With funding from Idaho’s Millennium Fund and in collaboration with Idaho’s public health districts, Department of Education, Department of Juvenile Corrections, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits, drug prevention experts and others, Idaho Public Television has launched a statewide youth substance-use prevention and awareness campaign.
“Welcome to the Unaltered State is an invitation to consider the benefits of a substance-free lifestyle,” explains Jennie Sue Weltner, Idaho Public Television producer. “It’s also a community call to action to fight for a substance-free future for our kids.”
Two factors are contributing to a dangerous landscape for Idaho kids: a youth mental health crisis and easy-to-access illicit drugs. Idaho pediatric neurologist Dr. John Condie, MD, says it’s “a recipe for cognitive, behavioral and psychological disaster.”
Dr. Condie is among a growing number of community leaders who are worried about the rise of youth substance use in Idaho.
Dr. Megan Smith, associate professor and director of Communities for Youth, explains that mental health and substance use are correlated. “When people struggle with mental health challenges, (they) have all sorts of poor coping choices, and substance use can be one of those poor choices. When kids introduce these substances to their bodies, this interferes with the healthy development of their brains,” says Dr. Smith.
Weltner explains the new campaign is focused on upstream prevention: building better connections for kids in our communities and changing Idaho’s attitudes and beliefs about youth substance use. “We want to normalize a substance-free life. We want to provide practical and simple tools for parents to help their child be substance-free and shift away from the attitude that youth substance use as a rite of passage,” says Weltner.
Dr. Smith says that being a parent in this landscape is tough too. “I’m a parent. I think the most overwhelming thing for parents these days is this sense that we have to do it all by ourselves,” she says. “I think communities could benefit both themselves and young people by coming back together around a simpler goal of ‘how do we make this the best possible place for kids?’”
Officer David Gomez wants parents to understand that the current illicit drug landscape in Idaho is a very dangerous place for our kids. “Parents would not comprehend the percentage of kids that are vaping,” explains Gomez, a student resource officer in the Basin School District in Idaho City. The large amounts of nicotine found in the majority of vapes, he explains, makes them highly addictive. “Once they’re hooked on nicotine, for them to switch over to marijuana, to prescription pills, to anything else is super easy.” And cell phones, he says, make drugs more accessible than ever.
“Adolescent brains are wired to take risks. So one of the goals of this campaign is to remind kids of the healthy risks they can take, especially in a place like Idaho where you can push yourself to the limit in an unaltered state,” says Weltner.
The campaign will include a documentary, video and radio commercials, billboards, and a resource-rich website. The website will connect kids, parents, and community members with resources and organizations in their communities who provide prevention expertise.
“An awareness campaign alone will not fix this problem,” says Weltner. “We need every corner of the state to come together around this issue. The most important thing parents can do is to arm themselves with information about the current drug landscape and then have an open and honest conversation with their child about substance use. This is the new rite of passage.”
The campaign can be found at TheUnalteredState.org.