How Modesto students help educate peers on fentanyl, other ‘exceedingly dangerous’ drugs
People of a certain age know what it means to be “bean-boozled.” You pick one of two identical jelly beans, gambling on whether the flavor will be, say, chocolate pudding or dog food. Students at Elliott Alternative Education Center played the game with their classmates this week as a way to point out that picking the wrong pill at a party could do more than leave a bad taste in your mouth. It could kill.
At the assembly, put on by Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, students learned about fentanyl use and the rising number of overdoses in the community.
Elliott’s PHAST (Protecting Health and Slamming Tobacco) Club hosted the assembly for Red Ribbon Week — a national drug awareness campaign held annually from Oct. 23 to Oct. 31st. This year’s theme is “Be Kind to Your Mind.”
“I feel, ever since fentanyl came out, a lot of people have passed away and lost a lot of members of their family,” said Natalie Quezada, an 11th-grader at Elliott.
PHAST clubs were introduced in Stanislaus County in 2005 and are present in over 25 high schools, 30 middle schools and 10 elementary schools. Each club receives between $2,000 to $5,500 annually from a competitive grant awarded by the California Department of Education to create preventative programs on their campuses to stop teen drug, alcohol and tobacco use.
The first Stanislaus campuses with these clubs were Pitman, Oakdale, Ceres and Orestimba high schools.
PHAST Clubs are not connected to D.A.R.E. programs. The Stanislaus County Office of Education wanted a different approach with PHAST, making the clubs more student-focused and student-run.
“The PHAST Program incorporates three key protective factors to build resiliency in youth,” said Charmaine Monte, SCOE’s tobacco use prevention education coordinator. “Those three protective factors are: developing caring relationships with an adult on campus, maintaining high expectations and providing meaningful opportunities for participation.”
With about 800 students involved in the youth-led drug awareness clubs in Stanislaus County, they felt it was important to talk about the new drug plaguing their community: fentanyl.
“In PHAST Club, you see your peers,” said Astridel Tagre, a senior at Elliott. “You see students from other high schools. You see teenagers at your age level and your academic level telling you this is not OK.”
Throughout this week, the club at Elliott worked to make sure its messages are seen on campus by planning activities and plastering informative flyers. They’ve had dress-up days and lunchtime activities like the BeanBoozled candy roulette game. They decided to use this game to teach their peers how you can’t tell the difference if fentanyl is laced in another drug like opioids or marijuana.
Frederick Johnston, the advisor to PHAST Club, said he originally created the club to protect students’ health and wellness from tobacco. He said his club kids inspire him and it’s a lot of fun working with them to advocate on campus.
“I watched my mother pass away. She was a smoker for years. I watched my mother slowly die of emphysema,” Johnston said. “I kind of tell sometimes I’m spitting in the wind trying to tell these teenagers that they’re to stop smoking tobacco or stop vaping, but hopefully something will sit through.”
Tagre believes discussing the issues of fentanyl use isn’t just for their generation, but for everyone in the community. “I think there should be more advocating for testing so people who are stuck in a system can get help and make sure they’re not doing something exceedingly dangerous,” Tagre said.
