Pubdate: Tue, 01 May 2012
Source: Herald-Star (OH)
Copyright: 2012 The Herald-Star
Contact:  http://www.hsconnect.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1268
Author: Warren Scott
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

BROOKE TEENS SHARE FACTS ABOUT DRUGS

WELLSBURG - Members of Brooke High School's chapter of West Virginia 
National Youth Leadership Initiative on Monday attempted to tell 
their peers about the dangers of marijuana use in various ways, but 
it was a personal account from one of the group's members that 
illicited the most attention.

The group is comprised of several students who have undergone 
training through conferences and web-based seminars held by the 
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's National Youth Leadership 
Initiative to use various media to share with their peers information 
about the harmful effects of drug use.

And at Monday's program, they used a PowerPoint presentation to share 
facts about marijuana use, a video they wrote, filmed and starred in 
that depicted marijuana users whose addiction led them to dire 
situations and composing photos symbolizing the effects of drug abuse.

One of the group's members, Rachel Richard, was charged with the 
latter task, showing a tree struck by lightning, which she said is 
like a person addicted to drugs because the tree is dead inside and 
cannot grow.

She also showed a photo of a group of people covering their faces 
with their hands. The image represented people who don't look like 
the individuals they once were and can't communicate with others in a 
meaningful way because they have become addicted, she said.

It's a feeling she understands well, she said, because her father 
used marijuana and later, other drugs.

She said her father's drug use led to her parents' divorce. Her 
father managed to remain a part of her life for a time but eventually 
stopped communicating with her, and she didn't understand why.

She said she came to understand later, "The drugs made him incapable 
of loving us."

When her mother went to his home to check on him, she found him alone 
in the dark, with no furniture around him. He told her he had lost 
hope of recovering from his addiction, the student said.

Later, she and her family learned through a phone call that he had 
shot himself, she said.

"My father is never going to see me graduate, never going to see me 
get married and never going to see me have a child," the girl told 
her classmates.

"Marijuana is not a recreational drug. It's not something you play 
with," she said.

In recent months, local law enforcement and court officials have 
teamed with Advocates for Substance Abuse Prevention to educate the 
public about a rise in the use of heroin, synthetic marijuana and 
narcotics marketed as bath salts.

Kathi Moore, a guidance counselor advising the group, said marijuana 
was chosen as the group's focus because it's seen as a gateway to 
other drug use.

At the beginning of the program, WVNYLI member Casey Johnson said 41 
percent of 420 students surveyed by the group said they had used marijuana.

Johnson asked his audience of peers why they thought marijuana use 
was at that level. They responded that it was relatively accessible, 
some think it's "cool," some are influence by peer pressure and some 
use it out of boredom or to feel better.

"There's many things that can make you feel better. It shouldn't be a 
drug," said Rachel Richard, a member of the group.

At several points in the program, the group received jeers from some 
of their audience.

But members of the group said they weren't discouraged, and plan to 
present a similar program to pupils at Wellsburg and Follansbee 
middle schools next week.

"I think that's most important because that's where it starts, and 
they are the next generation," said Jamie Albert, another member of the group.

Jim Piccirillo, president of the Brooke County Board of Education, 
attended one of the programs and said, "It was very moving, and the 
best part of it was it was student-driven."

Piccirillo said the Brooke County school district has a no-tolerance 
policy toward illegal drugs on school grounds and a large number of 
expulsions approved by the board in recent months have involved that.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom