Last week, the New Jersey State Police presented an assembly, “Not Even Once,” to students at Delaware Valley Regional High School.  Living in Hunterdon County, which was referred to as a bubble of protection, Delaware Valley Regional High School’s students are protected from the outside world, but we have many fears within this community. The troopers explained how the epidemic of opioids is growing in Hunterdon County. Before the assembly, I believed that marijuana was one of the only drugs that my family, friends and myself were surrounded by. I never thought that potentially fatal drugs were so easily accessible. I had believed beforehand that opioids were only a problem in cities and bigger communities, but the assembly proved that they are found and used in my hometown as well.

The two troopers, Joe Seidler and Mike Guenther, have both been affected by the opioid epidemic, which made their presentation more powerful when delivering this scary reality. The two talked about individuals in their lives who experimented with drugs and how their lives became surrounded and controlled by them. The officers explained that once people begin to use drugs, they stop living for themselves and, instead, begin to live for their next “high.” For instance, a young women’s tragic story was shared with the audience. She was a 22-year-old who participated in Student Council and had high honor roll for her first three years of high school; however, once she began to smoke marijuana, she snowballed down an irreversible path to her grave. The young girl began to use to cocaine and heroin, and although there had been several attempts to quit, the drugs ultimately took her life. Unfortunately, the drugs also affected her family who lost a loved one. This story demonstrated what might seem like a surreal situation. Even the best students at Del Val could be on the same path in years to come.

The troopers also recommended that all students should watch a movie that ties to the assembly called Beautiful Boy. What I learned in the assembly is truly important and scary information, but what I took from the film Beautiful Boy was even more powerful. The movie stars Steve Carell as a father of a meth addict. The movie shows the sad reality of an addict’s life and the constant struggle of someone who cannot control his addiction. The son is in constant struggle with himself and varies between being clean and sneaking drugs. The son is affected by this struggle, and so do his two, four-year-old twin siblings. The movie shows how everyone around an addict has their lives changed by the drugs.

The movie and the assembly worked hand in hand to deliver the factual points of what physical and mental pain these drugs could do to you and your loved ones, and they both had a lasting effect on me.