As one of four small children in the family, I can remember fighting for the mail upon delivery. Grandma lived several hundreds of miles away and always sent us goodie packages. The special box always contained a hand- written letter, a small trinket and some sort of candied treats. My favorites were the cinnamon Red Hots and Raisinets.
One summer afternoon, my youngest brother came in the house to tell my mother “I didn’t like that candy that Michael gave me”. He had all sorts of colors smeared all over his face and down his shirt. It turned out that the boys had gotten into the mail truck. They knew the mailman always brought Grandma’s packages and they wanted to get there first. The boys didn’t know that the package they opened was for someone who waited for their heart medication to be delivered. Michael was found outside, sleeping along the side of the house. The little boys were rushed to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. I only recall that they had been there to get better because it wasn’t candy that they ate. Knowing what can happen when prescription medications get into the wrong hands is what attracted me to Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Commissioner Theresa Scott – District 7
Today, prescription medicines are shipped in a more secure fashion. ASAP of Anderson County is proactively teaching the community about prescription medications and the dangers they pose to children, and warning signs of additions to teens and adults. ASAP offers lock boxes for the home, have proper medicine disposal bins at police stations for collections of unused medicines and educate the young people of our county through the “I Am One” campaign. I am thankful for the small team of employees and big-hearted volunteers who keep our county safe. I sure wish they were around while I was growing up. I am very proud to boast my support for ASAP because they genuinely work for Anderson County to have a more positive tomorrow.
Theresa Scott
Commissioner ~ District 7
