Forsyth Teens Strive To Fight Drug Abuse During Coronavirus

FORSYTH COUNTY, GA — While the world copes with the coronavirus pandemic, a different kind of problem is lurking in many homes: drug abuse. With the stress, extra time and boredom that comes with staying at more, many are turning to drugs to soothe their worries, or to pass the time. The Forsyth County Youth Council wants to help.

Three of the Youth Council leaders include Tapasya Katta, a senior at Lambert High School, and the school's club president and Youth Council founder. She is joined by sophomores Saesha Kapoor, co-president of Be Smart Don't Start at South Forsyth High School and Youth Council member, and Vinayak Menon, an officer at the Lambert High School Drug Awareness Council and Youth Council member.

"There is a lot of stress and anxiety associated with being at home and in quarantine," Menon said. "Speaking from personal experience, we have a lot of academics, and we don't know if we can go back to school or not. But for adults, they have to worry if they can put food on the table, can they make sure their kids can study. We're hoping this take back program is a way to take away prescriptions that can harm people and their health, especially during these tough times."

Over the past month, the teens have been coordinating with the Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council for a drug take back program.

"This usually happens every 3-4 months by the DEA," Menon said. "If you have an unused or expired prescription, you go to a location, drop it off and that's the end of the story. Especially with these tough times in COVID-19, it has presented us with a unique challenge and opportunity. The challenge being that we can't do a lot of things physically, so we had to engage social media platforms such as Facebook to spread awareness about the drug take back campaign. But we were also able to do training on how we can better utilize social media as a means to spread awareness. There are pluses and minuses abut overall it's been a very educational experience."

As many people are stuck at home, they have more access to alcohol and medication lying around, Kapoor said.

"It's important for them to be able to drop off those medications safely somewhere and not feel like they'll be in trouble if they turn them in," Kapoor said. "We want to inform them that such a thing exists where you can go and dispose of your drugs safely, and second of all not even have access to that thing at home so the temptation is gone. Especially for parents who don't even know it's happening. This can bring it to their attention that, 'hey this is happening at home, your kid could be getting into them without you even knowing.'"

For Katta, she saw the impact that drug use has had on the community, and knew she wanted to help.

"The kids I've known for the last 10 years since I was a little kid, as they grew up, I saw them getting involved in drug usage, going to jail, losing their lives," Katta said. "The impact it has had on my own neighborhood has pushed me to wanting to work with the council, so I can use that."

Katta said the group hopes to reduce opioid abuse in the community since a lot of medication tend to be opioids, which are highly addictive.

"By getting them out the house and out of their hands, there is less of an opportunity for them to be abused by anyone within the household," Katta said. "It's an ongoing process, one DEA take back isn't going to solve the issue in the community. It's something we're going to have to continuously work on throughout the years, but hopefully it will make a difference."

For those interested in learning more, or for pharmacies to get involved in being a drug drop-off location, contact Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council Director Tammy Nicholson at 770-887-1710 or tammy@unitedwayforsyth.com.