Lehigh Carbon Community College has initiated a new program called the Drug Awareness Academy. A four-week course that focuses on the use of the illicit drugs, the program teaches and raises awareness about the heroin epidemic occurring in Lehigh County. The sessions will convey messages of family and individual impact, how addiction works, enforcement agencies that handle those with addiction, and available treatment options.

“The goal of this program is to provide an information sharing network where people with specific knowledge about this issue, such as Dr. Nicholas Slenker, an orthopedic surgeon, and [Lehigh County District Attorney] Bethany Zampogna can share that with the public,” Drug Awareness Academy organizer Sergeant Kevin Smith said. “Hopefully the attendees at this event can share that information with a friend or neighbor and the dangers of heroin and opioid can get to those that are most susceptible. This Academy [is] the first of its kind in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as the Pennsylvania State Police attempts to increase our role in educating the community in addition to our law enforcement component.”

Though heroin use has been a recurring issue within the Lehigh Valley for years, many people are just now realizing the true magnitude of the situation. In a Morning Call and Muhlenberg College poll conducted in mid-2016 among 411 adults, 71 percent said that heroin is very much an issue in the area, while only 2 percent said it is not a problem at all. According to the Lehigh County Coroner Office, in 2015, 17 percent of deaths in the area were caused by opioids, including heroin.

“Heroin has been an issue for years. The accessibility is so easy. Heroin is a progressive drug,” school resource officer Mr. Brian McLaughlin said. “Students start with prescription medications, then misuse and become addicted. They use them because they’re cleaned and prescribed, there is no unknown.”

Even at Southern Lehigh, there have been instances of drug misuse by students. Though a large part of the issues at the high school are not heroin related, there are cases of illegal substances being abused. Studies by the National Institute on Drug Abuse show that gateway drugs can lead to harder drugs such as heroin.

“I don’t just say this as a cop but as a person, when everyone thinks of serious drugs it’s heroin or meth, but it could be anything,” Officer McLaughlin said. “It’s about the addictive personality.”

Smith hopes to bring the Drug Awareness Academy to high schools around the area to warn teens of the dangers and consequences of drug abuse. The program’s goals are closely related to those Southern Lehigh’s chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). The purpose of the school club is to promote healthy decisions such as a drug-free lifestyle.

“I think that our school demographic could benefit from the program’s topics,” SADD president senior Nina Tittensor said, “because it’s becoming easier to buy drugs and it’s a rising issue that should be taught to the students.”