Concerned Teen Steps Up To Educate Her Peers About Meth

Student organizer Hannah Carnes (back row, with lei) and a few of her schoolmates and performers Feb. 28 at Kalaheo High School’s Meth Awareness Day. Photo from Hawaii Meth Project.

Armed with plenty of gruesome statistics about that drug with the long name, Kalaheo High School senior Hannah Carnes plunged right into the task of spreading the word at her school last month.

As a member of the Hawaii Meth Project Teen Advisory Council this school year, Carnes knew the facts and the risks about methamphetamine use, and she was well-schooled in HMP’s core message, “Not even once.” So she orchestrated a three-day, in-school campaign of prevention lessons in classrooms, a lunchtime rally, signing the pledge for a meth-free life, sign-waving, and a finale assembly for 1,000 teens.

The Feb. 28 assembly featured a speech by a recovering meth addict as well as positive performances by Diverse Arts Center.

“I don’t want to watch the news 10 years from now and hear about an old classmate who ruined their life because of meth,” she stated in her advisory council role. “I don’t want my peers to become the statistics.” So she took steps toward changing that.

As a highly addictive synthetic stimulant, methamphetamine abuse can create devastating medical, psychological and social consequences. (The project website lists memory loss, aggression, psychotic behavior, heart damage, malnutrition and severe dental problems.) The HMP Teen Advisory Council preaches this message well, but members serve only a one-year term.

HMP is currently seeking new teen members to serve on the council from July 2014 to June 2015. Deadline to apply is April 30.

To jump into the anti-drug battle as Carnes did, call 356-8752 or email TAC@hawaiimethproject.org.