21st annual Drug Store Project coming to South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe community has many hard-working individuals who continue to put the health and welfare of our youth as their top priority. Drug and alcohol prevention, for many of us, is the foundation for overall youth success. Drug and alcohol-free youth lead to healthier, happier, and more productive adults. Students who abstain from experimentation, are more likely not to use or abuse drugs or alcohol in the future. Plainly stated, prevention is the key to more positive and successful lives overall.

The 21st annual Drug Store Project for all 6th-grade youth takes place on the Lake Tahoe Community College campus on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Our goal is to provide youth with the information they need to make healthy decisions when it comes to drug and alcohol experimentation, use, and abuse.

Collectively 45 agencies and organizations on the local, state, and federal level plus community volunteers, will guide our youth through a reality-based storyline of what can happen to anyone who chooses to make unhealthy decisions. The constant message for the day is “Choices, what are yours?”

Our goal is to not only educate our youth, but their parents and families as well. Drugs in our communities are present and will always be. The key will be whether people “choose” to use or not. This is the only way we can combat the drug problem that plagues every community throughout the world. TASK (Tahoe Alliance for Safe Kids) has been very active in our community, providing those who signed up, with a monthly “Did You Know?” campaign through text messaging. Like TASK, the Drug Store Project provides all families with a Community Bag filled with printed material in English and Spanish, plus harm reduction tools for families. On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, we hope that parents will take the time to review their child’s experience, review the contents of the Community Bag, and take four minutes to complete our Parent Survey online at www.drugstoreproject.org.

The Drug Store Project is an annual event, entirely paid for by grants, donations, and support from many organizations. Visit our website to learn more about the program, see our many sponsors, donors, and volunteers, and learn from videos we created for use during COVID-19. If you are a community wanting more information on how to provide your own program, contact us at tahoedsp@gmail.com

Lisa Huard & Theresa Papandrea
Drug Store Project Coordinators