LOW MOOR, Va. (VR) – A “So, You’re 18” panel visited Alleghany High School recently to give high school juniors and seniors an introduction to the responsibilities, opportunities, and rights available to them when they leave school and embark on their own path to adulthood.
The panel, composed mostly of lawyers, addressed Alleghany High School and Covington High School juniors and seniors on April 21 in the auditorium at AHS. The joint assembly was held at Hodnett Hall of Alleghany High School, and it was coordinated by the Alleghany-Bath-Highland Bar Association with assistance from Karen Staunton, AHS principal.
Members of the panel included local attorneys Bill Wilson, Bill Parks and Taylor Baker. They were joined by Ann Gardner, who serves as commonwealth’s attorney for Alleghany County and Covington, and Dillina Stickley of the Virginia State Bar. Ingrid Barber, director of the Alleghany Highlands Community Services Board, was also a panel member, and remarks were also delivered by Staunton and local business owner J.W. Tingler.
A good portion of the program focused on the opioid crisis that is severely impacting the Alleghany Highlands and communities across the nation. In particular, the students were warned about the dangers of synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl. Nationwide, synthetic opioids claimed the lives of approximately 103,000 people in 2021, a 45% increase from 2019.
Students were warned that marijuana, which is now legal in Virginia, is often laced with fentanyl.
“Using drugs can have severe consequences. Marijuana and other drugs are laced with fentanyl. You have the freedom to make good choices. Just make sure they are good ones,” Gardner said, while also warning students of the penalties associated with possession and selling illegal drugs.
Parks, a Covington attorney, said substance abuse has ripple effects in a community that destroys lives and families.
“The effect on your community is like throwing rocks in a pond,” Parks said. “It creates ripples, and the effects go on, and on, and on.”
Parks added, “This is a problem for all of us. It is amazing how easily people can be introduced to these substances. In your lives, very few of you will not be affected by somebody else’s addiction.”
Barber said fentanyl use is a growing problem in the Highlands. As the head of the CSB, Barber oversees an agency that is on the frontline in treating people with substance-abuse issues.
“It has dramatically grown on the streets and in this community over the last two years,” she said. “One fentanyl pill can kill you. We are here to tell you that fentanyl has affected so many young people just like you. Any pill that is not prescribed by a doctor and filled by a licensed pharmacist cannot be trusted.”
Tingler, the owner of Covington Farm & Fuel, knows first-hand about the toll opioid abuse can have on a family. His son, who graduated from Covington High School, died from a drug overdose.
“I lost my son to the drug world, and opioids and fentanyl were involved,” Tingler said. “You folks are young and vulnerable. You are now old enough to make decisions. Make good decisions.”
Wilson, who once served in the Virginia General Assembly, worked with AHPS to coordinate the “So, You’re 18” presentation. He urged the students to share the information they learned from Friday’s program with their friends.
“Start working on sharing this information with your own peer group,” he said.
“So, You’re 18” is a Virginia State Bar program. Through the program, the Virginia State Bar Conference of Local Bar Associations developed a booklet that is distributed to high school juniors and seniors. The booklet contains information about a wide range of legal rights, restrictions, and responsibilities that change when a young person turns 18. The booklet is also available digitally through the Virginia State Bar website at https://vsb.org/soyoure18/groups/SoYouRe18/Home.aspx.
The Alleghany-Bath-Highland Bar Association worked with AHPS on holding a live presentation in tandem with the distribution of the booklet.
“We are grateful to serve a community where so many local leaders and professionals come forward to speak with our students about important topics,” shared Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson, leaders of Alleghany Highlands Public Schools. “We are hopeful that messages of truth and clarity like these will assist our young people as they grow in wisdom.”