Help the Hills speaker offers lessons on drugs, alcohol

With Spring Break on the horizon, Lt. Mike Reese had a few lessons to share with Vestavia Hills students and parents.

Reese addressed students, parents and coaches at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church during a Help the Hills event on Monday, March 21, where he discussed the types of drugs and drug-related situations teens face. Students do not only encounter alcohol and marijuana anymore, Reese said. They now encounter pills, synthetic drugs and heroin in addition to alcohol and marijuana.

As he discussed the drugs and their consequences, Reese showed the audience videos and photos of teens using drugs, reacting to drugs and dying from drugs.

One video showed a teenager talking about drugs and then later laying in a “near-comatose” state, as Reese described it, and foaming at the mouth.

“I ask y’all one thing — where is the friends there? What phone did they get on to call and ask anybody to take care of this poor girl that could have easily died right there?” Reese asked.

Many other pictures, some of teenagers vomiting or sleeping in their own vomit, were also taken and posted to social media by these people’s friends, Reese said. He said those showed these people were not true “friends” because friends would have gotten help for someone in need.

If anyone is in a situation where their friend may be suffering from alcohol poisoning, Reese said the last thing they should do is sit back or encourage them to sleep it off. Even if it means getting into trouble themselves, Reese said they should get their friend help.

“You might get your butt kicked a little bit, but it’s like this — you save a life, you don’t have to live the rest of your life wondering what you could have done to help save somebody’s life,” he said. “Getting in trouble, a little bit of trouble or even a lot of trouble, do the right thing.”

Reese also discussed heroin and fentanyl, two drugs where usage is on the rise. The people affected by those drugs, he said, are not the same inner city or ignorant people who used to be associated with heroin. Instead, it’s middle class white men who are overdosing the most.

Many times, heroin or fentanyl addictions stem from a prescription addiction, Reese said, and people turn to heroin when the pills get too expensive. These days, however, heroin can be laced with fentanyl and made more potent than people expect. Drug users end up overdosing because they do not know what they are actually getting, Reese said.

Another area where consumers do not understand what they are buying or using is synthetic drugs, Reese said. While Alabama has worked to combat synthetic marijuana and other drugs such as spice, he said manufacturers are working to go around those laws.

“We have stirred a hornet’s nest in this country,” he said, “because this is a billion dollar industry.”

While the synthetics used to be available in convenience stores, he said they can now be purchased online and shipped directly to doors.

Manufacturers and companies are also working to create non-synthetic items that negatively affect users. He noted that kratom is a drug growing in popularity, and it is available for purchase on shelves right next to 5 hour energy drinks.

These products are not synthetic, Reese said. They are a plant supplement and are therefore not covered by current drug laws, but he said they are still dangerous to users. Legislators in Alabama are working to pass laws against these items, he said, noting he is glad the state is remaining a hard stance against drugs.

“I’m glad they care enough about kids to do something about it,” Reese said.

Help the Hills is organized by Leadership Vestavia Hills. For more information, visit http://leadershipvestaviahills.com/.