Published: October 22, 2008 08:29 am      

Some 400 students expected for drug seminar

The Northwest Center for Behavioral Health (NCBH) and the Area Prevention Resource Center (APRC) are expecting “a good turnout” for their 14th annual High School Drug Seminar set for Friday.

“We are at capacity,” Director of Prevention Services Amber Ham said. “We had a limit of about 400 students and we filled that.”

Those 400 or so students are coming from 14 area high schools, she said, noting that some schools from both near, Fort Supply and Mooreland, and far, Guymon and Goodwell, are attending.

During the drug seminar, which will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at NCBH’s William Blyth Therapy Center in Fort Supply, the students will be exposed to a variety of different perspectives on drug abuse, Ham said.

For example, she said the students will get to see all sides of an alcohol related accident as part of a presentation by the Victims’ Impact Panel of Oklahoma (VIP).

The impact panel is comprised of a drunk driving offender, a law enforcement officer and someone who has been the victim, either directly or indirectly, of a drunk driving accident, Ham said. Each panel member will then share the experiences they took away from their accidents based on their different roles in the accident, she said.

“We’ve been doing the panel for a while,” she said. “And we’ve had a good response from it, especially when there is a young person on the panel.”

Besides the VIP presentation, Ham noted that two clients of NCBH’s Lighthouse Substance Abuse Program will give speeches discussing their struggles with addiction.

These speeches are a time for the Lighthouse clients to do something positive by trying “to encourage (other young people) not to take the same path,” she said, noting that it has quite an impact on some of the students in the audience.

“A lot of the clients look just like they do,” Ham said, noting that this can help teens realize “hey, that could be me if I keep on the track I’m on.”

Also during the seminar, Ham said that she will present facts about Oklahoma’s alcohol laws.

“A lot of kids don’t realize what penalties there are for things they don’t even think have penalties,” she said.

For instance, she noted that a lot of students seem to think they have the right to refuse a breathalyzer test and nothing will happen to them. However, she said the truth is “if they refuse the breathalyzer, they can have their license taken away for a year or until they’re 21.”

In addition to all these informative presentations, Ham said she will present “a call to action to do something about the issues” by informing the students about the “2 Much 2 Lose” (2M2L) student coalition program against alcohol and tobacco abuse.

This call to action will also extend to the numerous community leaders who have also been invited to attend the drug seminar, Ham said, noting that it is only by working together with others in the community that the 2M2L program can be effective.

All in all the drug seminar is designed to act as “a reality check” for high school students who “sometimes think they’re invincible,” Ham said, noting that the seminar is a good substance abuse awareness and prevention tool for the community.

Because while “intervention is good” to help those who already struggle with alcohol and substance abuse, “it’s even better to stop it before it starts,” she said.