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Date: 12/5/2018
EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Youth Safety Committee members alongside individuals within the schools sponsored an event on Nov. 29 at the High School that promotes youth safety against substance use.
The Hampden County District Attorney’s Office along with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department showed the documentary, “Just Once” to show students and parents alike that it only takes “just once” for an addiction problem to start or for a life to change in an instance.
“It hits home when you watch it. It’s all local high school students that unfortunately fell into addiction, whether its opioids from a sports injury; it showed the process of what they went through,” Birchland Park Middle School Nurse and Youth Safety Committee member Ann Haskell told Reminder Publishing. “It’s very powerful, ELCAT filmed the whole thing.”
In addition to the film, the Sheriff’s department brought guest speakers who shared their own struggles with addiction or experiences of drinking and driving “just once” that landed them in prison.
“We all sat there with goose bumps listening to their heart wrenching stories,” Haskell said. “They said they have a hole in their hearts and this helps to heal their hearts; to be able to reach out and help others.”
Both middle school and high school students were invited to the event, along with their family members and local community members.
“We’re trying to educate our students, families and community on ways to prevent addiction; the crisis that’s happening with opioid related deaths,” Haskell stated. “It’s very sad when you hear the statistics with how many people we’re losing and they start in schools, usually middle school, some even in elementary. Whether it’s tobacco, pot, the gateway drugs, or the opioids.”
Haskell notes that she tells people when they’re given a prescription for opioids to always ask for many less pills than the prescription is for.
“If they give you a script for 12, ask for two. Try to get over the counter meds before so it doesn’t lead to what these poor people go through,” she said. “Once you can’t get the opioids anymore they can turn to heroin which is so cheap.”
This is apart of an approach the town along with the Youth Safety Committee is taking to work on prevention rather than treatment. Haskell explained that it’s important to delay any form of substance use, as the brain is not fully developed until the age of 26.
“The sooner the people start with substances, no matter what it is, nicotine, alcohol, drugs, the more chances are that they’re going to have trouble later in life,” she said. “If you can wait until 26 before you would have any of those, the numbers drop drastically that you’re going to have problems as an adult.”
Haskell stated that one of the best ways to prevent this type of behavior is through family involvement. She mentioned family dinners, and that parents should be involved to help protect their kids. Five key points the Committee suggests to parents is for parents to talk early to children regarding substance abuse, make sure that the young people in their lives know that taking someone else’s medicine is dangerous and to never share it, to secure medicine, alcohol and all drugs in homes in a locked area or box and to dispose of unused medication promptly, that prevention is key, and to encourage delayed use of these substances.
“We do our best to try to figure out who is involved with what so we know how we should teach. Right now, vaping is huge, so we’re going to have our next program on vaping,” she said. “We have posters everywhere letting them [kids] know the dangers. They think it’s just vapor and nothing could harm them; they don’t know about everything that’s in them.”
Following the program, evaluations were handed out to the 100 attendees. After review, across the board the responses to the program were overwhelmingly positive. A few students did report that the program was too long, however the majority of the feedback was reported as positive.
Moving forward, the Youth Safety Committee is planning an event in February or March for vaping education. The date is to be announced.
“One night you had a couple of drinks and thought you were fine, but it can change your entire life. That’s why the movie is called Just Once. It only takes once,” she closed. “That’s why I tell my students it just takes on time. However we can educate our students, that’s our Youth Safety Committees goals.”