When those of us of a certain age were growing up we were inundated with anti-drug messages. From then-First Lady Nancy Reagan to the “this is your brain on drugs” guy frying eggs, an attempt was made to drill a “just say no” message into our collective heads. Some of us listened, too many didn’t.

Michael DeLeon is hoping the young people he’s reaching out to across the country listen this time around. DeLeon, an Irish immigrant who moved to the United States with his family as a toddler, is a motivational speaker, a documentarian, and the founder of Steered Straight, Inc., “a 17-year proven program that does not explain drug prevention at school assemblies but teaches the reality of drugs and devises a prevention message the students implement themselves within their school system.”

“The only way we’re going to solve this problem with addiction, the drug pandemic in America, is to get to the young, because that’s where it starts, so if you can prevent them from starting in the first place, you can end it, you have to get in front of young people,” DeLeon said. “This generation is the authenticity generation, they see what’s going on in this country and they crave truth.”

He is also an ex-con who spent 12 years in state prison in a case that involved the murder of his mother. DeLeon’s overarching message to the students of Aberdeen High School on Wednesday during a presentation titled Straight Talk was for them to “find your purpose” and to prevent them from growing up to be like him.

An engaging and animated DeLeon told the students, “I am sick and tired of going to funerals.”

According to the Steered Straight official website, “We have found that the ‘just say no’ message has not worked, nor will discipline and scare tactics. To actively achieve students wanting to stop using whatever substance, on whatever level and on their own, is the only method. However, it takes an engaging and powerful message. Michael DeLeon and his team delivers that.”

Property developer Terry Emmert of Emmert International sponsored DeLeon’s appearance and introduced him to a packed gym of students, administrators and educators.

“We need this in the community, we need a person with his credentials, his ability, his presentation, to let our youth know that the problem with drugs is that you’re going to pay for it the rest of your life, your family is going to pay for it,” Emmert said. “We don’t need this in our community, we need to rid this. It doesn’t matter whether it’s alcohol, or whatever, it’s all poison, all we have to do is look around our streets of Aberdeen and see what’s going on.”

DeLeon, a two-time cancer survivor, spent nearly two hours recalling his childhood and the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of family members and sexual abuse perpetrated by a counselor, his parents’ divorce, and his introduction to cigarettes and alcohol which stemmed from a lack of faith in “trusted adults.”

He said he was a heroin addict by the time he left high school and that he regretted not telling any number of people who could have helped what was going on with him. Drugs and alcohol became a coping mechanism.

“People are easily misled that it’s a solution to the problem, it’s a way to cope, you’re high, your mind is altered, your mood is altered chemically, but it’s not real, it’s a fake high,” DeLeon said. “It’s completely misleading, you think you’re solving the problem but you’re causing yourself more of a problem but it’s less stigmatized, kids are looking for a way out, to self-medicate to handle their problems, and drugs and alcohol is the easiest way to do that.”

The married father of two told the heart-wrenching story of his mother’s murder and how his gun running and drug dealing led to her death and his incarceration. DeLeon said his son was 7 and his daughter was 5 when he went to prison.

DeLeon then launched into numerous sobering examples of kids who died or nearly died from drug overdoses and the unknown and hidden dangers of vaping.

One particular story that resonated with the students involved the 2015 death of 18-year-old Victoria Siegel, the daughter of David and Jackie Siegel of Queen of Versailles fame. Victoria had kept a diary and DeLeon convinced the family to publish it as a book. David shipped six cases of Victoria’s Voice to Aberdeen High School and DeLeon handed out copies to any student who wanted one.

DeLeon received several cheers and ovations during his presentation.

“The kids are very receptive, it’s impacting kids. I’m very grateful for the reception, the engagement, for the believing of my truth that I’m sharing with them,” DeLeon said. “It’s just beyond my wildest dreams how receptive kids have been to the truth.”

DeLeon, who has produced four documentaries — Kids Are Dying, An American Epidemic, Marijuana X and Road to Recovery — preaches getting high on God, or life, or sports, or music, anything other than addictive substances like nicotine, alcohol and marijuana (THC).

After speaking to Aberdeen High School students, DeLeon gave a presentation to the Aberdeen City Council during their regular meeting and offered his curricula to the city and its educators for free.

Michael DeLeon describes the fentanyl crisis and tells cautionary tales about drug-related deaths.

Michael DeLeon addresses the Aberdeen City Council.