There is illegal drug use in our community. There are drugs in New Castle and there are drugs in the smaller towns in Henry County.
Members of the VOICE of Henry County Youth Council met Monday with New Castle Mayor Greg York to discuss some ideas for addressing the issue in local schools. The mayor declared October as Drug Awareness Month in support of the national campaign to raise drug awareness.
Reading from his official proclamation, York called for “visible, unified prevention education efforts by community members” and said that “alcohol and other drug abuse in this county has reached epidemic stages.”
Students from Blue River Valley High School and Tri High School attended York’s decree in the council chambers of New Castle City Hall.
The VOICE of Henry County is a teen element of the Henry County Abuse Reduction Intervention, Education and Support (ARIES) program through the Interlocal Community Action Program (ICAP). VOICE students represent each Henry County high school and Knightstown Intermediate School. School counselors select two students from each grade to meet once a month at Ivy Tech and discuss drug, alcohol and tobacco-related issues in schools. VOICE coordinator Melanie Wright said 40-45 students meet every month at the meetings.
The VOICE Youth Council also attend the ARIES meeting at the New Castle-Henry County Public Library on the first Tuesday of the month.
Carson Cox, a second year VOICE member from Tri High School, says the program allows students the talk about the real problems in our county and find ways to get the information to their peers. VOICE students distribute informational material and hang posters around their schools promoting living without drugs.
“Definitely it’s a really good learning experience,” said Tri senior and fourth-year VOICE member Corbin Pew. “I’ve seen a lot of positive effects.”
Pew specifically mentioned the reaction he saw in fellow South Henry students after last week’s presentation from People Against Impaired Driving (P. A. I. D.) speaker Larry Higgins. Higgins shared his story with Tri High students about losing his son to a drunk driver.
“You can definitely tell it’s impacted the kids on how silent they are. They’re just shocked of something that can happen like that,” Pew said.
“Our goal isn’t necessarily to scare kids, but it’s to show some statistics around the school,” said BRV junior Jonah Madison. “It’s been great to kind of see different ways, different methods of getting those messages across and trying to really help people and eventually hopefully save lives.”
Viking junior Mallery Sharp has been a part of VOICE for three years and said she has seen the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.
“Anything that I can do to prevent the use of it is awesome. And it’s a really fun program,” Sharp said.
York took the opportunity to ask the students for their opinions on the hot topic issue of needle exchange programs. The Henry County board of health recently voted to not pursue such a program. The consensus of the county youth was that a program that supplied clean needles to intravenous drug users wouldn’t work without some element that addressed addiction.
“I wish there was a way to stop 100 percent of this,” York said. “I appreciate the effort that you guys are putting into this, because it does make a difference and it has made a difference.”
