BENTONVILLE (KFSM) -- The Arkansas Attorney General's Office will partner with Bentonville West High School to launch a curriculum to teach students the dangers of prescription drug misuse and how to best avoid abuse.
"Prescription For Life" has been launched at five other high schools, including Southside High School in Fort Smith.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge was at Bentonville West Friday (Oct. 27) to help launch the program to students and staff.
The initiative is a half-hour digital course, which consists of self-guided animations and video, that gives students an updated and personalized look at the dangers of opioids.
"We thought [Prescription For Life] was important to have something individualized for each student," Rutledge said. "... Something in their language using this technology."
Launched in July, "Prescription For Life" is the first-of-its-kind course and is free for any Arkansas high school to implement.
After all, Arkansas ranks first in the nation for the misuse of painkillers for kids ages 12 to 17, according to Rutledge.
The sobering statistics are something Gina Allgaier knows all too well. Her son Tristan died from a drug overdose in June at the age of 21.
Allgaier said his battle with drugs started as a freshman at the University of Arkansas. His recreational marijuana use progressed into something much harder. "That quickly evolved to buying Adderall from some friends who told him it would help him do better on his tests," Allgaier said.
From there, Tristan's drug use escalated to harder substances, which eventually killed him.
Allgaier now makes it her mission to educate kids and parents.
Stories just like this are what prompted Rutledge to take action.
"We're wanting to get into every student across the state to talk to them and to teach them about the dangers of the use and misuse of prescription drugs," Rutledge explained.