LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Having lost his grandmother to a drunk driver’s actions at the impressionable age of 12 in 1990 and then seeing his aunt die from her addiction, New York State Police Trooper Craig Vedder takes substance abuse personally.

The injustice of the perpetrator receiving a sentence of four weekends in jail on charges unrelated to his grandmother’s death fueled his passion to enter the law enforcement field.

Vedder came to Sullivan West High School on April 11 to speak with students during the day and address adults in the evening at a Community Health Forum.

As the school and community outreach coordinator for New York State Police Troop F, Vedder is responsible for covering 230 public schools in five counties.

District Superintendent Dr. Nancy Hackett said the primary mission of the Community Task Force that organized the program is to address the question, “How do we keep all of our kids safe? The important thing is we care about them on all levels.”

Vedder said his goal was to raise awareness of signs that indicate potential illegal use of drugs as well as realizing that commonly available items can alter one’s state too.

“Alcohol is the number one abused substance in our society,” he said, adding that a canister of whipped cream can become a way to get high by manipulating the nitrous oxide.

Vaping and e-cigarettes have become the primary complaint in schools. Water vapor may be considered harmless, but heavy metals with carcinogens are introduced during the manufacturing of the device and marijuana can be easily added while smoking.

Vedder focused on marijuana and opioids, offering a long list of nicknames, cultural references, marketing techniques and patterns of behavior associated with both.

He said there is no such thing as a “safe” high when “you don’t know what you’re putting into your body.” That’s the case with so-called synthetic “potpourri,” which has been known to cause paranoia, seizures and hallucinations.

Vedder shared the statistic that Americans are the most drugged people on the planet, making up 5% of the world’s population but consuming 80% of the entire global supply of prescription painkillers.

“Just because it’s in a medicine cabinet doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you,” he said.

Opioids don’t discriminate and can lead to addiction. Overdose deaths are on the rise, with 64,070 reported in 2016.

Vedder praised the training session held before his program in the administration of Naloxone (NARCAN) nasal spray which has successfully reversed opioid overdoses but cautioned that a potent new synthetic additive known as Carfentanol—which is 100 times stronger than the Fentanyl drug that killed Michael Jackson—appears resistant.

He returned to the theme of paying attention to signs, doing research to be in the know and exerting positive influence.

“Use all the clues to solve the puzzle. Be a role model. Guide others down the right path,” Trooper Vedder urged.

The Task Force’s Community Health Forum also included a presentation on sexual harassment by National Honor Society students McKinley Bernitt, Kendra LaBagh and Leizel Schlott; and a talk by Sullivan County Public Health Educator Jill Hubert-Simon on ticks and Lyme disease.