FAIR HELPS KIDS REJECT DRUGS

Unity Staff Connects With 200 Students

GREECE -- Ob Addy wants young people to know that there are better
ways to get high than with drugs or alcohol.

Drumming "gives you a natural high," Addy told a group of high school
and middle school students Tuesday at Unity Chemical Dependency's Red
Ribbon Week Student Wellness Fair.

Addy and his brother, Oblie, both natives of Ghana who now live in
Rochester, demonstrated their drumming prowess to show kids that
there are healthier ways to express themselves than turning to
illicit substances.

"I want them to forget about the artificial highs," said Ob Addy.
"Drums give a natural high that promotes internal healing and
spiritually can take over that artificial high."

The wellness fair, the first offered by Unity Chemical Dependency,
was attended by about 200 students from Greece, Churchville-Chili and
Hilton schools.

The event was a chance to introduce young people to healthy outlets
for their energies and emotions such as sports, art and music, said
Toni Cipolla, coordinator of adolescent and family services. Kids
participated in a yoga class, made self-portraits and played soccer
with some of the Rochester Rhinos.

"We want to give kids an opportunity here to stop and look at their
lives and see where they are and where they want to go and how
substance abuse can prevent them from getting there," she said,
noting that people often turn to mood-altering chemicals because of
low self-esteem, curiosity, boredom or a desire to self-medicate.

Mary Gallentine, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Greece Arcadia
Middle School, said she thinks kids sometimes turn to drugs "because
they want to fit in and people they admire use drugs. Sometimes if
they're depressed they want to use drugs to make those feelings go away."

But, she said, she makes better choices by channeling her energies into art.

"I draw a lot," she said. "I just draw and let my feelings out."

John Wallace, 13, also a student at Greece Arcadia, said he learned a
lot at the fair about the consequences of using drugs and alcohol.

"You could get injured or you could get arrested," he said. "I think
some people do it to look cool, but that's a bad idea because it
shouldn't matter how someone else wants you to look."

Leanne Mikiciuk, a clinical educator with Unity's emergency center,
knows a lot about the consequences of drug use. Using a dummy, she
demonstrated some of what a person might expect if he or she ends up
in the emergency department because of drug or alcohol use --
including having a tube slid down the throat to remove stomach
contents or slid down the airway to assist with breathing.

"I tell kids it's OK to be yourself and say no to drugs because I
don't want to see them in my emergency center," she said.

Doug Stewart, vice president of Unity Behavioral Health, said the
fair also was an opportunity to "destigmatize and demystify the idea
of treatment for drug and alcohol issues."

He said he wants young people and parents to know it's OK to seek
help if they're dealing with substance abuse or addiction.

"If you're a parent and your child has a broken leg, you wouldn't
wait for it to heal on its own without treatment," he said. "It's the
same with chemical dependency: It's an illness, and it's treatable."