Laguna Beach Councilman Campaigning to Make City Drug-Free

Soon, this coastal community could be a “drug-free zone,” a place where elected leaders sign pledges that they won’t abuse drugs or alcohol, and youngsters in need of direction simply call an “I Am Bored And Have Nothing To Do” hotline.

That, at least, is the vision Laguna Beach Councilman Steve Dicterow is sketching as he launches his new anti-drug abuse program, which is designed to cast elected leaders as role models while providing new options for youngsters who might otherwise be tempted by drugs and alcohol.

“I want every City Council member to sign a pledge saying they make a promise not to abuse drugs or alcohol,” said Dicterow, who will present his proposal at the council meeting Tuesday night and ask his colleagues to sign the statements at that time. “I’m not trying to say to somebody, ‘You can’t have a drink of wine at night if that’s what you like, or prescription drugs.’ We’re talking about abuse.”

In addition to signing the pledges, Dicterow will ask his colleagues to formally declare Laguna Beach a drug-free zone and to sponsor a Pro-Youth Drug Awareness Town Meeting he plans to hold at City Hall on Oct. 13.

Dicterow, who describes himself as “an absolute teetotaler,” also wants local businesses to put signs in their windows saying they support the city’s anti-drug abuse policy.

Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn called Dicterow’s plan “very positive.” Regarding signing the pledges, she said: “I think that’s a pretty easy thing to do because I don’t think anybody on the City Council abuses drugs and alcohol.”

Other council members said they also expect to sign the pledge.

“He’s taking on a major challenge with his initiative,” Councilman Wayne J. Baglin said of Dicterow. “I hope that we can make it effective and not just a resolution that is hollow.”

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Dicterow, who will be running for reelection next year, said he has spent the last nine months talking with people throughout the community about how to tackle the problem of drug and alcohol abuse and has so far received overwhelming support for his plan.

“It’s one of those politically correct kind of things,” he said. “How can anybody say they’re against it?”

Police and others in the community have said they don’t believe the problem of drug abuse is any worse, or better, here than it is elsewhere.

“It’s an ongoing problem in all communities, in all school districts, and we want to step forward and be proactive and do something about it,” said Susan Jacob, executive director of Brandy’s Friends Counseling Center, a local drug and alcohol abuse treatment organization.

Jacob said Brandy’s Friends has agreed to install the hotline in its office. Teens could staff the line on weekends, and during the week, recorded messages could direct youngsters to various activities around town, she said. Youngsters needing to talk with someone during the week could leave a message and have their calls returned.

Jacob, who has been working with Dicterow on the program for about six months, has compiled a list suggesting ways that others in the community can help as well. The suggestions, along with a letter describing the program, will be distributed throughout town before the October town meeting.

“We’re hoping that everybody in the community will send a representative and come with a commitment,” Jacob said. “Our community is a community that may be able to pull this off.”

Not everyone believes Dicterow’s program will transform Laguna Beach into a zone of clean living.

“That boy’s gone over the edge, hasn’t he?” said Kelly Boyd, a former councilman who owns the downtown Marine Room Tavern, upon learning of Dicterow’s idea. Boyd said he would be happy to place a sign supporting the city’s efforts in his tavern but he believe the program is unrealistic.

“He should be living in reality,” Boyd said. “He can ask whatever he wants to ask. He can say he’d love to make Laguna a drug-free town, and I think everybody in the world would like to have their towns drug-free. But being a reality? I don’t think there is any reality here.”

Chamber of Commerce Manager Jeane Day said she has no idea yet how merchants will react to the suggestion that they post signs in their windows supporting the program. “I don’t know how the businesses will feel,” she said.

Dicterow said he could find no other cities in Orange County with similar anti-drug abuse programs, but he believes the idea could catch on.

“The first step is to see if we can make something work in Laguna,” he said. “Then we go outside Laguna within Orange County.”

Historically, leaders here have seemed happy to plunge into uncharted waters. A previous City Council declared Laguna Beach a “nuclear-free zone,” meaning that no nuclear weapons could be produced, launched, maintained or stored within the city.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Council Chambers at City Hall at 505 Forest Ave. For information: (714) 497-0705 .