Community to address addiction

To the editor:

You are invited to our community conversation.

If you think that addiction is affecting our community, you need to be part of this conversation. Many of our efforts to prevent drug use have been through school assemblies and drug-free messaging. As the Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition (JCDPC), we wanted to take a more hands-on approach to tackle the temptations that our youth face daily, through manipulation that we have even experienced ourselves in our community.

The Jay County Tobacco Prevention Coalition, part of JCDPC, will be hosting its first annual TPC Community Conversation Friday, Feb. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. This will be a virtual presentation about the marketing tactics of Big Tobacco to convince our youth to start using tobacco products and to encourage continued use. It is honestly incredibly frustrating to learn about how the placement of ads can affect how likely members of our community is to start using addictive products.

With that being said, even though we cannot meet in person, I want to have a virtual group discussion about how to address these issues as a community, for our community. I want to do that by sharing Jay County statistics. We will be showing real-life examples through pictures taken in convenience stores and gas stations in Jay County. By discussing the impact that tobacco has on the health and wellness of our youth, we believe that we will be able to not only create awareness of this prominent issue but also take action towards an addiction free future.

If you would like more information about this free virtual event, email [email protected].

Sydney Haines

Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition