SCHOOLS TO DISCUSS DANGERS OF DRUG USE

A Program For Elementary Students And Their Parents Will Feature The Story
Of Judy Davis, Whose Son Succumbed To Heroin Addiction Last Year.

NEWPORT BEACH -- When anti-drug speakers appeared at Newport Harbor High
School last spring, students suggested that they get the message out to kids
while they are at a younger age.

With that in mind, Judy Davis will go to Mariners Elementary School tonight
and tell the story about how her son, Bobby, died of an apparent heroin
overdose a little more than a year ago.

"Harbor High kids said 'It's too late -- we're either hooked or not
interested in listening anymore,' " Davis said. "They said 'It's too late
for us.' One kid last spring told me that his sister is in the fifth grade
and she's on cocaine."

Davis and two other speakers will tell their stories to students and parents
from Newport Heights, Kaiser and Mariners elementary schools in an effort to
educate the community and discourage children from getting involved with
drugs.

Since her son's death, Davis has done extensive research on drug addiction.
She said if she had known then what she knows now, it could have helped her
save Bobby's life.

"He started with pot, which is 75% stronger now than it used to be," she
said. "So when parents say 'I did that. It's OK,' it's not OK."

As Davis backtracked in an effort to figure out where things went wrong for
her son -- who was an athlete, a singer and a student leader -- she realized
there were signs that she had ignored.

"There was this underlying sadness in him and I couldn't pinpoint it
exactly," she said. "I took him to counselors and nowadays they would have
drug tested him, but I didn't know he had depression."

After Davis shares her story as a mother forced to deal with the harsh
realities of drugs, Dr. Daniel Headrick, the head of chemical dependence at
Hoag Hospital, will present a medical report, including the most up-to-date
research.

Once parents and students have heard Headrick's medical evidence and cold,
hard facts, counselor William Serry will offer solutions.

Serry has worked with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in helping
teach students a better way to deal with difficult times.

Davis hopes that by educating these families, she can save other children's
lives.

Although it can be painful, Davis said that knowing the program has already
helped some people gives meaning to her son's death.

"It's very painful, it's very ugly and it's devastating to the human body,"
she said of drug abuse. "It destroys the human body."