GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Nearly 90% of students at Northern Guilford High said drugs are a problem at their school.
On Wednesday, parents, staff, and the community came to address the issues related to fentanyl use after students admitted through a survey that drugs are a major problem.
Guilford County parents, school leaders, and students are concerned, so they held a town hall to come up with solutions.
WFMY News 2's Itinease McMiller learned what parents say needs to change.
There was a heavy feeling in the room, emotions certainly ran high.
Hundreds of parents sat in the audience not only to learn but some shows up as living testaments of the children they'd lost to fentanyl poisoning.
Staff at Northern Guilford have made it clear that children are numbing themselves with pills. They hope this meeting will get parents to notice the signs and talk to their children.
They also alerted parents to the fact that kids buy drugs off Snapchat and informed them about emojis associated with different drugs.
Common emojis for drugs
Several parents shared their personal stories.
A counselor at Northern Guilford led parents to tears when she talked about her son Will and how she had to submit his photo to the DEA's faces of fentanyl wall.
Jared Dillard was good friends with her son. Dillard himself had a close call eight months ago when he overdosed from a drug laced with Fentanyl.
"I woke up in the back of an ambulance and I asked what was going on and they said sir you overdosed. I had no idea. This changed my life. I wanted to share my experience and maybe I can help someone young that's my age," Jared Dillard said.
"I want parents to know that it's not anything you're doing right or wrong and that you're not loving them enough or not involved enough in their lives. The best way to fight this is to educate ourselves and know what healthy boundaries are and stop being an enabler, Beth Smithey said.
Guilford County Board of Education member Deborah Napper was in the audience. She says she's glad northern Guilford Is starting this dialogue.
"This will also help direct the efforts we have to put mental health care in place. None of these children were suicidal. None of them were looking to die. They were looking to take the edge off or pain control when they got a pill from a place they shouldn't have and didn't wake up," Napper said.
Napper encourages parents to go to the district's website to learn more about the mental health services they offer.
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