Good News: Lowcountry Alliance for Healthy Youth

BLUFFTON, SC (WTOC) - Several high school students in Beaufort County have been killed in car crashes over the past decade.

Some of them linked to the use of drugs and alcohol. Those incidents prompted the need for an organization in the Lowcountry to raise awareness about the consequences of using those substances and Bluffton High School was the first to jump on board.

The Lowcountry Alliance for Healthy Youth wants to set the record straight when it comes to drugs and alcohol.

'I want my friends or any students using or abusing drugs to stop, because I know the side effects and consequences that come along with using drugs," said Jada Pierre, senior at Bluffton High.

"Just to make sure that all the stereotypes of drugs and alcohol and how they don't affect you at all, we want to make sure kids or teenagers know that they actually do hit you really hard in the long term effect," said Luis Gomez, sophomore at Bluffton High.

One of the benefits of the organization is the peer-to-peer contact, which allows students to share information with other students.

"When a parent tells you not to do something. A child will rebel against them or not listen, but a student telling someone not to use drugs or alcohol it's like a friend and I'm going to listen to them," said Pierre.

"I think coming from a student's perspective, especially a friend's perspective if you know someone who's abusing that drug or alcohol it will definitely have more impact on them because you have a closer relationship and you realize that person cares about you to tell you to stop using the substance," said Adelynn Helms, sophomore at Bluffton High.

The goal of the organization is simple: to increase awareness and decrease usage.

"We want to see the amount or percentage of teens using drug and alcohol go down. I want to see it at 0 percent," said Gomes.

That organization is wrapping up its last day of national awareness week. The students made morning announcements daily giving different facts and information about substance abuse and on Friday night during the boys' varsity basketball game they will be holding a trivia contest debunking the myths about drugs.

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