Law enforcement, Elks educated kids on dangers of drugs

Published by admin on Wed, 11/13/2024 - 7:00pm

Weiser Police Officer Cody Samson, accompanied by Elroy the Elk, speaks to a group of grade school kids about the dangers of drugs. Courtesy photo
By: 
Philip A. Janquart
Weiser police Officer and Weiser School District SRO (school resource officer) Cody Samson, in partnership with Weiser Elks Lodge, recently visited area schools in an effort to educate students about the dangers of drugs. 
 At Pioneer School, Samson was accompanied by the Elks Lodge’s Elroy the Elk. Washington County Sheriff Kip Hicks visited schools in Midvale and Cambridge, where he is the SRO. 
 Both gave presentations and handed out bags filled with various goodies for the kids and pamphlets for parents that provided information about the various drugs circulating in many communities, including the current No. 1 problem across the U.S. – opioids.
 “We’ve been wanting to do something for Red Ribbon Week, but we just haven’t had the funds to do a lot of stuff,” he explained. “In talking with Brenda Lee at the Washington County Clerk’s Office, I found that the county actually received funds for opioid awareness and … Red Ribbon Week actually fell into the category for educating youth on drug abuse and opioid awareness.” Red Ribbon Week was launched in 1985 in response to the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena who was killed by members of a drug cartel while in Mexico.
 Parents, weary of the destruction caused by alcohol and other drugs, began forming coalitions who have adopted the red ribbon, the symbol of Camarena’s memory. Red Ribbon Week is now national.
 As part of the movement, Samson used the funds received by the county to purchase drawstring bags that have the Elks Drug Awareness Program logo on them. The bags are Weiser red and also have the Wolverine logo. I Cambridge, the bags were orange.
 “We’ve partnered with the Elks Lodge, which has its Drug Awareness program,” he said. “They provided us with coloring books for the younger kids, crayons, wrist bands, pencils, pens and also literature about Red Ribbon Week and how it got started.
 “The Elks also provided pamphlets that parents can utilize and read through to help them to recognize if their kids are using drugs. We have pamphlets and educational material about vaping and underage drinking, for tobacco use, all the way up to marijuana and heroin abuse.”
 Also inside the bags were squish balls and suckers that say, “Say ‘no’ to drugs.”
 Though not on the same scale as larger communities, he said that it is an unfortunate reality that the problem does exist in Weiser and other area communities, and stressed the importance of educating kids about how drugs can affect users and everyone around them.
 Part of the idea is to educate them before they are introduced to illegal, illicit drugs.
 “It’s really important. Working in law enforcement, I’ve seen how drugs destroy families and how people act when they are on drugs,” he told the Signal American. “Some of them (users) are really nice people, but when they are addicted to some of these substances, that addiction grabs hold of them, and they do off-the-wall stuff they wouldn’t normally do if they weren’t addicted.”
 Samson said part of the effort to decrease the abuse of drugs in the community is to educate the kids about them, telling them what kind of lives they might expect to live and the problems they could face if they become addicted.
 “We can start with the younger kids and tell them what some of the drugs are, and then, when they get a little older, towards the middle school age, you can start talking about the different drugs and how they affect your body,” he said. “But the other thing is that we not only want to get this across to school kids, but to other people in the area. Be careful what you are putting into your body; make sure you know exactly what it is.”
 Samson said that the drug problem in the U.S. is increasing and that users are not always aware of what they are taking.
 “Opioids, especially, are really bad right now; the fentanyl,” he said. “There have been cases in Idaho where marijuana has been laced with fentanyl. They also make different colors of pills, so it looks like candy, so they are making them look like pills. If someone thinks, ‘Oh, I’m going to take this pill,’ it could be fentanyl and they may not know that, and they could possibly overdose.”
 Samson has served as the district SRO for about six years. He can be seen with one or both of his K9’s, Abby and Loui.
 “Abby is kind of semi-retired and is enjoying life,” he explained. “We let her pick and choose when she wants to come to work. Loui is my main partner now and we utilize him as much as possible. We do sniffs in the middle school and high school, the lockers, and we go out into the parking lot at the high school and do vehicle sniffs, so he gets utilized fairly often.”
 The K9’s, Samson added, are also a great tool for “breaking the ice” with kids and helping them to see police officers in a positive light.
 “Most kids love dogs, love animals,” he said. “They all just want to come up and love on them (Abby and Loui). They open up and you can talk to them a little more.” For more information about Red Ribbon Week, visit www.redribbon.org.
 

 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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