32 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2020
VIRTUAL HUGS
A PANDEMIC LIFELINE
Kym Laube leads a large turnout at a HUGS event before the pandemic.
BY EDEN LAIKIN
Drug abuse prevention workers knew
early on that the pandemic was going
to have a detrimental effect on their
efforts to stop or at least delay young
people from picking up alcohol, marijuana
or vaping, drugs believed to
be the gateway substances to harder
drugs such as opiates.
So, when the pandemic first hit, Kym
Laube of Westhampton Beach-based
HUGS, Inc. immediately put out social
media posts calling for colleagues in
the prevention field to join a Zoom
call. More than 100 coalitions and
agencies from around New York State
answered that call. About 35 of them
continue to meet weekly to discuss
new techniques to deliver prevention
presentations when schools are
closed.
“The younger a person chooses to
use any substance, the greater the
predictor for a lifetime of addiction,”
Laube said. “It’s connected to brain development.
If a child puts a substance
(such as alcohol) in their body prior to
the age of 15, they are five times more
likely to develop substance use disorder.
The brain doesn’t fully develop
until the average age of 27.”
HUGS (Human Understanding and
Growth Services), the lead agency
for a federally funded coalition called
SAFE in Sag Harbor, was joined on the
call by prevention agencies throughout
Long Island including Hope for
Youth in Amityville, Lindy Cares
in Lindenhurst, and LI Prevention
Resource Center in Bay Shore. These
key stakeholders continue to come together
to mobilize their communities
to bring about healthy community
outcomes.
Once everything shut down, HUGS
kept its lifesaving programs going,
virtually, and added weekly family
fun nights on Zoom.
The 40-year-old prevention agency,
which is funded in part by a five-year
Drug Free Communities grant from
the state Office of Addiction Services
and Supports, had to cancel multiple
fundraising events that help keep the
programs going.
Meanwhile, alcohol sales skyrocketed
in late March and about 38 percent
of New York State residents reported
drinking while working from home
during the current COVID-19 lockdown,
according to a study published
on the website Alcohol.org.
Laube, who has been working in
prevention for more than 30 years,
said young people have seen adults
drinking more, celebrating with alcohol,
and coping with difficult things
with alcohol.
“It normalizes the behavior,” she told
the Press. “Oftentimes young people
will mirror what they see adults do.”
Laube and other prevention workers
say the journey into drug addiction
can begin with alcohol or vaping. But
this is not always the case.
“Some people pick up alcohol, and
it’s their drug of choice and it stays
there,” she said. “Some can go on to
socially drink and handle it ... But for
one in ten, it goes to full alcoholism ...
maybe they are predisposed to addiction,
and their disease takes off into
heavier substances.”
Before the pandemic hit, Laube traveled
to schools across Long Island
and around the country speaking
about prevention. On three weekends
during the school year, HUGS
THE
OPIOID
CRISIS
hosted Teen Institute, teen leadership
conferences on Shelter Island for 80
to 100 teens, events which were technology
free, high-end team-building,
experiential learning events.
“We talked about the hard stuff,” such
as suicide, mental health, how to be
leaders and how to make the world a
better place, Laube said. Last month,
the event was held virtually.
“It’s important that when we don’t
have access to kids through school
that we have other ways of reaching
them, of getting our message out
there: How quickly people get addicted
to synthetic drugs, opiates and how
quickly they hit bottom as a result,”
she added.
HUGS, which started in 1981, is strictly
a prevention-based program. Those
in need of treatment or counseling are
referred to treatment professionals.
Amber Arzu, 18, from Lindenhurst
told the Press the event helped her
get through the peak of the pandemic.
“Teen Institute has always been something
I look forward to, to get away,
learn something new,” she said. “It
was a break from the rest of the world
and being with people close to us. The
presenters really lifted you up.”
PRESS HEALTH
“The younger a person chooses to use any
substance, the greater the predictor for a lifetime of
addiction,” said Kym Laube.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/Alcohol.org
