By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–A group of Helena High School parents gathered in the auditorium on Thursday, April 7 to hear from a variety of county leaders and received information from organizations on current drug trends and substance abuse problems that are affecting today’s youth.

The free informational meeting was sponsored by The Shelby County Drug Free Coalition who partnered with Shelby County Schools, Helena High School, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force.

The hour-long summit featured speakers such as Shelby County Schools Assistant Superintendent Lewis Brooks, Shelby County District Attorney Jill Lee, Assistant District Attorney Alan Miller, Helena Mayor Mark Hall and Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force Commander Clay Hammac.

The summit was highlighted by a PowerPoint presentation given by Hammac, discussing various drugs that are currently being abused in Shelby County.

The presentation provided facts, statistics, photos and more to help parents further understand how to identify certain drugs as well as how to identify physical signs of a person that has been using the narcotics.

Of all the drugs discussed during the presentation, Hammac spent a large portion of time on heroin and how badly the epidemic has gotten.

“Heroin has reached pandemic proportions,” said Hammac. “Never in the state of Alabama and never in Shelby County or in the history of our nation even have we seen opiate medications and pure powdered heroin being abused the way that it is. People are dying left and right, our kids are dying left and right from this stuff.”

Hammac shared a harrowing statistic from 2014 that 25 percent of overdose deaths were a direct result of heroin and the largest majority of the victims were between the ages of 22 and 29 years old.

When taking the podium, Lee stressed to parents that it is important to ask their kids questions and know exactly who their kids friend groups are.

“Often we assume we have the good kids, but good kids are still kids,” said Lee. “Sometimes they want to break free from that good kid reputation. Don’t assume, check.”

One of the parent’s in attendance, Scott Pruitt, has a student in the Shelby County School System and said that the entire staff did a great job of presenting and informing the audience.

“I think the entire staff that came and the teamwork and how they work together to help kids is great,” said Pruitt. “The PowerPoint was very helpful, especially to know what certain drugs look like and how to identify them.”

The parenting summit has already visited other high schools within Shelby County including Thompson High School and Oak Mountain High School.

For more information on the Shelby County Drug Free Coalition visit, Shelbycountydrugfreecoalition.org.