RIVESVILLE, W.Va. (WBOY) — Over the past few weeks, kids all over the state of West Virginia joined in on the Attorney General’s Kids Kick Opioids Contest. Kids could submit their PSAs in the form of a poem, drawing, cartoon or anything else that could promote awareness of prescription opioid abuse.

Kiley Ford, an eighth grader at Rivesville Middle School, was inspired by her teacher to enter the West Virginia Attorney General’s Seventh Annual Youth Opioid Awareness PSA Contest. She chose to enter with a drawing and said her inspiration was something gross.

“I just wanted it to be like gross, because drugs are gross, and I know because I’ve seen it person,” said Kiley Ford, Kids Kick Opioids Contest Winner.

Rivesville Middle School has competed in the contest for the last six years. Chris Malnick, the Middle School Social Studies Teacher, encourages his students to enter the contest to help them understand the dangers of opioid abuse and opioid addiction.

Chris Malnick, Rivesville Middle School Social Studies Teacher, said, “It’s a very, very um dangerous topic. It’s a topic that affects all of West Virginia. For many years West Virginia has been in the top two or three um, in overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, so its hit West Virginia very hard. So, I feel that the only way that we can defeat this opioid epidemic is by starting with our youth.”

Ford’s design will soon appear in newspapers across West Virginia as the Attorney General’s next public service announcement.