Attendees of the Tenino/Bucoda Healthy Action Team’s High in Plain Sight seminar check out T-shirts, hats and other items with drug-related logos and slogans. The demonstration was a part of a presentation by Officer Jermaine Galloway, of Tall Cop Says Stop. Galloway is a Boise, Idaho police officer who travels the country giving presentations on teen drug use.
Officer Jermaine Galloway of Boise, Idaho, gave a presentation in June 2015 at Tenino Elementary School on understanding drug references, concealment trends and other information on teen drug use.
Have you ever seen a T-shirt with a slogan reading, “Molly is my homegirl” and wonder, “Who’s Molly?”
It’s not a who, after all. Molly is a common street-name for MDMA, also called ecstasy.
Officer Jermaine Galloway, of Tall Cop Says Stop, also a police officer in Boise, Idaho, gave a presentation in Tenino Saturday on teen drug use and understanding current drug trends, street names and euphemisms.
“What today’s session will do … is help you raise those red flags,” he said to meeting attendees, including parents, educators, police and community leaders. “You start asking some questions and digging a little deeper.”
Galloway travels the country giving similar presentations. The Tenino/Bucoda Healthy Action Team sponsored Saturday’s presentation, called “High in Plain Sight.”
Galloway said he does research and talks to people in the towns he visits, “so I can see what’s changing and trending.”
He also discussed trends in concealing drugs, such as “stash compartments” in hats.
He said drug references, such as strains of marijuana like Kush, Purple Urkel and White Widow, are appearing on clothes marketed to mainstream audiences, including teenagers, in shopping malls.
Small towns aren’t isolated from national trends like they used to be, he said.
“With social media … with the Internet … with everything, they can find out what’s going in rural North Dakota … they can find out what’s going on everywhere,” he said.
Trends change so fast, it’s often difficult for parents and teachers to keep up, Galloway said.
“It is more potent now. We weren’t doing the same things,” he said. “Whatever it is you did, today’s kids are blowing you out of the water.”
Galloway also noted the rise of synthetic drugs such as spice and bath salts, and the popularity among teens of prescription cough syrups mixed with juice or soda.
He said some teens are also mixing alcohol with stimulants. He also warned of powdered alcohol, which has been banned in several states, including Washington.
Galloway said most drinking among teenagers is classified as binge drinking.
“They don’t drink because they had a hard day in math class, they drink to get drunk,” he said.
Stacia Wasmundt, community coordinator for the Tenino/Bucoda Healthy Action Team, which organized the event, said the program was well-received by those who attended.
“The workshop is called ‘High in Plain Sight’ because you could be looking for something, and it’s right there in front of you,” she said. “Officer Galloway said that our kids are always going to be one step ahead of us, but that’s why it’s so important to learn about those things so we can be aware of what’s going on with youth.”
Wasmundt said information about clothing with pockets intended to conceal drugs was particularly interesting.
“From conversations with attendees of the training, many people stated that one of the most surprising things they learned was about e-cigarettes and the fact that kids are using them to smoke marijuana and other drugs.”
Tenino City Councilor John O’Callahan attended the seminar and said he had seen one of Galloway’s presentations before, and was again impressed on Sunday.
“For me, personally, there’s new information here,” he said.
For more information on Galloway’s presentations, go to tallcopsaysstop.com.
