Back To School Reminder: Our Kids Are Dying

Yesterday our kids went back to school here in Berkeley County (WV). Facebook reminders told us to watch out for the school buses on the roadways. I read reminders from driving carefully because of the small children on the bus stops to reminders to stop for the flashing red school bus lights.

BUT...

No where in those reminders did I read that our kids are dying and not from school bus accidents or accidents at the bus stops. Our kids are dying from drug overdose. And at a more alarming rate!

At the end of the school year in May (2016) we had a very harsh reality of this here in Berkeley County when an All Star Football Player who had just graduated from Spring Mills High School and would be attending a college right now died suddenly from a heroin overdose.

That young man had so much potential had it not been for drugs and addiction.

This is no longer a big city problem. It's already here. In Martinsburg, WV. In Berkeley County, WV. It's in town. It's out in the rural areas of town. It is in the schools. It is around the churches. It is in the parks. It is in your backyard.

It is everywhere here and it is and will continue killing our kids until real solutions to this problem are taken seriously.

We need to talk about the real solutions.

More Awareness

Because overdose is the #1 cause of death. It will kill.

We need more Community Awareness.  Everyone not only needs to know this epidemic is here, but needs to know how they must be involved in the solution.

We need more youth awareness. Awareness in the schools, in the churches, in the groups like scouting and 4-H.

More awareness should be taught in the schools. It should be taught in PE classes and Health Classes.

Guidance Counselors need to be trained.

School intervention should be a priority.

We need more parental awareness.

We need straight talk from real people who have abused this drug and lived to tell about it with the parents and the youth here telling them straight up about heroin and this addiction. We need more real to life documentaries telling real stories. Not those made for Disney movie type with Jiminy Cricket. We need to stop worrying about stepping on toes because funerals are for real.

Our local politicians need to develop and monitor a “Strategic Public Health Awareness Campaign”.

We must make people face the reality that the prejudice and injustice is literally killing people. The data proves that.

Reminder From: Kids Are Dying
YouTube video Our Kids are Dying

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