LEARNING THE ELEMENTS

High school students from around douglas county gain the tools to
fight drug abuse

Plenty of students already know the dangers of drug use. Now some
are learning to get their message across on television.

Students from all over Douglas County gathered at the fairgrounds
Thursday to get practical advice on making public service announcements.

Douglas County Communities Aligned to Prevent Substance Abuse, or DC
CAPS, organized the Youth Summit in preparation for its fourth
annual Truth, Lies and Videotapes Drug Prevention PSA Challenge.
Students make 30-second videos, which debut in April and then run on KPIC-TV.

The students laughed as Ray Lozano, a motivational speaker from
southern California, told stories about growing up and raising children.

"Inside of you there's a talent, there's an ability that's been
given to you that hasn't been given to the person next to you," he said.

He encouraged the students to have a vision, be committed to it, and
take action.

ADAPT counselor Sam Moore gave students information about drug use
locally, statewide and across the nation.

"Drug and alcohol use has become absolutely epidemic, especially
among young people in our country," she said.

Moore encouraged the students to analyze the messages they see in
advertising, and to use the media to their advantage.

"Our goal is to have some influence," she said.

Steve Woodward and Peter Smith of KPIC brought commercials with them
and showed the students how to use lighting and angles to their advantage.

"It really refreshed my memory," Glendale senior Juancarlos Amaya
said. He'll be teaching a video production class for his senior
project this year, and he's participating in Truth, Lies and
Videotapes for the fourth year.

Dennis Eberhardt of ImageStream taught students how to market their
videos, even without money, and create a buzz about them.

The day ended with a panel of community members who talked about
their own experiences with alcohol, tobacco and other drug
prevention and intervention.

Ruby Latham is on Roseburg High School's prevention team, which
encourages middle school students to avoid drugs. The freshman
described Thursday's summit as a crash course on how to make a PSA.

"We've also learned that we already know a lot about how to prevent
drug and alcohol use," she said. "We know how to get things to seem
less glamorous."

"We already know long-term effects," Roseburg High junior Diana Kiester added.

Kiester said drug use has affected her family and friends, and she
said she would never do drugs because her parents would eventually
find out and make her life a nightmare.

"My parents educated me early on," she said. "If I were to do drugs,
that would just totally mess up my family."