Members of the Pathways Youth Coalition are starting figure out their roles within the organization.
The Duncan Middle School’s coalition met Sept. 9, where they continued to discuss ways to expand their reach in order to achieve the goal of taking down drugs and tobacco usage. Since the first meeting, which took place Aug. 28, more DMS eighth-graders have joined.
The group is a team-up between Duncan Middle School students and the Wichita Mountain Prevention Network, who previously collaborated with the DMS Student Council for last year’s Red Ribbon Week.
“I think we should bring people who have the air machines in their necks and bring them to schools to show the kids what drugs do to you and show them how this could be you if you use drugs,” Pathways Youth Coalition member D’Montre Petties said. “My cousin’s friend did vape one time. She offered it to me, and I grabbed it and broke it and after that she never vaped again.”
Petties wasn’t the only want who discussed the idea of bringing the reality of drugs and the horrors of the consequences to the school. Other coalition members also talked about sharing experiences they had with drugs.
Bradley Lada, another coalition member, talked about his experience with mis-prescribed medical drugs that wreaked havoc on his body as a kid.
“When I was younger, I went to the doctor because I was sick,” Lada said. “The doctor kept giving me too much of the drugs, which messed up my immune system and made me even more sick. Then I had to go back and get more drugs, which made me even more sick.
“I think they should check doctors and see there resume so that what happened to me doesn’t happen to other people.”
Ultimately, the Pathways Youth Coalition members would like to go around the City of Duncan and visit elementary schools, where they hope to show the younger students what they can do to avoid drugs and to stop drug use.
As new students join the coalition, plans continue to encourage students to say no to to drugs and to fight back on them.
Meetings for the Pathways Youth Coalition take place during eighth-grade lunch every second Tuesday each month.
