A SERIES of government funded advertisements is highlighting the dangers of the methamphetamine “ice” but yesterday the confronting truth about this most addictive of drugs was presented directly to hundreds of Orange senior high school students, with the remainder to hear the message today.
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In an extraordinary response to the threat posed by ice to our community, the Rotary Club of Orange Calare, has put together a 45-minute presentation with input from groups including the police and paramedics and a former addict, in an attempt to convince school students not to be tempted to try it.
In all 1600 students in years 10-12, virtually every senior student in Orange as well as many from Blayney, will see the presentation.
Public education programs are not new to the Rotary movement, but this move to tackle an emerging drug problem that has only recently received federal government attention, shows this club’s willingness to be in the vanguard of protecting teenagers in the region.
We know from the growing number of police reports, court appearances involving ice and the federal government’s own national ice consultation that ice is seen as a threat equal to any illegal drug that has come before it.
The Calare Rotary Club became convinced the best way to combat the spread of the ice and safeguard our teenagers was to present them with a few facts and personal accounts of what ice can do. It began planning the forums well before the national awareness campaign the public is now seeing.
The result is the presentation rolled out through four sessions over two days. In the sessions students have heard firsthand accounts of what it is like to try and deal with someone affected by ice, the physical and mental effects it can have on the body and mind, and above all, how it ensnares almost everyone who dabbles in it.
Ice is cheap, increasingly accessible for teenagers in regional NSW and incredibly destructive. Ultimately the best defence can only be to equip the targets of the individuals peddling it with compelling reasons to say no.