The New Jersey drug court paid a visit to Wayne Hills senior class on Friday, January 27, 2017 and shared many heart-tugging stories as well as many lessons every Wayne Hills student should take into account. After a brief class meeting students were greeted by Judge Miguel De La Carrera whom spoke about drug court. Carrera then introduced the first speaker, Pete, whom did not use his last name. Pete attended Lake land High School and was a part of the 2006 graduating class. He then attended P.C.C.C for a year before dropping out. Pete spoke a rather realistic story due to his “normal” life. Pete had a job and went school but on his free time he sadly would turn to drugs such as crack, cocaine, and heroine. Pete decided to leave all those things behind when he realized he had nothing left in life and he was sitting in jail.

The second speaker was named Jaime whom also refrained to use her last name. Jaime had a similar story, she was a typical high school student until the drinking started. Jaime decided to try cocaine on her 18th birthday and it went downhill from there. She started stealing from friends and family and was with the wrong crowd that introduced more hardcore drugs to her like heroin. Jaime also realized her life had taken a spiral for the worst and decided what was best for her and got help.

The last and most eye-opening story was shared by April. April was a Wayne resident who now seems like your typical woman in her 30s, she had a lively smile on her face and seemed like a great person. No one expected the kind of story she had to share. It all started with a young high school student who felt like she didn’t fit in with any of the social cliques and some bullying came from her finding out her boyfriend had been cheating  on her with her best friend. As the years went on and April felt more peer pressured she started to drink a lot more and then started to try drugs, she specifically mentioned her struggle with alcohol and cocaine at first. She had stopped drinking alcohol due to alcohol poisoning. After that point of her life she swore to never drink again. Through drugs she had met her boyfriend whom she had a kid with eventually but never had the chance to have a normal family. Money had started to be scarce April’s boyfriend left her, the baby, and two pit bulls stranded in her car. April struggled having only 30 dollars in her pocket. She jumped from motel to motel before child protective service caught up with her and took her child away.  

Devastated by her loss, April’s addiction grew. She started to use  other drugs like heroin, crack cocaine, and percocets. April’s life kept going down hill, she lived in an abandon house in Paterson, had to experience being shot at as she drove her friend whom was shot four times to the hospital.  She ended up losing everything. When April was at the bottom of her life she then realized she needed a change and got help. With that the presentation was closed and the whole auditorium was left in shock at how one girl’s life went from normal to a devastating  spiral of self destruction.

The message was simple and straightforward. It wasn’t meant to directly scare the kids but to simply warn them that you don’t have to be weird or an abnormal person to fall to drugs, any person can fall into that trap and once you are in it is hard to get out. Officer Mark Dubois stated that, “there are between four and six overdoses a year in this (Wayne) township.” It is part of our job as students and as the future of Wayne to lower these numbers and spread this knowledge that no one is safe from drugs and the only way to stay clear of it is to say no.