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August-September 2017 Issue 38
In This Issue
Back to School
November SADD Conference
Highway Safety Memorial
Opioids
East Surry High School
West Johnston High School
Southwest High School
2017 SADD Calendar
Ideas? Questions? Concerns?
Contact
Harriett Southerland
919 807-4408
Visit NC SADD. www.ncsadd.org
Facebook: ncsadd
Twitter: @SADDNC
SADD National www.sadd.org
www.ncsadd.org
After a summer break of play, fun, part-time jobs, and no books, we’re all revved
up for a new year of excitement and discovery. In the same way we make resolu-
tions for New Year’s Day, we should resolve to create stronger, more active,
more effective SADD chapters in this new school year. Resolve to get more
members in your chapters; to get your administration involved in your activities; to
make sure your entire school knows who you are and what you’re about; to stage
projects and activities in your schools and communities that change behavior; to
practice what you preach.
Students, lead your chapters. Your advisor is there to assist and guide you. You
don’t want to burn your advisors out by depending on them to plan all your pro-
jects. Go to your advisors with your new, enthusiastic ideas for projects and activ-
ities for your chapter. Being in SADD is exciting! Be sure to show this excitement
when you talk to other students about joining SADD.
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LET YOUR SHOES MAKE A STATEMENT
We know that shoes can make a great fashion state-
ment, but they can also make a statement of a differ-
ent fashion. Remember to bring shoes you no longer
wear to the conference to be given to the NC State
University Institute for Traffic Research and Educa-
tion. We are working to amass enough shoes to cre-
ate a memorial to our loved ones who lose their lives
to traffic crashes in North Carolina each year. The
shoes don’t have to be yours, they can belong to an-
yone. If your friends, classmates, neighbors or family
members have unwanted shoes, bring them too.
There will be a collection bin for the shoes at the con-
ference. When the memorial is displayed, you’ll feel
good knowing that you helped to create it.
TEENS AND OPIOIDS
Opioids are drugs
such as Vicodin, Ox-
yContin, Demerol,
codeine and heroin.
Legal opioids are
available by pre-
scription, usually to
treat pain. Opioids,
legal and illicit, now kill more Americans than traffic
crashes or guns. According to the NC Department of
Health and Human Services, opioid-related overdose
death rates are highest among ages 25-54. Despite
the continued rise in opioid misuse and overdose
deaths among adults, misuse of prescription opioids
has continued to decline among high school stu-
dents. Over the past five years, misuse has dropped
45%; from 8.7 to 4.8 %. Heroin use also remains
very low, with past-year use reported by 0.3 % in all
grades (National Institute on Drug Abuse).
Even though the percentage of student opioid abuse
is small in comparison to overall abuse, any recrea-
tional use of opioids by youth is too much. Further-
more, 75% of people who use heroin began with the
use of legal opi-
oids. As prescrip-
tion opioids be-
come more difficult
to obtain, users are
finding heroin more
readily accessible.
Most adolescents
who misuse prescription pain relievers are given
them for free by a friend or relative. (NIDA). However,
purchasing prescription drugs online without a valid
prescription is easy in today’s internet era. There are
40,000 to 50,000 internet pharmacies that engage in
the illegal sale of drugs, and it only takes a couple of
keywords and clicks to lead vulnerable teens to these
sites. (Sovereign Health).
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A growing number of teens buy opioids illegally
through smugglers, forged prescriptions and online
pharmacies. One young person said, “It simply takes
three little clicks, and I can have a 60-day supply of
Xanax shipped to my door by the end of the week.
The best part is, I don’t need to go to a doctor for a
medical prescription. All I need is a credit card.”
Many of our chapters have included prescription drug
abuse awareness and prevention in their programs for
the past several years, often collaborating with law
enforcement and Operation Medicine Drop. We want
to continue prescription drug abuse prevention in our
projects and activities and refer the addicted to local
treatment centers.
EAST SURRY FIGHTS OPIOID ABUSE
SADD members from East Surry High
School in Pilot Mountain (Surry County)
recently participated in a International
Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) event on
the Bicentennial Mall in Raleigh. The event was spon-
sored by FED UP!, a coalition of organizations that
represent families and individuals affected by the epi-
demic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths.
A number of participants in the rally were addicts in
recovery and people who’d lost loved ones to heroin
and prescription opioids. There were parents who told
of losing their children to opioid overdose. A law en-
forcement agent was on hand to explain the im-
portance of naloxone (Narcan) when responding to an
overdose emergency. Naloxone is a drug that is ad-
ministered to reverse the depression of the central
nervous and respiratory systems caused by opioids
State Coordinator Harriett Southerland (Left), stopped by to lend support to East Surry SADD. (Left-Right): Oliva Gaskill, Chelsea Smith, Carrie Hazelwood and advisor Martha Cook in Raleigh for IOAD.
How you can help
It’s never easy to tell a friend that he or she
has a problem, but isn’t that what a friend
would do? Sometimes our friends won’t appre-
ciate advice they don’t want to hear—
especially if they're using drugs—but telling
the truth to help someone close to you is part
of being a real friend, even when it’s hard to
do. Figuring out what to do when a friend or
someone you know is having trouble with
drugs or alcohol can be tricky. You want to
help, but you might not know how to bring it
up. Here are some tips.
Listen. If they talk to you, just be there for
them. Admitting a problem—never mind talk-
ing to someone about it—is really hard. Listen
to what they have to say about their drug use
without making judgments.
Encourage. Suggest that they talk to an
adult they trust—a SADD advisor, a coach or
teacher, a school counselor, a relative, or a
doctor.
Share. Maybe your friend doesn’t see drug
use as a bad thing. But plenty of information
about what drugs can do to a person is on the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) web
site. Once your friend understands how drugs
affect their brain, body, and life, it might open
their eyes.
Inform. When there're ready to make a
change and seek treatment, help them find a
doctor, therapist, support group, or treatment
program. If you don’t know where a local treat-
ment facility is, You can use the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-
tion’s Treatment Facility Locator or call
1–800–662–HELP.
Support. Don’t give up on your friends, even
if they aren’t ready to get help. Keep reaching
out. Encourage them to get treatment, and
support them along the way. That’s the best
way to help someone you care about who is
struggling with addiction.
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East Surry SADD hosted a booth where they talked to
visitors and distributed literature about addiction.
Members Carrie Hazelwood, Oliva Gaskill, and Chel-
sea Smith also assisted organizers with setting
up and taking down the tents and booths for the
event. Advisor Martha Cook sang a beautiful rendition
of "Jealous of the Angels" as everyone in the crowd
held up a picture of someone who had lost their life
due to opioid addiction in America.
Opioid addiction is a major concern of the East Surry
SADD chapter because the members know people
who are struggling with the disorder. Advisor Cook
said that she has lost three former students to opi-
oids, attended funerals of students’ parents who died
of overdoses, and has been informed of three other
students who are currently in or were recently re-
leased from rehab for opioid and/or heroin addiction.
“I am sure there are more former and current students
going through this than I have been made aware,”
Cook said. “This epidemic has surpassed the AIDS
epidemic and has grown exponentially in Surry Coun-
ty. Last year, we lost 32 people total to overdose, and
this year we are already at 47,” she said.
Even though they were exhausted from their 12-hour
day, one student exclaimed, “This is the best field trip
I have ever been on!” Advisor Cook and the students
agreed that if one life was saved by the event, it was
worth the hard work they had done. The chapter is
planning more events this year to raise awareness in
the county’s schools and the community.
We thank East Surry SADD for their commitment to
helping young people make more positive decisions
about important issues in their lives. Go Cardinals!
WILDCATS OFF AND RUNNING
The SADD chapter at West Johnston
High School in Benson (Johnston Coun-
ty) started the year off working. They
staffed a SADD booth on Freshman Ori-
entation Day. The members greeted and talked to
incoming freshmen about SADD and the importance
of making positive decisions. They encouraged the
new students to give SADD a try.
West J SADD got the entire school involved in creat-
ing positive messages in the chapters annual Good
Decisions Poster Contest. Students submitted 59 en-
tries, and all the posters were put up around the
school to promote good decisions. The posters were
judged by the SADD Club. The top three winners re-
ceived Bojangles gift cards. Advisor Amanda Fisher
said, “There were so many good entries this year, and
we had a hard time picking the top three.”
East Surry SADD members (Center) with members of the West Stokes High School Random Acts of
Kindness Club
SAB member Landry Connors is excited to promote SADD on Freshman Orientation Day .
Senior Kim
Alexander’s car
interior took 1st
Place with a
Don’t Text and
Drive entry.
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Congratulations to these students on their achieve-
ments and their creative posters. Great job, West J!
Go Wildcats!
SOUTHWEST SADD IS SEEING DOTS
Southwest High School SADD in Jack-
sonville (Onslow County) has orga-
nized a Braille Club at their school. Ad-
visor Diane Dail reports that the idea
for the club was conceived at the 2016
State SADD Conference. “The students were asking
SADD co-advisor Rise Hatton what the braille sym-
bols meant on signs, doors, and in the elevators.”
Hatton is the lead Braillist for Onslow County Schools.
She converts textbooks, tests and other written mate-
rials into Braille for visually impaired students in ele-
mentary, middle and high schools. She also works
directly with the students to help them learn Braille.
The Braille Club currently has 22 members, most of
whom are SADD Club members. Hatton will be the
club advisor. The students will learn the basics: the
alphabet, how to write sentences, and how to read
the dots. They will also make their own Braille materi-
als and create a portfolio of their club activities. Advi-
sor Dail said, “They will add Braille to posters and fli-
ers that our SADD Club designs for upcoming activi-
ties we sponsor. We feel that learning about the visu-
ally impaired will help our members reach out to this
group of individuals who are often misunderstood and
left out of activities that other teens and children are
involved in. We are excited about this new branch of
our SADD chapter, and we look forward to seeing
what impact it will have on our students and their rela-
tionships with the visually impaired population.”
There is no limit to what empowered students can do!
Go Stallions!
KEEP ‘EM COMING
Our chapters are doing a great job of registering or
updating their registrations for the 2017-18 school
year. Thank you! We appreciate this because we
want all our chapters counted in the national num-
bers. Remember that you have to update your regis-
tration each year. If you don’t, it appears that your
chapter is no longer in operation. If nothing has
changed since you last registered, simply indicate this
on the registration update form. You can register at
http://sadd.force.com/registration. If you have any
problems registering, contact the state coordinator at
SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER!
Kermit the Frog
helped Senior
Melina Salano
win 2nd Place for
her Don’t Com-
mit Crimes entry.
Sophomore
Charity Martin’s
Don’t Drink and
Drive entry. won
3rd place.
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17-19 NC SADD Conference