Families take in the reality of drug trends
ADAMS TWP — With drug trends quickly shifting, Reality Tour, a drug prevention program based in Butler County, highlights the importance of conversations between parents and their children.
About 26 registrants, largely from Mars Area School District, attended the program on Thursday, according to Reality Tour executive director Norma Norris.
Crystal Ranson, a Mars resident and mother of an 11-year-old girl in the district, said the variety and access of illicit substances have grown since the time she was her daughter’s age.
“Kids are also exposed to so many more stressors that tempt them to self-medicate,” she said.
Matthew Brockway, of Gibsonia, attended the event with his children. He was most concerned about the access of drugs and social media, which glorifies drug use.
He said he hoped the program would help parents recognize the implications of addiction within the family.
The Reality Tour included exercises; a presentation on peer pressure, coping skills and drug trends; and a question-and-answer session with a recovery speaker and Detective Michael Bailey of the Adams Township Police Department.
The event was punctuated by four interactive scenes featuring a fictionalized female character battling substance use disorder. The scenes, dramatized by actors, began by showing the mock arrest of an 18-year-old girl as the presenter, Tara Maziarz-Myers, introduced the program.
Children and parents were then guided upstairs, where they saw Dewald, a Mars Area High School student, shaking in a holding cell, then lying in a hospital bed as a hospital worker attempts to revive her after an overdose. An actor playing the character’s mother rushes to the hospital bed after she is pronounced dead.
The dramatized exhibit ended with families participating in the character’s funeral visitation. A mirror, reflecting each child, was placed in the open coffin.
Following the dramatic scenes, children and parents were guided back downstairs for a second presentation about drug trends, brain development and peer pressure.
Maziarz-Myers spoke on the dangers of xylazine — a powerful non-opioid sedative — and vaping, before opening the floor to a recovery speaker and a question-and-answer session between families and law enforcement.
“Back when heroin started to impact the county in 2003, I was looking for a way to research the problem,” Norris said.
Norris said one of the ways to improve outcomes for addiction recovery and prevent substance use is to promote dialogue between parents and their children.
When educated, parents can be powerful prevention tools, she said.
The next Reality Tour dates in Butler County are Oct. 19 at Hope Lutheran Church in Cranberry Township and Oct. 30 at North Main Street Church of God.
