By Stephen Smoot
“West Virginia is doing a great job” in terms of keeping the horrors of drug abuse and addiction as part of the conversation, according to Bethany Perez, a peer recovery support specialist with Potomac Highlands Guild in Franklin.
That said, she also cautions that dangers posed by substance abuse have continued to destroy lives and families. Also, the widespread abuse of fentanyl creates potential danger even for those who never would choose to expose themselves to drugs.
Potomac Highlands Guild is joining countless service organizations, government agencies, and others across the United States to mark National Drug and Alcohol Facts week between March 18 and 24.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the week “is an annual health observance that inspires dialogue about the science of drug use and addiction among youth.” The event will “bring together scientists, students, educators, healthcare providers, and community partners” to explain the science and confront drug use among the young in communities across the nation.
One way in which Potomac Highlands Guild will mark the event is a visit by Perez to Pendleton County Middle/High School on March 20.
Perez stated that the Guild surveyed students at the school to determine what they see as the most urgent drug related issues. She stated that the survey results indicated that alcohol, vaping, and THC (the active intoxicant in marijuana and a number of recent commercial products) serve as the “three things our local community youth are doing.”
Additionally, each member of the drug abuse and addiction team at Potomac Highlands Guild took on a drug to research, lead discussions upon, and record a radio message about. Perez chose fentanyl, one of the areas most dangerous drugs that has blasted many regional communities.
She cautions all to not assume that drug problems among Pendleton County youth are limited to these. One of the hidden dangers comes from the proliferation of fentanyl.
“The amount of drugs that are cut with fentanyl are insane,” Perez said. She further explained that fentanyl is at the same time very cheap and very potent. Drug dealers, including those who sell marijuana, “cut” their product with fentanyl to increase both potency and dealer profits.
“They’re trying to say, ‘we’ve got the best drugs,” because of the enhanced potency.
With fentanyl cut drugs, Perez stated, “You have no trace of how much you are doing.” She called it the worst, because “it’s killing people left and right.”
Perez has visited the school to perform anti-drug presentations before. One took the form of a traditional assembly, where she spoke to large numbers of students in a group. She also participated in Red Ribbon Week, where she shared her testimony of years of addiction and the damage it did.
On March 20, Perez will set up in a table near the lunchroom in the middle of the day. She explained that this might give her a chance to reach children more personally by speaking to small groups or individuals.
Perez brings life experience to the role. She described herself as “an ex-addict” who recently celebrated five years of sobriety. People start using drugs to fill a void, she explained, adding that drugs help them to feel numb, escaping from whatever problems afflict them. Many of those problems originate in childhood.
“I discovered a lot about myself in rehab,” Perez shared. She said that those who fall into addiction may lack full “knowledge of what these drugs are and what these drugs are doing. They don’t understand how fast they are taking their own life.”
Perez also recorded an 80 second public service message that WELD radio will broadcast, along with others. She referred to drug use as “a deadly game of roulette that you have no chance to win.”
