One in five teens has abused prescription drugs, often beginning at age 13, “a number that shocks many people,” said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.
In response, he said law enforcement and volunteers are collaborating to run a school-based drug abuse prevention education program called Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education (NOPE). Hogan said the nonprofit program, which has already started in the West Chester School District, delivers personal, high-impact presentations to middle and high school students and their parents.
“The main overdose threats are heroin and prescription drugs,” said Hogan in a press release. “NOPE gives us a tool to help educate students and parents. The goal of NOPE is simple: to save lives.”
In NOPE presentations, a health care professional describes the interaction of drugs on the developing brain. Then a police officer details the grim task of witnessing overdoses and making death notifications to distraught families. Finally, family members who have suffered the loss of a child to a drug overdose describe the death of their children.
Hogan said a separate program for parents and the community takes place after the programs for students in each school district. NOPE’s next event for parents and community members in the West Chester School District is Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. at West Chester East High School, 450 Ellis Lane, West Chester.
Future presentations are planned for the Great Valley, Unionville-Chadds Ford, and Twin Valley School Districts. NOPE is communicating with the following school districts to schedule presentations: Tredyffrin/Easttown, Avon Grove, Owen J. Roberts, Coatesville, and the Chester County Intermediate Unit Technical College High School, the release said.
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