Great things often are the product of an experiment, and that can be said of the anti-drug Reality Tour that began in Butler in 2003 and which could become the model for drug-abuse prevention across Pennsylvania and maybe even the nation.

Since its beginning as an attempt to try to thwart the alarming growth of drug abuse that had been afflicting this county, the tour has been used in 14 Pennsylvania counties, and new tours are set to begin next month in Cleveland.

The first program was held at the Butler YWCA, and, in addition to tours continuing at the "Y," tours also are held at Slippery Rock University and the Mars Home for Youth.

Meanwhile, the tour has teamed up with the South Butler School District, and there are hopes of teaming up with a school district in northern Butler County, in an attempt to reach more youths.

School officials across the county should give serious consideration to such a partnership, considering the eye-opening impact that the tour produces for virtually everyone who has the opportunity to witness it.

With the help of law enforcement, the three-hour program simulates the darkest hours of heroin use —ending in tears at a funeral home.

The tours show, rather than tell, the pitfalls of using drugs, and they emphasize the fact that anyone can become addicted to drugs.

For an experiment to be successful, it must have a foundation of determination and commitment — and that means involvement by people. In regard to the reality tour, determination and commitment have come by way of Norma Norris, who has created a nonprofit organization — CANDLE, Inc. — to develop and promote the tour, and Pat Cannon, Butler County's Drug Task Force coordinator, who participated in the first 30 Reality Tours.

They became adept at imparting the anti-drug message in a way that cannot be shrugged off as insignificant.

According to Cannon, the question-and-answer session with young, recovering addicts that is part of the tour shows how drugs end up putting the users on a path to destruction.

An article in the April 1 Butler Eagle dealing with the success of the tours quoted Cannon about what he described as the powerful message the recovering addicts deliver. People young and older alike should make time to hear that message, whether or not they have any inclination regarding use of illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, the tour is a sobering experience for parents who deal with anxieties about the prospect of their children possibly someday becoming a drug user. Witnessing the tour has the tendency to make parents more committed to the necessity of watching for signs of drug use by their children.

The tours deliver the message that if parents choose not to embrace such a commitment, they too could someday experience tears at a funeral home, if drugs claim someone close to them.

Norris, who hosted the first Reality Tour and who has left her 21-year radio career to devote her energies to the tour full time, said that, prior to the start of the tours, there was evidence of disbelief among children and teenagers in the community regarding the dangers of experimenting with illegal drugs.

What she was saying was that young people believed they were strong enough to avoid becoming hooked if they chose to use an illegal substance just once or twice.

Unfortunately, some still do.

Before the birth of the tour, the prevention messages of other programs were not having their desired results because they weren't delivering the anti-drug message in a powerful-enough way.

Commendably, that can't be said about the Reality Tour, an "experiment" whose potential achievements appear to be without bounds.

The farther it reaches, the more lives it will have the ability to save.