Teen speaks with president about drug-use prevention

By Natalie Shelton

If the president wants to fly you to Washington, D.C., to speak with you, you must have something important to say.

That’s just what he did for Mallory Hamilton, a Liberty High School junior who was one of just 12 drug-abuse prevention advocates chosen nationwide to speak with President George W. Bush in a roundtable discussion Dec. 10.

Bush had gathered the group, which also included law enforcement, social workers and the like, to discuss a recent study by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The study reported significant decreases in underage illicit substance abuse.

Hamilton was chosen to attend the discussion because of her involvement with Youth With Vision, which is the teen advisory group of the Northland Coalition, a group dedicated to preventing drug abuse. Both groups receive technical support from Tri-County Mental Health Services.

“To get to tell my story to the president was really awesome,” Hamilton said.

She told the president more about Youth With Vision, “which gets the message out to kids the dangers of drinking,” she said, through social marketing campaigns such as “Those Who Host Lose the Most,” which targets parents and other adults who may provide or knowingly allow minors to consume alcohol.

Another Youth With Vision and Northland Coalition initiative Hamilton told the president about was “Safe Proms and Graduations,” which works with partners such as florists and formalwear merchants to spread a unified message to keep teenagers safe.

Hamilton also participated in a presidential press conference that announced the findings of the University of Michigan study. She was one 130 people involved in advocacy and prevention regarding underage substance abuse invited to the press conference. Others from the Northland were Paige Yates, a Smithville High School sophomore, and Ryan McElhaney of Tri-County Mental Health Services.

The federally-financed study found that although illicit drug use was declining among teens, the abuse of prescription painkillers among teenagers remained popular, according to an Associated Press article.

The study, which looked at the behavior of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders, found a decrease in the use of marijuana and methamphetamines but a steady use of cocaine and narcotics such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab).

Hamilton said Youth With Vision found that Liberty students did not seem to have the alcohol and drug problems as students in larger cities, but drinking and drug abuse among teenagers was still prevalent in Liberty.

Alcohol use seems to be the biggest problem for Liberty teenagers, she said, and as far as illicit drugs go, marijuana seems to be the most widely used. She said Youth With Vision found other area school districts had seen abuse of narcotics such as OxyContin, but Liberty teenagers, fortunately, weren’t picking up on that nationwide trend.

Staff writer Natalie Shelton covers Liberty schools. She can be reached at 781-4941 or nshelton@npgco.com.