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Substance Abuse Forum at F-M High Aims to Empower and Inform Parents, Students

Davis Hovey
/
WAER News

Recovering addicts.  

A parent who lost a child to substance abuse.  

Onondaga County’s health commissioner.  

Drug counselors.  

Federal prosecutors.

 

  All will be on hand Wednesday evening for a substance abuse forum organized by three east side school districts.  It could be the first of many discussions on a growing epidemic.

Fayetteville-Manlius High School Principal Ray Kilmer says they’re hoping to engage and empower the community on all types of substance abuse.

"Whether its alcohol dependency, use of marijuana, to what we're seeing most in the news around the nation, which is heroin and fentanyl.   Those are incredibly scary substances, and we're seeing deaths and increasing crime rates across the country."

Kilmer says he reached out to principals at East Syracuse-Minoa and Jamesville DeWitt High Schools about six weeks ago, and they were able to pull together a number of experts.

"I don't want to characterize whether we have more or less of a problem than anyone else.  We see substance abuse on the east side just like school communities see in Central New York and across the nation.  We absolutely want to try and continue this dialogue on a broader scale."

Credit fmschools.org

Kilmer says the forum will most certainly address the emerging trends in abuse…from opiates and synthetic drugs to vaping and dabbing.

"If they learn just one thing new; if we dispel one myth; if we empower one person to get help or reach out, the it's all worthwhile.  And we hope this is just the first of many collaborative opportunities for our districts."

Wednesday evening's forum begins with an expo at 6:00 in the Fayetteville-Manlius High Schoolauditorium.  Presentations follow at 6:45, and break-out sessions begin at 7:45.  The event is free and open to everyone.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.