Feb 1, 2016 3 min read

The “game has changed” with an increase in heroin and prescription drug abuse, so educators are trying to find new ways to reach out to young people to get them to see the dangers of addiction.

Philip Little, an education and outreach specialist with the state Attorney General’s office in Pittsburgh, will visit all five school districts in Greene County this month to speak to students about those dangers and how to make good decisions to avoid becoming part of the drug epidemic.

“Even when I grew up, it was that ‘drugs are bad’ speech. We’re not focusing on the drugs. It’s the decision making,” Little said. “It’s so different now because the game has changed. Heroin and prescription drugs weren’t running rampant. The stakes are so much higher because of the drugs that are out there.”

Little will use a variety of examples during his presentations, showing students drug overdose statistics and illustrating one boy’s addiction that derailed his life. But he will also explain the danger lurking in each home’s medicine cabinet with prescription drugs that often can be a gateway to cheaper drugs, such as heroin.

“We associate heroin as being a dark and dirty drug, which we should,” Little said. “But (prescription) drugs, when they’re abused, can be just as damaging.”

The presentations will target middle school-aged children. Little will be at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School on Thursday morning before speaking at the West Greene Middle-Senior High School that afternoon.

He will speak Friday at Carmichaels Area. There will also be presentations at Mapletown and Jefferson-Morgan later this month.

State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, who is a member of a state task force tackling the opioid epidemic, said the key to the discussions will be explaining how poor choices now can have lifelong ramifications.

“I’m a firm believe that the younger we can get to them, the better,” Snyder said. “If we can put those (dangers) in their minds, we need to because it’s ruining lives. Once they’re hooked, they’ll have to fight those demons for the rest of their lives.

Snyder invited Little to give the presentations following similar seminars in several schools in Washington County. She said there are no easy answers to battle the drug abuse issue, but that these presentations are a good way to have a conversation with young people.

“I don’t know the answer. How do you stop it?” Snyder said. “Hopefully you get through to kids so they make the right choices.”

Little said it’s impossible to gauge how effective his speeches are, but that one indicator is the response from educators who routinely invite him back for more discussions on other topics. He can also see when he’s connecting with children in the audience.

“You can tell, especially with the middle school kids, when they get the uncomfortable giggle. They have that awkward giggle and I can tell they’re getting it,” Little said. “It’s been successful.”