When Ford City District Judge J. Gary DeComo launched a youth anti-drug campaign in 2000, he knew that helping kids make choices that lead them away from drug abuse would take more than a catchy slogan, a pep talk and handing out sports memorabilia.
But it was a start.
“Those things are just my way of getting their attention and raising the level of drug prevention awareness,” said DeComo, who is kicking off his 22nd annual “Drugs Kill Dreams” initiative. “I’m not a prevention specialist, I’m a prevention advocate. I want to give the kids and the adults around them something to think about. Something to help them remember.”
When it began in 2000, the campaign was named after a poster made by a fourth grader at Lenape Elementary School. Today, DeComo said, reinforcing the anti-drug message is more important than ever because of the opioid crisis.
“Back in 2007, we were noticing that we were chasing kids for possession of a small amount of marijuana, but there wasn’t much attention being paid to the dangerous narcotics they could find right in the medicine cabinet,” DeComo said. “It took quite a while for the federal government to realize how big the opioid problem really was. And now we’re dealing with the consequences.”
Between 2015 and 2017, Armstrong County experienced a drug-related death rate spike that was significantly higher than the state and national averages, according to an “OverdoseFreePA” study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh.
The study showed that in 2015, the overdose death rate in Armstrong County was 40.5 per 100,000 residents — compared to 27.1 for the state and 16.5 nationally.
In 2016, the county number rose to 62 per 100,000 residents, while the rates were 36.7 at the state level and 19.9 nationally.
In 2017, the rate in the county was 59.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with rates of 44 across the state and 21.8 nationally.
The study found that fentanyl, heroin and anti-anxiety benzodiazepines were involved in 80% of accidental drug overdoses during that same time .
While the campaign officially started in 2000, DeComo began visiting local schoolchildren in 1994 to discuss the dangers of drugs.
He takes his anti-drug campaign directly to children by visiting classes at schools throughout Armstrong County. The presentations include a request that students sign an anti-drug pledge.
Rewards are given in the form of sports memorabilia that the judge has assembled.
Larger memorabilia items often are donated to local youth sports groups that sign the pledge so they can raffle them off to raise money.
“I’m always looking for small sports items like 8-by-10 photos of players the kids might enjoy having, and I try to get them autographed,” the magistrate said. “I have no interest in collecting sports memorabilia myself. But I know the kids like it, and it’s a great way to open the door to the important message I want to convey to them.”
