Drug specialists from Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) visited ninth grade students to talk to them about the damage caused from drug use and prevention strategies from Jan. 7 to 11. These lessons were given during students’ English or Science periods. The effort is part of FCD’s nationwide campaign against drug usage.

The three representatives were Deirdre Flynn, Rodney Poole and George Brown. Flynn explained the purpose of the program.

“The purpose of our intensive student education program is to help students learn to think critically about the topic, give them facts about the topic of substance use and abuse and help them work through and find healthy alternatives for themselves so they hopefully, as a group, stay healthier than they were,” Flynn said.

Students generally had positive opinions on the FCD program.

“I thought that [the FCD representatives] were very knowledgeable, and that they generally helped the students understand more about drugs and make better educated choices,” Aiden Schiller ’22 said.

Flynn, in return, explained her thoughts on the students of Harvard-Westlake.

“We have been struck by how open the students here are. Generally, the students here seem so willing to have this conversation and to talk, and that isn’t always something that happens very quickly at schools, so we feel like the students here must feel very safe and comfortable and valued at this school,” Flynn said.