GameChanger expanding efforts to combat opioid, other drug addiction

The goal is clear: To prevent students from misusing opioids and other drugs before they get started.

The brainchild of Executive Director Joe Boczek after he personally saw addiction affect his daughter, GameChanger has grown with the addition of great corporate and government partners.

That will be on display May 24-25 at The Greenbrier during the GameChanger Golf Classic, which will feature more than 50 golf teams comprised of supporters and celebrities, as well as a kickoff banquet featuring legendary college basketball coach Roy Williams.

That event, as well as tremendous corporate sponsors, including one anonymous matching gift of $10 million over five years, has positioned the GameChanger program for growth, helping to reach even more children in the near future.

“We feel like we’ve been very blessed,” Boczek said during an interview leading up to the Golf Classic “This was an ambitious dream of many people. And three years later, through the efforts of many, it’s worked.”

Boczek beams when he discusses GameChanger’s multiple-platform approach to reaching young people — from large-scale rallies (prior to the pandemic) to the current pilot program in schools and a 34-minute video featuring former West Virginia University basketball star Meg Bulger.

“We are currently in 12 pilot schools, and we are pointing to adding an additional 50 by this fall,” Boczek said of age-appropriate programming designed by Hazelden.

The K-5 program is teacher-led, while the middle and high school programs are designed to be student-guided.

“We are fortunate to have the support of the West Virginia Department of Education and Gov. Justice, who serves as our head coach, really promoting the program,” Boczek said.

Harrison County School Superintendent Dora Stutler, who also serves on the GameChanger board, said the program is in three of her schools, with a fourth to be added in the fall.

“It’s reaching out to kids (in the program),” Stutler said. “It’s a consistent, sustainable program, curriculum-based in elementary schools and peer-based on the middle and high school levels.”

Stutler said the program provides insight to educators and medical professionals so “we can get to the root of why kids are doing it and where they are getting it.”

“It really does provide students with the skills to make good decisions,” she said.

While ultimately the GameChanger Board of Directors, Boczek and Justice want to have the curriculum in all 781 state schools by 2027 or 2028, the program isn’t waiting, focusing additional efforts on outreach programs.

The current effort is focused on the alarming impact of fentanyl-laced pills that are killing young people.

The video “One Pill Can Kill” explains the dangers of taking drugs, especially those that the person doesn’t know the source of. Documented cases of youth taking a pill not realizing it contains the highly potent and deadly fentanyl have exacerbated the opioid addiction crisis throughout the nation, but especially in high areas of addiction, like West Virginia.

“We’ve reached more than 50,000 kids in schools through the video,” Boczek said. “And we want every kid to see and understand the potential of even one pill.”

He said a parent toolkit is available in conjunction with the DEA, and GameChangers is working to develop a teacher toolkit to utilize the video and other exercises in all classrooms.

Larry Puccio, who serves as the GameChanger board chair, said the video grew out of a meeting they were having with the DEA in Washington, D.C.

“They told us of the crisis going on right now, of our young people ordering drugs off social media. They are counterfeit pills and the kid may think he’s ordering Adderall to help him focus for a test, but it’s laced with fentanyl and we lose that kid,” Puccio said.

“We said right then we had to do something. We couldn’t wait, so the concept was developed with the video. Kids have to understand that if they take a pill that doesn’t come from a drug store or their doctor, there’s a chance they can lose their life. That pill’s just not worth it.”

“Kids have to know that when they are buyings pills over the internet or social media, that there’s a real risk and danger,” Boczek emphasized. “They are playing a very bad game of Russian roulette.”

He’s pleased to see the support the GameChanger initiative has received and believes it is making a difference.

“I think everybody in West Virginia is pulling together to address this West Virginia problem,” Boczek said.