TEACHING teens about the dangers of drug use can be tough but a group of Comet Bay College students are making progress in a State-wide campaign.
The Students Advising Youth (SAY) Project encourages high school students to help educate their peers about community safety issues and Comet Bay students took part in last year’s initial roll-out.
The project involves researching the dangers of drugs and producing a short (90-second to 105-second) film about making their community “drug free and drug aware”.
Last year Acting Sergeant Tam McKeown started SAY to encourage teens to deliver messages about key safety issues such as illegal drugs, alcohol abuse and road safety.
Last year’s winner was year 11 student Adam Smith, who used the story of an older brother dying from a drug overdose to demonstrate how drugs can affect families.
“My film was about the damage drugs can have on families and I aimed to look at the emotional side of the issue,” he said.
“When adults lecture us we can tune out but our friends have more influence than we think so having teens make films and say ‘don’t do drugs’ is an effective method.”
The students worked before and after school to complete their films and student Alexis Good said “everyone pitched in” to get things done.
Comet Bay principal Jamie Hayres said he was impressed at the high quality of work the students produced last year.
“This project has allowed Comet Bay students to really showcase their talents and provides an opportunity for young people to have a positive influence on their peers,” he said.
Superintendent Stuart Bartels said the 2013 winning video was topical and went right to the heart of the nation’s war on drugs.
“Adults on talk-back radio have no idea what to do about Australia’s drug ‘pandemic’ but the answers are right here,” he said.
“This project is about trying to help people before they become drug addicted.”
Perth father Rod Bridge has become an advocate for awareness about synthetic drugs after the tragic death of his son Preston in February 2013.
Preston had been at a party after his school ball when he and four friends took synthetic LSD and Preston died the next morning after jumping from a balcony.
“My role is really about education – synthetic drugs have become prevalent in the community due to their low price,” Mr Bridge said.
“The images of Preston in hospital and the images of his life have really created awareness about the dangers of synthetic drugs.
“They’re made with all sorts of chemicals – people don’t know what they’re ingesting.
“I don’t want to see anybody suffer like our family did.”
Mr Bridge said he thought the SAY project was amazing and really helped students to learn.
“It’s really thinking outside of the square and it’s a great idea to have students research the effects of drugs themselves and tell their peers.
Mr Bridge said his advice to other parents looking to talk to their children about drugs would be to “start with the research”.
“People have to talk about this and parents should research, study the information and talk to their kids about it,” he said.
“Don’t just leave it as a closed book – it’s also about teaching your kids to take care of one another.
“When I speak to teens I use the slogan ‘look after your wingman’.”
The creator of this year’s top film set to win a $1000 cash prize and an all-expenses paid trip to Canberra to attend Parliament and present their film to a Government representative.
The project is open to all Western Australian teens and is supported by local Lions Clubs and Murdoch University.
For more information about the project and to watch the 2013 finalist films go to http://www.police.wa.gov.au/Aboutus/News/StudentsAdvisingYouth/tabid/2030/Default.aspx
