A Drug Awareness Event for parents, grandparents and guardians will be held at the Montgomery County Courthouse on July, 19 beginning at 6 p.m. This event is for adults only.
According to local organizers, Sharon Kent and Melissa Acy, the event promotes drug awareness in the home and community and includes a special mock teen bedroom. NARCAN training and distribution to families will be available to help stop Opioid overdoses.
Groups and drug rehabilitation facilities, such as Stand UP MS, Narcotics Anonymous, NAR-ANON Family Group, Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Life Help, Stone Water Recovery, Addiction Centers of America, Celebrate Recovery, Families First, the Winona Police Department, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Someone’s Child, Wings of Hope, One-Eighty Program, will have tables set up with literature and staff on hand to answer questions.
The Winona Police Department table will have drug identification information for parents and drug simulation tools to experience hands-on effects of narcotics. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department table will have a collection box for parents to safely and securely drop off unused or expired prescription medications, to prevent that medication falling into the wrong hands.
Educating parents on what to look for is a very important element in combating drug addiction, and Kent and Acy have created a Mock Teen Bedroom to do just that. The first of its kind in North Mississippi open to the public, the purpose of The Hiding in Plain Sight Mock Room is to illustrate what can be hiding in plain sight inside a child’s room.
Unfortunately, technology makes it easier to access and purchase items designed to hide items in plain sight.
The set will be open from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. during the event. Visitors will have an opportunity to identify over 50 concealed items that could indicate possible drug use in their homes.
"People and kids are getting smart enough to hide things in plain sight,” Kent said. “So you won’t even look for them, even though they’re right there. Kids are now hiding drugs inside everyday items. What looks like air freshener or even a battery might be a warning sign.”
Melissa Acy said "At first, I was the parent that didn’t want to go through the room. I was scared of what I was going to find. And then if I found something -- then I’d have to do something about it. And back then, I didn’t know where to go," she said. “And when I did eventually go for help, local law enforcement and others didn’t know what to tell me to do. The epidemic was just starting here, and there wasn’t much information available to families on what to do. I don’t want anyone to be in the position our family found themselves in years ago, I want them to have the information and tools they need to help their families.”
Speakers will begin at 7 p.m. inside the Montgomery County Courtroom. There will be speakers from different walks of life who will share stories of addiction and recovery, and a parent will share her tragic story of the loss of her college-age son to overdose.
Director John Dowdy of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics will speak about the drug epidemic and what we can do to help combat it. Elizabeth Fike, communications director of an adolescent treatment center will speak about the damage that drug use in adolescence does to the brain.
After the speakers, there will be an Expert Panel question and answer session with written questions taken from the audience. Pastor Mark Williamson of Winona Baptist Church will moderate the session.
The expert panel will include Youth Court Judge and Family Master Tarik Johnson; Licensed Master Social Worker Ann Rodio from the MSDMH Bureau of Alcohol & Drug Services; Angela Mallette, Outreach Coordinator for Stand Up Mississippi; John Dowdy, Director of the MBN; Licensed Social Worker Deanna Woods; and Elizabeth Fike, Communications Director for an adolescent treatment center.
All parents, grandparents, guardians and adult community members are urged to attend this important, free community event.
