Pubdate: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 Source: Republican & Herald (PA) Copyright: 2008 Pottsville Republican, Inc Contact: http://republicanherald.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1047 Author: Mia Light DRUG FIGHT USES DOSE OF REALITY TAMAQUA - A Tamaqua area teenager is going to die of a heroin overdose next month, and the public is invited to attend. The shocking invitation is an intentional part of the Reality Tour, a drug abuse prevention program slated for April 24 on the grounds of Lehigh Carbon Community College's Morgan Center, 234 High St. The tour's message is delivered in a way that has earned the program national acclaim and has left an impression on many who take the tour. Developed by Norma Norris, executive director of CANDLE Inc., Butler, which developed the program, the Reality Tour uses young people and adult volunteers from the community who re-enact the downward spiral of a drug-addicted teenager that begins when the teen gives in to peer pressure and goes to a party where heroin and other illegal drugs and alcohol are being used. The presentation is made more realistic by using local teenagers, who are known by their peers and recognized by many people in the audience, as the "actors" who mingle with the audience while making plans for the party. And the audience does not simply sit and watch a stage show. Attendees walk from the party scene to another location, where they witness one of the teenagers being caught with illegal drugs and arrested by police. Audience members then move to a jailhouse location, where they watch the drug-addicted teen go through withdrawal while behind bars. After he is released from jail, the addicted teen buys another dose of the drug, overdoses on it and is rushed to an emergency room. The audience stands in the emergency room with the teenager's parents while a team of medical professionals urgently works to resuscitate the victim, but fails. The teen is pronounced dead and covered with a sheet or placed in a body bag while his anguished parents grieve and the audience stands among them, watching. From the emergency room, audience members walk to a nearby funeral parlor, where they move in line past flower arrangements and photographs of the deceased teen to the coffin and the teenager's grieving parents, where condolences are offered. Throughout the tour, the teenager's voice offers recorded narrative of what he is experiencing as he consistently reminds the audience, "I'm just like you." The Reality Tour is being brought to Schuylkill County through the combined effort of the Tamaqua Area Drug Prevention Program and the Schuylkill County Rape and Victim Assistance Center. The program model is owned and copyrighted by CANDLE Inc., which provided the Tamaqua drug program a five-year license at a cost of $3,500 with an annual program update fee of $500 to conduct the Reality Tour at the LCCC Morgan Center. The group plans to present the tour once each month over the five-year period. The county Rape and Victim Assistance Center provided the entire amount to purchase the license. Tamaqua resident Diana Sweigert, who is serving as director of the Schuylkill County Reality Tour, said she became familiar with the program about a year ago and knew it was something that was needed in the Tamaqua and Schuylkill County area. "There were nine drug overdoses in Tamaqua in 2007 alone. When I heard about the Reality Tour, I approached (Tamaqua Mayor) Chris (Morrison) and said, 'This is something we have to do here. We have to find a way to bring this program into our community,' " Sweigert said. The tour is recommended for children 10 and older when accompanied by a parent. "Parents must accompany kids when the tour goes public. It's shock treatment; it's reality," Morrison said. Other partners with the Rape and Victim Assistance Center and the Tamaqua Area Drug Prevention Program in presenting the tour are Lehigh Carbon Community College, where the opening party scene, the funeral scene and other components of the tour will take place; South Ward Fire Company, where the emergency room scene will be staged, and the Tamaqua Police Department and ambulance personnel, who will conduct the arrest and emergency room scenes. The program includes a computerized "morphing" of audience members' faces to show the before-and-after effects of drug addiction, a question/answer session with an addict in recovery and an opportunity for attendees to commit to a drug-free life by tracing their handprint on a Reality Tour banner. The program will open to a private audience of government officials on March 27 and will open to the public on April 24. A second public tour is scheduled for May 29 and additional dates will be scheduled as room availability is determined at the Morgan Center. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek