OFFICER GIVES TEEN-AGERS CHOICE: DO DRUGS OR LIVE

Mike Reese does more than tell teens about the dangers of alcohol and
drugs. He shows them.

Not a student stirred for more than an hour Wednesday as juniors and
seniors from Wilson and Central high schools watched Reese's
multimedia presentation.

An agent with the narcotics division of the Alabama Beverage Control
board in Gadsden, Reese travels the state as part of Operation Save
Teens. He spoke Wednesday at Wilson High School and Cloverdale Junior
High.

His information was pointed. It was factual. It was taken from actual
drug and alcohol overdose cases in Alabama.

The program has become a personal mission for Reese, who said he
started the project for the sake of his own three children. Soon, he
found himself taking the message all over the state.

It's the story of teens who made bad choices. Most of them ended up dead.

"I guarantee you if these kids were alive today, they'd tell you they
would never have taken the first Oxycontin pill. Ecstasy or
methamphetamine would never have been considered," Reese said.

He also talked to students about the drug GHB, commonly referred to
as G and used often by the perpetrators of date rape. When used in
combination with other drugs, Gama Butyl Lactone can be deadly.

Reese showed a home video of a teen-aged girl on vacation at the
beach with no adult chaperones.

The tape shows the girl telling her videographer about her night's
plans to get high on G to celebrate her last night to party.

She didn't know her words would be so prophetic.

Her friends also were taking drugs, and one simply kept filming while
the girl slipped into a coma. The film picks up voices of teens in
the background laughing and partying around a dying girl.

They even filmed her death rattle as her mouth began to foam.

"These were her friends, people," said Reese. "This is how your
friends act when you all get high together. This is how much they
care about you."

Reese told the students that the world has always forced kids to make choices.

"Unfortunately, today's choice has to be about living or dying,"
Reese said. "This year I've worked eight drug-related student deaths.
I also have to talk to these kids' parents. They always show me
pictures of their child very much alive, but I'm seeing them dead."

He warned the students that there is no way to know what dosage or
combination of drugs could kill you. He said it varies from person to
person and drug to drug.

"Even what you ate the night before and how much rest you got are
factors in how you will react to a drug," he said.

He told about a concert in Birmingham last weekend when one teen-ager
died from a drug overdose at a Widespread Panic concert. Another teen
died after the concert when she hung herself while high on drugs.

Reese also spoke from personal experience. He told the students about
his brother, a methamphetamine addict. He said his brother has been
in and out of rehabilitation programs.

"He's 44 years old, and he's an addict. I've arrested him myself."
Reese said. "Today while I'm here, he's back in Calhoun County
probably doing meth."

The students also saw footage of a heroin overdose survivor. Once a
vibrant, handsome high school student, he is now confined to a
wheelchair and is having to re-learn how to talk.

Central High School senior Misty White said she wishes all area high
schools could see the presentation.

"It really got to me," she said. "I have an uncle who overdosed and
died about three years ago, and I know the pain drugs and alcohol
causes in a family."

Killen resident Denny Kimbrel can identify with the pain families
suffer because of drugs. His 31-year-old son, Darryl, was killed
while driving on Cox Creek Parkway in 1999 by a man who was later
convicted of murder because he was driving under the influence of
alcohol and drugs.

"I can tell you young people, your parents will never get over losing
you," he said.

The public is invited to a similar, full-scale presentation Monday,
May 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Deshler High School auditorium.

WANT TO GO?

- - What: Operation Save Teens community presentation

- - When: 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 20

- - Where: Deshler High School auditorium, Tuscumbia

- - Presented by: Narcotics division of the Alabama Beverage Control board