Our Future and Our Present [Blog] – Generation Justice

As I was listening to the Generation Justice radio shows on heroin addiction I felt saddened by the loss of the young people that battled with addiction, but I also was hopeful and humbled when I heard what the Heroin Awareness Committee and the students at the Media Arts Collaborative Charter School (MACCS) were doing to raise awareness to this cause. When I first heard that MACCS was working on an album to raise attention to drug addiction in honor of a fellow student, my first thought was ‘what a good way to take something as tragic as the death of a young person and try to make a positive effect on our community through music.’ I remember when MACCS student Haley Paternoster lost her battle with heroin addiction. I had one class with Haley and I remember her as a very smart and creative young lady, and at the time I was shocked that we had lost her at such a young age to a powerful and deadly drug. One of the songs in the show that really opened my eyes was the song by Cameron Weiss who also lost his battle with addiction, because you hear what teens may face as they battle with drugs, and his words are so personal that they add another perspective.  I was also shocked by the fact that $300,000 of heroin is sold every single day.  As a community we need to find a way to help and prevent this from happening because these young people are not only our future but they are our present. We can’t afford to lose their voices and their ideas. I would like to thank MACCS and the Heroin Awareness committee for bringing attention to this important issue.

by: Victor Torres