Eye on Health: Kids & Drugs - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Eye on Health: Kids & Drugs

Getting a strong message to teenagers about the dangers of drugs and alcohol is the purpose of  the "Be Amazed Teen Maze, that travels between area schools.  
In this week's Eye on Health, Carla Burbidge tells us how this maze teaches students the consequences of bad choices.  

Among the purple curtains set up here at Minot's Central Campus, students discover how alcohol and drugs can mess up your life.   
(Noah Bosh, MHS Sophomore) "I am a senior in high school and I caught with meth in my locker."
In the scenario presented to Noah and his friend Jake, meth in the locker,  
means they have to navigate the maze,  from one agency to another.  
At the Bureau of Criminal Investigation they learn exactly what will happen to them.
"You will be tried as adults"
From there they are told about the realities at the North Dakota State Pen, what they will wear and what life will be like.   
They may end up needing social services to help them adjust back to life once again.
They may even end up needing the Minot Area Homeless program.  
(no one wants to hire a felon)
(Jake, MHS Sophomore) "The things this can lead to one thing to another just from a bad choice."
(Shelly Bohl Family Crisis Center Bottineau) "Kids don't want you preaching to them, this is a good way to tell them about it."
The teen maze is just one of the ways the drug and alcohol message is getting out to the teens.  
In the auditorium, E-R staff from Trinity present graphic real-life images of situations in Minot called "This could never happen to me."
(Dr. Jeffrey Sather, Trinity E. R.) "This could happen to them, if we can save one child, we have met our goal"
Dr. Sather says meth has always been a problem, but these days they see patients that have been using a variety of dangerous drugs.
(Dr. Jeffrey Sather, Trinity E. R.) "Scary new substances, they are easy to buy or get on the Internet."
Dr. Sather says the photos often bring gasps and other reactions from the teens.
Between the presentation and the maze, hopefully students will be the strong message of the deviating impacts of bad choices.  
For Eye on Health I'm Carla Burbidge