Drug prevention education targets youth substance use in Monterey County

Powerful presentations aim to turn tide on middle and high school substance use

“Mr. George” surveyed the scene at Saturday Academy. A couple dozen Monterey High School teenagers giving up precious weekend sleep-in time to make up for missteps during the school week. Not interested in being there. Just trying to do the deal from 8 a.m. until noon. Definitely not down with giving up their phones.

But Mr. George — whose actual name is Jorge Favela — was undaunted this particular Saturday. He had something important to share. About fentanyl and cannabis and vapes.

Eyes rolled. “Awww, c’mon bruh, really?”

Favela waited it out. He asked for 45 minutes of focused time. And then, you could hear a pin drop.

This packet can wipe out this whole school and staff. From one year to the next, Monterey High could be there, then not there. Look to your left and right. Some of your friends aren’t going to be here if we don’t change.
— Jorge Favela, Bilingual Community Liaison, Monterey High School

“I brought them close, and I made it personal,” says Favela, the bilingual community liaison for Monterey High School, who was introducing Montage Health’s Prescribe Safe initiative for substance use awareness in Monterey County middle and high schools. “I told them, ‘I sat in an assembly just like this when I was your age. I sat, and I chuckled. I talked with my friends. I was a freshman. And by my senior year, I lost four friends to drinking and driving, three in one accident.’ At that point, I got their attention.”

Back then, alcohol was the big temptation. Local police departments would tow totaled cars — ones that had been involved in drunk driving crashes — into high school parking lots for display just before graduation. Tough love.

Now, the shock of those 3,500-pound vehicles has been replaced by the terror of a 2-inch-by-2.5-inch sugar packet. It’s one image on one slide in the 46-slide Prescribe Safe curriculum. But, goodness, the staying power.

Slide 20. A single, 4-gram sugar packet (something this group probably dumped into their morning coffee trying to get ready for the 8 a.m. Saturday roll call) accompanied by this question: “How many people do you think can die from this tiny amount of fentanyl?”

The answer? Slide 21. 2,000 people.

“This packet can wipe out this whole school and staff,” Favela says. “From one year to the next, Monterey High could be there, then not there. Look to your left and right. Some of your friends aren’t going to be here if we don’t change.”

Fentanyl's dangerous impact

He reminded them that Monterey High School has already lost two students to drugs.

“And one of them sat in my office a week before they passed away,” he continues, struggling with his emotions as he sorts through the memories.

“I do get emotional,” he says. “When the last student died this past summer, I was in San Antonio watching my son graduate from basic training for the Air Force. I was crying tears of joy for my son and, at the same time, heartbroken for the kid we all cared about. You get to know these kids on a personal level, and you want to help them. You always wonder what you could have done differently.”

Bringing them close and presenting the Prescribe Safe education to an unwilling-turned-captive audience at the Saturday Academy is a definite start.

Award-winning drug prevention curriculum

Since Prescribe Safe launched its drug prevention classroom curriculum in December 2023, the education has reached:

• 13 schools
• 25 teachers
• About 1,300 students

Recently, the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) honored the program for partnering with schools to provide free drug prevention education and resources.

Last year, Prescribe Safe — founded in 2014 and funded through grant support from Montage Health Foundation — received the first Safe and Healthy Schools and Communities Leadership Award, given by MCOE and Monterey County Safe and Healthy Schools and Communities Coalition (MCSHSCC).

The MCSHSCC collaborative includes Prescribe Safe and more than 65 partners from healthcare, law enforcement, education, first responders, behavioral health, probation, juvenile justice, and other youth-supporting agencies focused on battling the county’s opioid crisis.

“Our hope is that, in addition to presenting facts, we’re also giving students problem-solving and decision-making confidence,” says Yasmine Elsherbini, Montage Health’s director of community health and wellness. “We want them to have the confidence to say ‘no.’”

Learn more about Prescribe Safe