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Pag* Two
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VI
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THf SOUTHMN ISRAHJTE
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Friday, July J, 1970
AMERICAN NEWS REPORT by Ben Gallob
Jewish Summer Camp Finds Means to Cope
With Drug Use by Staff and Campers
Officials of a Los Angeles
Jewish summer camp, faced
with the problem of drug use
by staff members and campers,
responded with a stated and en
forced ban on all drug use at
the camp and by seeking to
make camp programs so mean
ingful that no one at the camp
would want to use drugs.
The problem and its solution
were described by Mike Schles-
inger, program director of Camp
JCA of the Los Angeles Jewish
Centers Association, in a report
in the current issue of “Jewish
Community Center Program
Aids,” a quarterly publication
of the National Jewish Welfare
Board.
He reported that the problem
cropped up initially at the 1965
camp session when camp offic
ials learned that a few staff
members were using marijuana
both in the camp and on their
days off. At the 1966 camp ses
sion, more people were noted
to be involved in drug use but
camp officials felt none of the
campers had become involved.
The annual winter vacation
weekend for senior high cam
pers in 1966 proved to be “a
traumatic event" — and one
“practically centered” around
drugs. Both staff members and
senior high campers ‘“had be
come nearly obsessed” with the
matter. At a teenage reunion,
several weeks later, the camp
director started what was to be
come a long “and continuing”
process of meeting the issue
head-on. The problem was seen
by camp officials as existing on
three levels—personal, institu
tional and legal. Institutionally,
the camp was viewed as linked
to society, represented by the
families of the campers and
staff members, a board of com
munity leaders, “and the camp’s
reputation in the general com
munity." The officials concluded
that the camp, as a social in
stitution, must develop “a clear,
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honest policy” on the drug
problem “which will be accep
table to parents, board, agency,
staff arid campers, and still be
consistent with the philosophy
of the camp itself.”
Out of much such discussion,
objectives emerged. On the staff
level, the goal was seen as cre
ating a meaningful limit on the
drug problem, with elimination
of hypocrisy and sneaking. With
campers, the goal was to elim
inate not only all drug use at
the camp “but alsq all of the
faking and phony role-playing
that is frequently employed to
be ‘cool,’ ‘hip’ or *in’.” The task
was also viewed as one of cre
ating a camp atmosphere in
which campers could “honestly
examine their own feeling”
about drug use.
The first step was to make the
camp policy on drugs generally
known to the community, the
program director reported. He
said it was deemed essential that
staff, campers and their parents
know the policy before they
came to camp and so, “in our
initial interview with prospec
tive staff members,” that policy
is spelled out. Staff applicants
not in agreement with that pol
icy are advised not to seek a
camp job. The official added “we
explain to staff members the
limit on drug use at the camp,
its rationale and the sanctions:
immediate dismissal.” The policy
also is explained to campers,
both before and after they ar
rive. They are told that “drugs
are out at camp and that break
ing this policy means going
home. The problem for campers
who use drugs becomes the risk:
is it worth jeopardizing their
stay at camp?”
During the first two years of
this policy enforcement, in 1967
and 1966, some decided it was
worth the risk and “we pain
fully had to send several cam
pers home both summers.” But
during the 1969 season, “no
campers were sent home and no
saff member was dismissed.” The
program director explained that
the fact that no one was caught
in 1969 “does not mean that
there was absolutely no drugs
used in camp but to the best
of our knowledge—and we are
reasonably confident of this —
no one did.” In the “tight and
intense camp community,” he
added, camp officials “are very
knowledgeable about what is
going on.”
Officials knew that many of
the young campers used mari
juana frequently or occasionally
in the city and they asked such
campers why they did not bring
the drug to camp. The answers
varied. Some said “we like camp
and don’t want to be sent home.”
But most offered a more in
volved answer: “We don’t need
drugs here.” This answer was
by far the most common.
The program director then
analyzed means used to help
drug users to reach that de
cision. He declared “we must
strive to make the camp com
munity really relevant, mean
ingful and helpful. One of the
primary keys is to motivate
campers and staff to make the
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camp important enough to war
rant the disuse of drugs.” The
result of that effort was that
“many campers expressed the
feeling that because of the at
mosphere, relationships, activi
ties and life style of the camp,
the daily experience became so
meaningful and exciting that
drugs no longer added a new
dimension, as is so often the ra
tionale, but instead detracted
from it.”
Elaborating on that point, Mr.
Schlesinger reported that “the
vast majority of campers have
a very strong feeling toward
camp. They see it as their com
munity, one which functions in
their interest. They want to
make it work.” One of the camp
tools for bringing about that at
titude is a camper council, in
which campers “directly affect
program and policy.” Thus,
campers as well as staff “share
the responsibility of making
camp a great place for as many
people as possible. Our campers
really feel this and are extreme
ly involved in working for the
camp, both in the city and in
the camp itself.”
Within this framework, he
added, camp officials “try ex
tremely hard” to make non-use
of drugs a value for both staff
and campers. The idea “is to
strongly stress some of the posi
tive aspects of not using drugs
in addition to expressing the
negatives of drug use. Peers can
frequently accomplish this more
effectively than those outside
one’s peer group,” he noted.
The program director reported
expectations that the 1970 camp
season would bring new prob
lems, in that the use of pills,
“the uppers and the downers”
—pep pills and tranquilizers —
"seems to be increasing very
rapidly, even surpassing mari
juana in appeal to young peo
ple.” Camp officials consider
use of pills “a new threat” to
the summer camp, “one which
we will also try to meet as di
rectly and openly as possible.”
Copyright 1970, JTA
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