On September 30th, 2024, Elkins High School welcomed Ray Lozano, the director and founder of Prevention Plus, to speak on the importance of drug prevention. When you imagine a drug presentation, the adjectives boring and draining come to mind, but that isn’t the description that would fit this presentation.
The presentation is built on a foundation of comedy and entertaining stories instead of scary photos. These presentations come down to Ray’s personal connection with the negative effects of drug use.
“I came from a family that was crazy when it came to drugs and alcohol. So I had; my oldest brother was a drug trafficker, my other brother was a drinker and a fighter, my sister I had talked about doing a lot of drugs, my dad was a drinker and a fighter, and my mom was the embarrassed alcoholic. As a kid, I never saw good stuff happen with drugs and alcohol.” Lozano said.
This pointed him in the direction of not only never drinking or using drugs, but also, learning the why behind people using drugs.
“Why? Why does my dad drink and fight? Why did my brother smuggle drugs in? Why did my sister, even though her teeth were falling out? I had to have the answer to all of those questions and it became drug presentations.” Lozano said.
All of these questions were the foundation of Prevention Plus, an organization that has changed informational presentations in the best way. This presentation had students talk about it for a while after it ended. Zahra L thinks it helps them to be like “This is dangerous”.., a Senior at Elkins High School, was one of those people.
“Seeing it talked about again, like really talked about, and like how deadly and dangerous it is, it really makes you stop and think for a second. Like, wow. That is what you are seeing happen every single day. It just shocks you.” Zahra said.
A different approach at a drug presentation truly does make a difference and students notice it too.
“Approaching it on the same level as them and being down to earth and not all high and mighty like “I don’t do drugs! Ew!”, Zahra L said.
