve to raise the consciousness regarding the severity of the drug and alcohol problem in the community.”

Vargas presented the report to the County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. The study was an outgrowth of concerns raised last year during forums regarding services for Latinos.

“It’s a monumental problem,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn. “It’s not a minor problem.”

The report, prepared by consultant Luann Castanoli Rocha, recommends that more community centers, Alcoholics Anonymous groups, alcohol and drug abuse prevention and education programs, counseling and detoxification facilities be provided to Latinos.

The greatest need for the programs exists in Fillmore, Moorpark, Piru and the La Colonia area in Oxnard.

But the report also criticizes excessive exposure to alcohol in the Latino community. It says that residents are bombarded by billboard and other alcohol advertising and that Latino neighborhoods are saturated with liquor stores that stay open late. Latino festivals and sporting events promote public drunkenness, it adds.

Even in the field, Latino workers are allowed to drink on the job, the report says. “In fact, some managers bring liquor to the fields,” the report states. Workers and others interviewed for the report also said that some agricultural companies sell beer on the work site.

“It happens quite often,” Vargas said. The problem is exacerbated when single men immigrate here without family or friends. Lonely and isolated, there is little for them to do but drink.

The report recommends using Spanish-speaking radio and television stations to broadcast information about alcohol abuse. The beer industry should be pressured to include warnings against drinking and driving in their Spanish language commercials, the report says. Billboards could also provide information about alcohol abuse.

Residents can lobby against the establishment of new liquor stores in their neighborhoods, the report recommends, and alcohol could be restricted at social and sporting events.

Vargas said the recommendations cited in the report will be taken up by Latino leaders in the community at a conference in April. After that a plan will be developed to deal with the problem, he said.

He said some progress has been made in providing alcohol and drug treatment for Latinos. There are two bilingual community-based outpatient alcohol programs in Ventura County, one at the border of Oxnard and Port Hueneme and the other in Santa Paula. There is a bilingual residential recovery home for men in Santa Paula, and one for women just opened in Oxnard. These services are provided by private nonprofit organizations under contract to the county.

But the report estimates that the county’s Latino population numbers nearly 178,000. In Oxnard, 44% of the population is Latino.

“We recognize the problem,” said Supervisor Maggie Erickson. “We will be as supportive as we can.” Although the county has serious budget problems, she said, a number of the recommendations would not involve much money and could be carried out by organizations outside county government.