Schools to discuss dangers of drug use

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- When anti-drug speakers appeared at Newport Harbor

High School last spring, students suggested that they get the message out

to kids while they are at a younger age.

With that in mind, Judy Davis will go to Mariners Elementary School

tonight and tell the story about how her son, Bobby, died of an apparent

heroin overdose a little more than a year ago.

“Harbor High kids said ‘It’s too late -- we’re either hooked or not

interested in listening anymore,’ ” Davis said. “They said ‘It’s too late

for us.’ One kid last spring told me that his sister is in the fifth

grade and she’s on cocaine.”

Davis and two other speakers will tell their stories to students and

parents from Newport Heights, Kaiser and Mariners elementary schools in

an effort to educate the community and discourage children from getting

involved with drugs.

Since her son’s death, Davis has done extensive research on drug

addiction. She said if she had known then what she knows now, it could

have helped her save Bobby’s life.

“He started with pot, which is 75% stronger now than it used to be,”

she said. “So when parents say ‘I did that. It’s OK,’ it’s not OK.”

As Davis backtracked in an effort to figure out where things went

wrong for her son -- who was an athlete, a singer and a student leader --

she realized there were signs that she had ignored.

“There was this underlying sadness in him and I couldn’t pinpoint it

exactly,” she said. “I took him to counselors and nowadays they would

have drug tested him, but I didn’t know he had depression.”

After Davis shares her story as a mother forced to deal with the harsh

realities of drugs, Dr. Daniel Headrick, the head of chemical dependence

at Hoag Hospital, will present a medical report, including the most

up-to-date research.

Once parents and students have heard Headrick’s medical evidence and

cold, hard facts, counselor William Serry will offer solutions.

Serry has worked with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in

helping teach students a better way to deal with difficult times.

Davis hopes that by educating these families, she can save other

children’s lives.

Although it can be painful, Davis said that knowing the program has

already helped some people gives meaning to her son’s death.

“It’s very painful, it’s very ugly and it’s devastating to the human

body,” she said of drug abuse. “It destroys the human body.”

FYI

Judy Davis, Dr. Daniel Headrick and counselor William Serry will speak

to students and parents at 7 p.m. tonight in the multipurpose room at

Mariners Elementary School, 2100 Mariners Blvd., Newport Beach. The

program will last about 90 minutes. For more information, call

1-800-892-5558, Ext. 89328.