Drug forum message moves audience

Charlotte Pernice, Editor In Chief

Last year, West Springfield High School held its first annual drug forum where speakers addressed the growing drug problem, shared their experiences, and offered advice in addiction prevention.  Many students and others from the community gathered to learn about how drugs can, and often do, ruin lives. On October 15th, this year’s forum was held, and the auditorium was filled with student athletes, coaches, teachers, and parents. This year’s presentation covered a wider range of drug related issues, including the use the of performance enhancing supplements. The presenters shared their stories of addiction, which moved many members of the audience to tears.

There were many guest speakers, all of whom were happy to share advice and stories. The forum began with an introduction by West Springfield’s mayor Ed Sullivan, and it was then carried on by officer Mark Hammond. Hammond offered a presentation that educated the audience on several different drugs that are prevalent in use among high schoolers. He not only brought up the well known narcotics, but also growing and more subtle ones such as hookah pens and e cigarettes. Detective Alissa Burke and Officer Eric Johnson added to this, and Johnson even brought his drug sniffing K-9 on stage. Kelli Quigley, an Adjustment counselor at the school, also discussed the numerous effects that using has on teens. Additionally, Steve Conca, from Conca Sport and Fitness, took the mic to speak about performance enhancing drugs and stressed the importance of knowing exactly what supplements your children are taking, and to know how much is too much.

Attendees had nothing but positive comments to say about the forum overall, and they agreed that the factor that gave it such power and resonance was the speakers. It’s one thing to see a PowerPoint Presentation on the facts and statistics on drugs, it’s another to have people who have actually been through it get on stage and recount their personal experiences. Lisa Barnes and Melissa Manzi, parents of addicts, recounted the painful experience of seeing their kids lives fall apart at the hands of drugs. They strongly cautioned the audience to not be that parent who thinks “That’ll never happen to my kid”,  and to realize that it can honestly happen to anyone. In addition to parents of addicts, addicts themselves also spoke. Barbara Gallo brought with her several incarcerated individuals who willingly told their stories. These perhaps had the most effect on the audience, “I thought that having speakers that actually went through the struggle of being an addict was very powerful and it meant a lot more to the kids, including myself, than just hearing about the statistics and facts about the drug,” said senior, Kathryn O’Brien. Senior Catie Lipscomb agreed, “I think that having people actually come and personalize the story made a big difference rather than somebody just explaining what the drug is,” as did senior Katie Roy, “I think the stories will have more of an effect on kids because they’re closer to home and will affect them emotionally.” The speakers did touch many audience members emotionally, and left a lasting impression on everyone who listened.

This year’s forum effectively got an important message across, as well as insightful information. The success of the program was reflected in student’s reactions, “I think it opened people’s eyes to the actual reality of it, and I hope it changes how people look at drugs,” mentioned Lipscomb. “I don’t know if it will actually change people who are already using, but I do think it will prevent people from starting to use after seeing everything they might go through,” added O’Brien. Officer Hammond in particular thought the presentation effectively served its purpose, “I thought it went really well. There were a lot of people there so even if it only affected a small percentage, if you think of it in a large scale, that’s still enough to make it worthwhile. We really touched upon some very sensitive issues that I think people were surprised about, but that’s good because it really got them thinking. Parents especially were very happy with it, and the students really loved the guest speakers. I think it had quite an impact on them. Overall I think it was really a great job.”