Published: October 30, 2009 08:36 am      

Program focuses on drug, alcohol abuse

One of the first things 400 students saw at the 15th Annual High School Drug Seminar was a filthy bathroom.

The slide presentation depicting the bathroom bore the words, “No one thinks they will lose their virginity here.”

Presented by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), the slide show was not about sex. It was about drug and alcohol abuse and what happens when youths become addicts -- the theme that threaded throughout the seminar.

The slide show continued on to depict before and after pictures of youths who had become addicted to meth. The emaciated faces, bleeding sores, and rotted teeth made a graphic impact on the students.

"I don't want that to happen to me at all," said Braden Smith after seeing the slideshow.

The 17-year-old Fort Supply student said that after seeing "what drugs do to you," he has "learned not to do drugs."

“The most creepy thing is, you don’t know how you’ll react,” he said.

Smith was referring to a statement by Susan Underwood of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Underwood told the students allergic reactions from drugs could occur, as well as outbursts of extreme violence.

Alejandra Aguilar, 16, of Buffalo High School, said, “I’ve learned many things about drugs. If you try them you could die.”

In addition to the slide show, representatives of the Victims Impact Panel shared their stories about alcohol and how it affected their lives including David Glasscock, a pastor and emergency medical technician from Beaver.

Glasscock urged students not to drink and drive, noting that he could not count how many families he had approached to tell them a loved one had been killed in an accident involving a drunk driver.

One victim, he said, was a 29-year-old alcoholic who had just gotten out of prison for time served for her third DUI.

The day after she got out, she got drunk and wrecked her car, Glasscock said.

She was found lying in a ditch when someone stepped on her.

“She was still alive,” he said, “but her face had been peeled off. She doesn’t drink now. She suffers from severe brain damage.”

Because stories like Glasscock's "catches the kids' attention," teacher and Buffalo school counselor Jamie Waugh said programs like Thursday's drug seminar are effective.

“It brings it into reality for them,” Waugh said. “I definitely recommend continuing the program.”

Students from 14 schools throughout Northwest Oklahoma participated in the seminar, which was held in Fort Supply at the William Blyth Therapy Center and was sponsored by the Northwest Center for Behavioral Health.