SHINING SPOTLIGHT ON PROBLEMS

Teen Suicide, Drugs Addressed In Play

The Metropolitan Drug Commission has teamed up with several local
organizations to present a professionally acted play to more than
8,000 Knox County middle school students to raise awareness about
prescription drug abuse and teen suicide.

Within two weeks, every Knox County Schools' middle school pupils at
14 schools will see the play along with middle schoolers from two
private schools.

Judging from pupil reaction at Vine Middle Performing Arts Magnet
School, children so far have enjoyed the play and understood its message.

"The play showed me that you need to help someone and not be scared
and be a better friend," one pupil wrote on a survey form filled out
after the program.

In "Red Flags," Amanda Southwood, played by Tennessee Stage Company
actor Jenny Ballard, is a teenage girl under tremendous stress at
school and at home. Her mother suffers from a serious illness and
takes a variety of prescription medications, including pain drugs.
Amanda has to assume many of the responsibilities of running the home,
including caring for her mom.

She is also desperate to get picked for the only opening on the
cheerleading squad. She starts taking her mom's pain medicine for a
sprained ankle so that she can perform the back handspring required
for the squad.

Amanda's behavior begins to change. She grows forgetful and confused.
She begins talking about death in her poetry and giving away special
mementos.

The message of the play is that all of the people around her,
including her two best friends and boyfriend, fail to see the red
flags of her behavior. In the end, she overdoses and ends up in a
wheelchair with severe brain damage.

The project is a collaboration of the MDC, the Tennessee Stage Company
and the Knox County Schools Student Assistance Services Office. It was
initiated based on the findings of the Knox Teen Assessment Project
2002, a teen risk behavior survey.

The play is being presented in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, a
national drug abuse awareness campaign. Last year's survey showed that
13 percent of seventh-, ninth- and 11-grade students had abused
someone else's prescription drugs in the past 30 days. According to
the MPC, Knox County is triple the national estimates for 30-day use.

The survey also showed that an average of four students in any 7-12th
grade classroom indicated they had thought of killing themselves and
that one had attempted suicide.

The play's script was co-written by Aneisa McDonald of the MPC and
Brandon Slocum of the Tennessee Stage Company, a Knoxville
professional theater company that offers a range of productions
including plays and community outreach programs.

Also collaborating on the script were representatives from Knox County
Schools, the Mental Health Association, Helen Ross McNabb Center, the
state Board of Probation and Parole, Campfire Girls and 15 teen
participants of the Tennessee Stage Company Drama Camp.

"Prescription drug abuse is more morally palatable to certain
communities than wholly illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine and
methamphetamine because pills have an ultimately legitimate source and
purpose," said Catherine Brunson, executive director of the
Metropolitan Drug Commission. "This lack of perception of harm is a
great danger to our community and particularly to our children."

Eighth-grader Molly Conner said the play taught her "to pay attention
to the major signs, like if people are acting like they're depressed
or sad, you should tell someone about it.

Alaura Brown, also an eighth-grader, said the play had a "really good
message."

"It helped make me understand that I should stay away from them
(prescription drugs) so I wouldn't end up like Amanda," Alaura said.

One student who saw the play at Cedar Bluff Middle School on Monday
wrote it "helped me finalize my decesion." In another area of the
survey the child said he or she had decided not to abuse drugs after
seeing the play.

After the play, the students were invited to ask questions. One of the
things they wanted to know was what the prescription bottles
contained. The character Amanda kept popping "pills" out of the
bottles throughout the play.

tic tacs was the answer.