Free Workshop Aims to Educate Parents, Foster Discussion about Opioids, Alcohol

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Ebensburg, PA (Jan. 16, 2018) Because no child starts using drugs by abusing heroin, it’s important to have a conversation about drugs and alcohol before a young person is faced with those choices. Critical for people of all ages to understand is the direct pathway that exists between misuse of prescription pain pills and use of heroin. Three of four heroin users nationwide transitioned to heroin after becoming addicted to prescription opioids, including people who were prescribed pain pills legitimately following a serious injury or surgery.

Understanding Addiction and the Pain Pill/Heroin Connection is a FREE workshop for parents and other community members Thursday, January 18 at 6 p.m. at the Central Cambria High School Auditorium. Hosted by Central Cambria School District and presented by The Learning Lamp, the program was developed by Overdose Lifeline, an emerging national voice in opioid education, the prevention of prescription opioid misuse and heroin use and efforts to reduce the stigma associated with addiction.

“I think that most parents are ill informed when it comes to how students are introduced to heroin,” explained Randy Wilson, high school guidance counselor at Central Cambria. “They are appalled at the thought that anyone would insinuate that their child would use heroin. They need to understand that having wisdom teeth removed or a broken bone can actually lead to heroin use if pain medication goes unchecked.”

Regardless of a child’s age, what parents don’t know could place their son or daughter at increased risk of experimenting and becoming addicted to opioids today, tomorrow or years into the future. Preventing first use means knowing the facts, understanding the risks and being able to openly communicate with their child about drugs and alcohol—the most commonly abused drug among young people in our area.

MADD’s Power of Parents® program empowers parents of middle school and high school students to have ongoing, intentional conversations about the dangers and consequences of underage drinking. To lead off the evening, every parent will receive a handbook and tips to guide them in establishing and expressing clear expectations about substance use to their children.

Overdose Lifeline’s Understanding Addiction and the Pain Pill/Heroin Connection is a companion program to This is (Not) About Drugs, a classroom-based opioid education program that reached more than 5,000 students in Cambria and surrounding counties last year and remains available at no cost to new audiences.

The Learning Lamp is a trained provider of Overdose Lifeline programs, which are funded largely through grants and contributions. For more information, contact The Learning Lamp’s Prevention Programs Manager at 814-262-0732 extension 249 or click here.

The Learning Lamp is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage all children in the support they need to succeed. We deliver high quality programs that are affordable and accessible to families of all income levels. The Learning Lamp served 35,525 children from 62 school districts and 39 non-public and private schools and other organizations in 17 Pennsylvania counties and one county in Maryland in 2016.

Our programs include: one-to-one tutoring; before/after school programs; portable classrooms aimed at building math and science skills; alternative education programs for at-risk students; evidence-based prevention programs; online learning and credit recovery; SAT preparation; educationally-focused child care; literacy-based preschool programs; and grant writing and project consulting for schools.