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Students at schools in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties can win $1,000 and use their creativity to help prevent drug addiction in their communities.
Applications for the fourth annual Trumbull-Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force public service announcement contest are available now. The 90-second video submissions will be accepted until May 8.
One of the goals of the project is to reduce the deadly toll of opioid overdose through awareness, TAG commander and Trumbull County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Orr said.
"These messages might be more powerful for other youth when coming from within their peer group," Orr said. "Young people see things from a totally different perspective than adults."
In addition to creating a message the whole community will have the chance to see, students researching for the project will learn about the drug epidemic in a way they might not experience in a textbook, Orr said.
The first-prize winner will receive $1,000; second prize will earn $250; and TAG will throw a pizza party for third prize.
Surveys conducted in local schools by the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board show some students start using tobacco, marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs as early as sixth grade. By 10th grade, as many as 20 percent of kids used alcohol or marijuana within 30 days of being surveyed, and about 10 percent have used prescription pills.
Public service announcements focused on heroin, prescription pills and marijuana abuse are preferred, because they are shown to have the biggest adverse impact on our youth, Orr said. But any general purpose anti-drug message will be considered.
"This campaign should encourage youth and the entire community to send a unified message that drug abuse is unhealthy, unsafe and unacceptable," Orr said.
A class in the LaBrae school district won last year in Trumbull County, and classes in Grand Valley and Pymatuning high schools won in Ashtabula County.