The setting took place in my home, specifically in my daughters bedroom and bathroom. Tim McMahon, Special Agent from the DEA was approached by the television show, Inside Edition to see if the DEA would be interesting in being featured on the show to highlight their program to show just how easy it is for adolescents to bring and hide drugs in the home.
The Inside Edition team came to my house along with Brian Alzate (Owner) and Chris LiVolsi (Director of Admissions) from United Recovery Project in Florida (unitedrecoveryproject.com) Brian, who has been in recovery himself for over 10 years made mock bags of drug and foil pieces to use as props. Tim McMahon brought a variety of objects and commonly used drugs and paraphernalia that could be used to hide substances. They hid the objects in various places and myself along with Karen Stout, a friend of mine who has three teenage daughters herself, agreed to try searching for the drugs. Karen wanted to use this as a learning opportunity to stay informed and help other parents who may need guidance.
Pick Awareness will post when this segment will be aired. Please see photo's below from the Inside Edition shoot and check out PickAwareness's page, "Hiding Places" for our take on tips www.pickawareness.com/hiding-places.html.
Special Agent Timothy McMahon can be reached at the below email if anyone would like to bring this program to their school or community: (Timothy.P.McMahon@usdoj.gov)
Please remember if you should suspect drug use of any kind, the snooping rule goes out the window! Search away! You know your child better than anyone. If you notice anything different it's better to be safe then sorry.
Check these signs and symptoms of Drug Use, from The Partnership for a Drug Free N.J.: www.drugfreenj.org/signsandsymptoms/
God Bless,
Donna