Safe School Institute<\/a> with presentations on more than a dozen topics. <\/p>\nA recent substance use presentation made a big impression at CAST Tech High School.<\/p>\n
One CAST Tech student believes the information she learned will help save lives. Melanie Limon, a junior, now feels more empowered than ever to talk about the issue. <\/p>\n
\u201cRather than being scary, it was informational,\u201d Limon said. \u201cWhich I feel is a lot better.\u201d <\/p>\n
Her first message to adults is that local kids are using substances, whether or not parents want to accept that as fact. <\/p>\n
\u201cKind of an alarming amount of people, surprisingly,\u201d Limon said. <\/p>\n
That being said, she knows the reality is scary.<\/p>\n
\u201cFentanyl can be mixed into drugs,\u201d Limon said. \u201cLike, you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re taking.\u201d <\/p>\n
Crime Stoppers of Houston statewide education specialist Cally Conklin said the biggest concern is vapes. Vapes are not only dangerous due to the heavy metals and toxic chemicals ingested when someone inhales aerosol, she said the danger of vapes is also about what else could be hidden within the vape. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey say, \u2018Oh, my friend got this at a gas station. It only contains nicotine.\u2019 That is no longer the case,\u201d Conklin said. \u201cWe are seeing vapes laced with THC and even fentanyl. You can never really know truly what\u2019s in that cartridge.\u201d <\/p>\n
She talks to students without judgment and explains what\u2019s happening in their brains when they use potential substances in vapes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey think that they can control it. They think, \u2018OK, well, I\u2019m going to try it once, or I\u2019m only gonna do it at parties.\u2019 But it quickly becomes much more of a habit,\u201d Conklin said. \u201cThose dopamine spikes that they get from ingesting different substances register more greatly than they would in an adult\u2019s brain, so they are more susceptible to addiction.\u201d <\/p>\n
She also warns students that if they\u2019re caught with vapes or other substances in school, it could change the direction of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is immediate removal from the school campus and immediate enrollment in a DAEP (Disciplinary Alternative Education Program) for a certain period of time,\u201d Conklin said. <\/p>\n
For Limon, the biggest takeaway from the presentation was Crime Stoppers\u2019 anonymous tip line. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be helpful to a lot of teenagers because it is hard to go to counselors, go to principals, really any adult,\u201d Limon said. \u201cAs much as you do trust them, it is a scary process.\u201d <\/p>\n
Limon said there is strength in admitting that you need help and hopes her peers will reach out if they\u2019re struggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not, under any circumstances, be afraid to report something that you genuinely think can go wrong in the future or you\u2019re seeing it get bad,\u201d Limon said. <\/p>\n
Limon said another big takeaway from the presentation was about leaving judgement out of addiction. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey did introduce a lot of points as to why people will be taking these drugs and a lot of them were quite sad \u2014 quite frankly \u2014 because people go through traumatizing things, and they turn to that because they find no other solutions,\u201c Limon said. \u201dIt really just shows like the human side of it all.” <\/p>\n
Conklin said that lack of judgment is how she gets her message across and encourages other adults to do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do have a problem, I am not here to judge you. I\u2019m here to offer you solutions and help and support,\u201d Conklin said. \u201cBecause that student is probably feeling a lot of shame to begin with, so the last thing they need is an adult telling them that they\u2019ve done something wrong. As adults, we care way more about your safety than we do about judging you or getting you in trouble.\u201d <\/p>\n
Any schools that may be interested in bringing a Crime Stoppers presentation to their school can call 713-521-4600 or send an email to info@crime-stoppers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nAnyone of any age who needs help with substances use can call the 24\/7 confidential help line through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). <\/p>\n
Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or text your 5-digit zip code to HELP4U, which is 435748.<\/p>\n
More local news coverage on KSAT: <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio teens are learning how addiction affects them and their friends through presentations at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10878,61827,4223,163,56,4042,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-148336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-addiction","9":"tag-cast-tech-high-school","10":"tag-crime-stoppers","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-saisd","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","16":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}