The Pittsburgh Penguins will helping awareness with the ever-growing opiate epidemic we find ourselves in. Opiate abuse has skyrocketed after many physicians irresponsibly prescribed pain medication for about a decade. People were ignorant to the powerful physical addiction of these medications and ultimately fell into an addiction trap. These pills are not cheap if you do not get them through insurance. The cheaper alternative is heroin. This is a huge issue in all communities across the United States of America.
The Penguins Foundation is partnering to support the FBI on their Heroin Outreach Prevention & Education Initiative: https://t.co/GJMcIkjBer pic.twitter.com/opKcjVSR4N
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2017
Focusing on the importance of prevention education, this initiative will teach students about opioid abuse and provide an understanding of how abuse can be prevented.o kick off the new partnership with the FBI Pittsburgh and their Citizens Academy, the Penguins Foundation and EVERFI will partner to support a high school PSA (Public Service Announcement) video contest. Developed in conjunction with HOPE, the contest is designed to emphasize the dangers of heroin use, recreational fentanyl use, and prescription opioid misuse amongst teenagers.
As a health teacher I am in support of awareness campaigns. Spreading accurate information about opiates is a very good idea. Not everybody understands the power that they have. A lot of people think that because something was prescribed by a doctor then it is risk free. That is of course not true, especially so with opiates.
I like to do similar projects with my students in an effort to raise awareness. Students get to be creative while spreading a positive message. When you are active in creating the subject material you are more prone to remember it and also share with others.
Ultimately each individual has to own their choices whether that is about drugs, alcohol, and/or sexual activity. Telling somebody not to do something isn’t good enough. You have to give them the pros and cons so that they can make the best decision for themselves. Programs like the one above can be a great vehicle in spreading that information so people can make more informed choices about their personal life.
No matter what your opinion about the war on drugs is, we can all agree that awareness with accurate information can only be a positive.
Thanks for reading!