Stephanie Siete from Community Education, a Drug Detox and Prevention Center, paid Desert Vista a visit to teach students about drugs on Thursday, January 26th.

“60 percent of the time someone in the United States dies from drugs, it’s because of a prescription drug overdose,” said Siete, “One out of every four people who are prescribed pain meds are addicts.”

Despite all of the illegal and dangerous drugs out there, 60 percent is an overwhelming number for a prescription drug overdose, drugs which doctors give you in order to help you. Doctors prescribe doses that are too large, which can lead to an addiction to pills.

“The average age in the US to start using drugs is 12 and a half,” said Siete, “And the number one reason that teens turn to drugs is boredom.”

Siete stressed how important it is for teens to find something that they are passionate about to keep them busy, like sports or the arts. If teens do not have anything to do, they turn to drugs to keep them occupied.

“The assembly was really eye-opening,” freshman Daniel Anderson said, “It’s crazy to think how much damage something so small can do to your body.”

Stephanie Siete definitely got through to students about how damaging drugs are and can be. She said that her intentions were not to scare us, but only to make us aware, and indeed she did. She showed us lots of statistics to prove her points.

“More people in the United States die from drugs than car crashes.”