Meth Destroys Youth Leadership Summit
Nashville Public Library (Main)
April 25, 2006
District Photos
Youth Leadership Summit - Morning Session
General Torry Johnson, 20th District Attorney General, welcomes Summit attendees to Nashville.
General Dan Alsobrooks, 23rd District Attorney General, gives Summit attendees an overview of the Meth Destroys campaign.
Wally Kirby, director of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference (TNDAGC), along with district attorneys from across the state, welcomes Gov. Phil Bredesen to the Summit.
With the support of the state’s district attorneys, Gov. Bredesen commends the Summit attendees for their commitment to spread the Meth Destroys campaign message to their peers and communities.
Recovering meth addicts Lyn Noland and Anne Matthews, General Bill Gibson (13th Judicial District), Vanderbilt medical student and researcher Lara Bratcher, and General Ron Davis (21st Judicial District) serve as panelists for the question-and-answer session.
During the session, students like Amanda King (Judicial District 8 representative) ask the panelists questions regarding their own experiences with methamphetamine.
Lyn Noland and Anne Matthews answer students’ questions openly and honestly about their personal fights with meth addiction. “I think the more honest that you are about this epidemic or about crystal meth, then the better the understanding will be for the kids. If we hold back from them, or lie to them or don’t tell them the complete story about how it’s made, what it’s made with and how easy it is to get, then we’re missing out,” said Matthews after the panel discussion.
Dickson County High School’s percussion group, Weapons of Mass Percussion (WMP), performs for the Summit attendees.
WMP was formed two years ago by Dickson County High School student Matt Tidwell in an effort to bring students across the state the message that Meth Destroys.
Youth Leadership Summit - Afternoon Session
Kimberly Brantley, from the Tennessee Commission on National and Community Service, works with the Summit attendees to develop community service plans for their own communities.
Summit attendees discuss the problems their communities have with methamphetamine and what they can do to effectively spread the Meth Destroys message.
Summit attendees work to assemble 200 care packages for children in Tennessee who will be taken out of meth-contaminated homes. When children are taken from a meth-contaminated home, they are often forced to leave everything behind.
These bags were designed to provide the children with necessities for an emergency overnight stay. Included in each bag is a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, socks, etc. Items for the bags were donated by the following organizations: Tennessee District Attorneys Association, Tennessee Dental Hygienists’ Association, Tennessee Dental Association, Tennessee 4-H, Procter & Gamble, Gaylord Entertainment, Renaissance Nashville Hotel, and The Children’s Clinic, P.A.
Shelby Noland, a Summit participant, presents the bags to representatives from the Tennessee Chapter of the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). Shelby and her younger brother were taken from their home when their mother was arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine. Three years later, their mom is clean and Shelby and her brother have returned home.
Rhiannon Hunter, a representative from the CAC, explains to the Summit attendees the significance of what they did. The care packages will be divided among the state’s 13 chapters of the CAC for further distribution to the children in need.
In the closing session, Ryan McCord, an 11th-grader from Chattanooga, shares with his fellow Summit attendees how his father’s life was ended early due to meth.
“I had a father. I had a best friend. I had a mentor, a pal, someone to talk to. I had love, and I had security; but meth took it away from me, and no one can ever give it back. But there is something that can be done. We can try our best to make sure that no one else has to tell the story that I do, we can try our best to take meth out of our schools and communities, and we can try our best to save people’s lives,” said McCord, encouraging Summit attendees to take back what they’d learned at the conference and implement it in their own communities.
In the closing session, General Elizabeth Rice, 25th district attorney general and president of the TNDAGC, announces the Meth Destroys Community Service Award that all Youth Leadership Council members are eligible to receive by going out into their communities and spreading the message that Meth Destroys.
