The Drug Store shows drugs is bad business

Drugs, parties, police arrests and criminal courts – it was all there at the 11 th Annual Dug Store presentation held on Tuesday at the I.V. Expo.

Imperial County Sheriff Officer Tina Garcia said the Drug Store is a play that not only tells kids to say no to drugs – it also shows them what drugs can do. “We are showing extremes but we’re just hoping that it shocks them into understanding what their consequences could be,” Garcia said.

The Drug Store will run from Tuesday through Thursday with 23 schools countywide participating. “Showing them what can actually happen to them,” Garcia said.

Over 1,900 sixth graders will experience the play. “Sixth grade is probably the number one age for experimentation,” Garcia said.

This may be a play but the events are real. “Somewhere out there today there is a sixth grader possibly in an emergency room that is overdosed,” Garcia said.

The Drug Store project began seven years ago with only a few hundred students but now close to two thousand students participate. “The school’s absolutely love it! It just caught on and it’s grown like wildfire,” Garcia said. She hopes the Drug Store teaches kids that doing drugs is bad business.