A plea to inform

Drug assembly spreads substance abuse awareness

The recent shocking occurrences centered around drug abuse in Loudoun County has brought a spotlight on a not so bright topic. Loudoun has made a serious effort to spread awareness to current and modern substance abuse by teaming up with parents and authorities at the district and national levels. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office kicked off a series of Internet Safety and Synthetic/Prescription Drug Awareness assemblies this year to be held at high schools all throughout the county. Although the classes are not subject to a particular target demographic, the assembly could not have come to Sterling at a more crucial time.

 On Feb. 27th, the assembly made its way to Potomac Falls High School in an attempt to keep parents and school officials updated on startling statistics and patterns.

 “They talked about the type of drugs that are most prevalent here in Loudoun County and then they talked about synthetic drugs, what I guess is vogue right now,” said Assistant Principal Mr. Kirk Dolson. Assistant Principals Mrs. Kelly Hayes and Dolson were in attendance along with parents from Park View, Dominion, and Potomac Falls.

 “The folks who gave us the information were actual DEA agents and the Loudoun County sheriffs, so that really shows the importance of this issue when you see the type of law enforcements attempting to spread awareness,” said Hayes. The assembly focused more on awareness and providing up-to-date information.

 “What they did is they went back and looked at statistics from 2010 and 2011 and have noticed that most people are overdosing on prescription drugs such as oxycontin and oxycodone,” said Dolson.

 Like many communities, Loudoun County has had its fair share of drug abuse problems, which sparks the need to help inform both administration and guardians. Statistics presented by county officials show huge spikes in both prescription and illegal drug use.

 “We have seen an increase in overdose cases between 2012 and 2013. Of those cases, 60 percent in 2013 were attributed to prescription drugs,” said Criminal Investigation Commander Major Richard Fiano. In Loudoun County, prescription drugs along with a heroin epidemic has caused major concern among local authority officials.

 “Heroin overdose cases have doubled in the past year. We had eight overdoses in 2012 and now we have 18 overdose cases from 2013,” said Fiano.

Despite the increase in youth substance abuse, a  large chunk of ongoing drug usage in America, along with Northern Virginia, is occurring among white males 32 and under, counteracting the popular belief that substance abuse only resides among minority groups and poverty. The Bureau of Justice Statistics can back the claims made by the assembly officials as their data charts specifically show that 60 percent of drug abusers are adults older than 22.

 “This means that these people who are abusing are holding down 9-5 jobs just like everyone else and are not as easily detected, which is really alarming. It is not just high school students who are doing drugs and overdosing, it’s adults as well,” said Dolson.

 The assembly focused its attention on helping parents and school officials detect and connect with their children in order to prevent early drug usage, which can and usually does lead to hard dependence in their later years.

 “What parents need to know is that their medicine cabinets have a lot of these prescription drugs that their kids are after. Your own medicine cabinets can be a source of supply for those prescription drugs,” said Fiano. Being aware and conscious of the community and family life can give parents aid in the battle against drug addiction and overdoses, which seemed to be the major theme and motivation behind the assembly.

“They took a lot of questions from parents to help inform them and keep them alerted on problems that not too many people are aware of. I think that a lot of people take for granted that we live in Loudoun County and we are under the impression that just because it is an affluent and wealthy community that these sort of problems cannot occur. But the reality is that it does happen, and at an alarming rate,” said Dolson.