More than 2,000 children and teens have participated in the Drugs Kill Dreams Jail Experience.
Held on the second Tuesday of every other month for the last 15 years, the two-hour jail experience gives kids age 10 and up and their parents a close-up view of addiction's potential consequence. The next session will be held March 13.
Participants visit the Armstrong County Jail in Kittanning to see the booking and incarceration process firsthand.
Actors, who are volunteer medical staff from ACMH Hospital in Kittanning, portray addicts and doctors in dramatic scenes that depict the results of an overdose. An entire emergency room is recreated at the jail for the scene, complete with distraught parents.
Students and parents meet with staff and youth who personally are familiar with the dangers of drugs and addiction. A mock closed casket funeral sometimes follows.
Through the entire process, the speakers' focus is on preventing what is being shown.
It's not a “Scared-Straight!” program, said District Judge J. Gary DeComo, who runs the program with other volunteers, but it's a chance to arm teens with the knowledge they need to avoid going through anything they are shown.
“They walk away with information, and the key to this whole thing is, in my opinion, teaching these kids to refrain from an early age, but trying to teach them and their parents (about) healthy lifestyles,” he said.
DeComo said the program changes to fit the times and that whereas the classes used to focus on other drugs, now opioids take center stage.
According to DeComo, that particular problem is on everyone to help fix.
“We're the greatest county in the world, we shouldn't have an opioid epidemic here. I blame this on all of us. From the top down,” he said. “Unless we teach these kids prevention, unless we teach them healthy lifestyles, there will be something worse than fentanyl next.”
DeComo's courtroom is in Ford City, and his district includes Freeport, Manor Township and South Buffalo Township
Cindy McCrea, executive director of ARC Manor Addiction Recovery Center in Kittanning, and Armstrong County Coroner Brian Meyers serve as parent educators for the program.
McCrea said the program doesn't just aim to tell teens and parents what to do and what not to do, but the intent is to educate them to make the right choices.
“I see parents learning and kids learning so they never have to use our services,” she said. “It's about prevention. We hope they never have a problem.”
The class sizes vary from 30 to 60 participants, McCrea said, and scholarships are available for those unable to pay the $5 cost of entry.
The program is presented and sponsored by DeComo, Myers, Armstrong County District Attorney Katie Charlton, ACMH Foundation, Snyder Charitable Foundation, Rosebud Mining Company and ARC Manor.
Matthew Medsger is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4675, mmedsger@tribweb.com or via Twitter @matthew_medsger.
