Life is a series of choices. On Tuesday morning, members of the junior and senior classes at Smith-Cotton High School learned how important those choices are and how they can impact their lives and the lives of others.
In remarks given by Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond, Capt. Kit Bartlett, Commander of the Mid-Missouri Drug Task Force, and Wayne Williams, whose daughter Jessica died from a heroin overdose last spring, students were given a variety of perspectives on the harm of drug use.
“I believe our students were very receptive to Congresswoman Hartzler’s message of the importance of staying drug free,” said S-C Assistant Principal Joseph Doyle. “We also appreciate our other speakers who each brought unique perspective to the issues and I feel their individual experiences on the topic resonated with our students.”
Hartzler reached out to the Sedalia School District 200 asking if she could speak to the student body during the Congressional Spring Break.
“Let today be the day that we end destructive behaviors,” Hartzler urged the students. “Choose to live positively for yourself and for others.
“I challenge you to be the generation not to turn to substance abuse because we need each one of you,” Hartzler added. “All of you have potential and I urge you to live your life to the fullest.”
Prior to seeking political office, Hartzler was a teacher and the co-director of a program for at risk teens.
Hartzler is also a parent and before her remarks to the students, she spoke to the Democrat about her passion for reaching out to students.
“As a former teacher and a mother I have a real heart for our youth,” Hartzler said. “I have a passionate desire to help them because they are our future.
“I want to issue the students a challenge to be the generation that rises up and chooses to be drug free,” Hartzler added. “I am hopeful that they will answer the call and that our community, state and nation will be better for it.”
The challenge to students was one echoed by Williams, a Sedalia resident whose daughter’s death is something he and his family live with each day.
“Jessica died early in the spring of 2016, alone in her bed with a needle by her arm,” Williams told a quiet audience. “She became a victim of the war on drugs.”
Williams stated that each year 50,000 individuals die of opiate use.
“It’s a soulless number until it happens to someone you love, and then it becomes all too real,” Williams explained. “No one starts out to be a drug addict.
“Jessica’s choice wasn’t selfish or intentional, but it just takes one choice,” he added. “Jessica made one choice to use heroin and from then she had no choices.”
Both Bond and Bartlett emphasized the destructive nature of drugs to the community.
“One of my responsibilities is to be the keeper of the jail,” Bond explained. “We have 210 beds in the jail and currently there are 160 inmates there.
“The one common denominator that most of these inmates share is drug abuse,” Bond said. “But it’s not just illegal drugs; it is prescription drugs as well, especially pain medications which can have a devastating effect on a person’s life.”
Ninety percent of crimes can be traced back to drugs, according to Bartlett.
With 17 years of experience in law enforcement, Bartlett told the students that “we have a problem here in Missouri.”
“It’s a problem we haven’t seen before because the drugs we are dealing with are stronger and more powerful than we have ever seen before,” Bartlett said. “Almost every meth addict started with marijuana but the marijuana we are seeing today is stronger and much worse than what we have dealt with.
“People will tell you if you’ve tried marijuana then you can try this, but marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to more powerful addictions,” Bartlett added.
Bartlett explained that while the number of meth labs is down the task force has doubled the number of arrests for methamphetamines.
“I see some really bad stuff that I hope you never have to see,” Bartlett commented. “’No’ is really a simple word.
“Don’t let others persuade you in to trying it,” he added. “You don’t understand how it affects the family.”
Hartzler spoke prior to the presentation of the importance of parents in helping their children by starting discussions with their children.
“Start with educating yourself,” Hartzler said. “Be a good example for your children in your own life and someone they can look up to.
“Let them know that you love them and because of that love you want to start the conversations and be there for them,” she added.
Williams’ words of love for his daughter seemed to impact the students. He told them of the times he would hold his daughter in his arms after she had taken heroin and needed someone for help.
“Your moral compass will become compromised because the drugs are that strong,” Williams said. “Each of you has a choice to make; make the right one.
“Jessica was smart, outgoing and she had plans to be an actress or a lawyer or anything she wished she could do,” Williams said, his voice breaking with the love of a father. “She loved life and she was loved.”
