FAIRMONT, W.Va. — In West Virginia, the story of friends and family members falling victim to drug addiction is all too familiar.
At Fairmont State University, The Northern District of West Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with middle and high school students to try and change the trend.
The Youth Summit, organized by the attorney’s office, allowed Northern District students to give their thoughts on how teen drug use and addiction could be combated.
U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld, who hosted the Youth Summit, described the event as a great success.
“I thought it was great. This was, this is the highlight of the week.”
The Summit was a part of the district attorney’s office program to spread the word of drug prevention during National Heroin and Opioid Awareness Week.
Ihlenfeld described what it took to bring the whole event together.
“We knew we wanted to focus on young people. We knew we wanted to focus on a prevention message, and we thought about trying to bring in young people and hear what they had to say.
Students who participated in the event also gave good feedback as they made presentations suggesting new ways to approach teen drug use. This included the use of social media as a tool to connect and to prevent.
Brooke High School Senior Maria Lombardi explained why connectivity seemed to be the common response.
“We’re trying to connect West Virginia as a whole together, you know try to connect us all, like we’re all several counties but at the end of the day we’re all West Virginia.”
Another response that was recognized by Ihlenfeld was the need to not “overdo it” when it comes to the message of prevention, especially on social media.
“It’s easy to unfollow someone or to block them on social media, so you don’t want to get to the point where the information is over saturating them. So, it’s finding the right balance and that was something they expressed to us.”
Even though the event is considered a success, Ihlenfeld was sure to emphasize that when it comes to teen drug prevention, there are many layers that need to be attacked.
“What we’re going to do now is take some of the ideas that students gave to us and help them implement those ideas.”
The Northern District of West Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to spread prevention through the rest of National Heroin and Opioid Awareness Week.