"REALITY TOUR" GIVES STUDENTS HARROWING LOOK AT A DRUG DEATH

TIONESTA - Jodi, Dan and Dave wanted to die.

At least two of them prayed they would.

They told West Forest and East Forest juniors and seniors Tuesday
morning they received help just before the final phase of their drug
addictions inevitably would have taken hold, pulling them from some of
the darkest years of their young lives.

Jodi, a 30-something area resident, Dan, 17, of Philadelphia, and
Dave, 19, from Montgomery County, painted vividly graphic pictures
Tuesday of the hold drugs and alcohol have played in their lives.

Their missions now: Convince just one of the high school students to
refuse their first drink of alcohol or their first hit of a drug as
they head into the high school prom season.

"You guys have no clue what you're getting into," Jodi said. "I don't
remember my prom because I was so wasted."

She started using alcohol as a ninth-grader. The next 20 years were a
life-and-death blurry rampage of overdoses, theft, eating from
dumpsters, temporarily losing custody of her three children,
rehabilitation and jail time.

"Everything is about you - getting that next high and (thinking about)
who you are going to rob and steal from," Jodi said.

Lasting changes finally came after five trips to rehab and halfway
houses where clients are weaned from drugs. Her mother finally stopped
bailing her out of jail, letting Jodi suffer the consequences of her
choices.

"You are literally so sick you want to die," she said. "I prayed to
God I would die."

She's been clean for 16 months and has regained custody of her
children.

Her testimony Tuesday was worth the effort if one of the Forest Area
students was affected by her story, she said.

Jodi and Abraxas drug and alcohol treatment facility students Dan and
Dave were part of the Clarion University Health Science Education
Center's "Reality Tour," a four-step walk-through event in which
actors play out "the life and death of a teen on drugs."

The high school students followed Caitlin, a drug-addicted college
student, as she procured a baggie of heroin from Randy, a long-time
drug user.

The next steps that students witnessed in Caitlin and Randy's lives
mirrored events Jodi, Dan and Dave either lived or saw in friends who
lost their lives because of drug and alcohol abuse.

Caitlin and Randy were "arrested" on the front lawn of the Forest
County courthouse before county sheriff's deputies whisked the duo
across the lawn to the county jail.

Caitlin was being removed from the back seat of a police cruiser,
vomiting and falling face-first to the ground the next time students
saw her. The unresponsive girl was transferred to a makeshift
emergency room at St. Anthony Catholic Church where Forest County
Coroner Norman Wimer pronounced her dead.

"I'm going to take her from you now," Wimer told the man and woman who
portrayed Caitlin's frantic parents. "The next time you see her will
be in the funeral home."

"No! Don't put her in that," the woman screamed as Wimer zipped
Caitlin into a black body bag. "She's just a little girl. She has
things to do."

Wimer said an autopsy would be required in a similar real-life
situation because of the criminal aspect of Caitlin's death.

The girl's journey ended a few blocks away in Wimer's funeral home -
Caitlin's grieving parents and brother sitting just feet from her
simple wooden casket.

A nameplate outside the funeral home that typically displays the name
of the deceased simply read "Your Name" - indicating none of Tuesday's
students were immune from the effects of drugs and alcohol. Proper
choices, however, would lessen their chances of being the one laying
just inside the parlor's doors.

"This tragedy doesn't end here. It begins here. You need to think
about your parents and your family," Wimer implored the students
attending the mock funeral service. "You don't want your name on a
sign here or on a card because of drugs."

Jodi, Dan and Dave were convinced they could easily have become a
"Caitlin."

"You've been on the 'Reality Tour,' but these guys have lived the
reality," Wimer said.

Dave said he overdosed four times on different drugs.

The 19-year-old said his drug habit started innocently enough with
cigarettes when he was 12. That soon blossomed into a smorgasbord of
drugs including marijuana, Valium and OxyContin. He was smoking crack
cocaine by 14.

"I needed it every other day," he said. He would get into fights or
steal for money to feed the habit. One of his lowest moments included
a six-month stint of being sick. He said it wasn't uncommon to vomit
three times a day. His eyesight was failing and his sense of smell had
evaporated.

"Now, I'm learning how to deal with things a little better," Dave told
the students. "I found out (drugs weren't) doing anything good for me.
It was killing me ... and they take over your life."

Today is Dave's last day at Abraxas, and he's marking one year of
sobriety. He will graduate with a high school diploma and plans to
attend college.

"You've got your whole lives ahead of you, and drugs can take it away
from you," he told the Forest students. He also encouraged students to
seek help for friends they know or suspect are doing drugs.

"I'd rather be a snitch and save a life," he said.

Dan, looking older than his 17 years, said he gave up a hockey
scholarship to the University of Delaware to fuel his drug habits.

"I sold my equipment for drugs," Dan said. "You have no (reasoning)
when you do drugs."

Looking older helped Dan procure marijuana as a 9-year-old. Marijuana
led to OxyContin use and snorting heroin for $10 a day. He soon was
shooting the drug into his veins.

Abraxas has helped him learn healthy ways to deal with issues in his
life the drugs used to numb. Sobriety, too, has made him realize what
years of drug abuse fostered in his personal life.

"When you get sober, you remember all the people you hurt," Dan said.
"Don't get started."

Tuesday's "Reality Tour" was presented in cooperation with the Forest
County Drug Awareness Task Force, whose mission is to prevent drug use
through education and outreach, according to county District Attorney
Barbara Litten.

"If we reach one person who never picks up (drugs or alcohol), we've
accomplished what we wanted to accomplish," she said.

"You have a community that loves you," Wimer told the students. "Reach
out for help. We're here to help you."