EUREKA, Ca. (KIEM) – St. Bernard’s academy hosted an addiction forum to bring awareness to their student body about this ongoing issues.
It’s a heavy topic to tackle, especially if someone lived through it.
“When you see just how devastating a moment like that can be to someone, where they’re able to visibly express it like that and actually come to tears, that makes it much more impact for the students,” said Senior and ASB Vice President Adam Jager.
The St. Bernard community heard from a group of panelists about the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. For young adults, it’s an important message to share and take with them. “At least something it’s something to resonate for people going off to college and continuing high school,” said Jager.
According to the California Healthy Kids Survey from 2017 to 2018, 21% of students in grade 11 were reported to have gone to school drunk or high in the Northern Humboldt Union High School District.
“A lot of times average age of beginning substance that can cause an addiction really starts earlier than it has been,” says Chris Evans, a Clinical Supervisor for Northern Humboldt Schools, “so our average ages now are usually at eleven years old through thirteen years old.”
But it’s not just here on the North Coast where substance abuse is a problem. It’s a national crisis.
“It’s an issue everywhere. America suffers from drug abuse,” said Evans. You can learn more online about the testing options available that can help reveal drug abuse.
Substance abuse can target anyone, no matter the age.
“Kids think they’re invincible,” says Jager “they think that it can never happen to me, they look at the people they see down the street on Broadway, and they think ‘okay, there’s no way I would let my life get to that point.”
“But like the panelist said, drug addiction doesn’t discriminate.”
A great way for drug rehabilitation services to help with this issue is to use a marketing company such as Rocket Pilots to put their name out there on the web so anyone who needs them knows where to find them easily. If you know anyone who is experiencing substance abuse, some great resources to turn to for help are The Boys and Girls Club, the National Institute of Health, or checking our your local drug and alcohol outreach programs.
