A Sunday protest in Sterling to raise awareness about the dangers of spice was mainly comprised of locals affected by the designer drug.
While holding a sign, Senator Peter Micciche credited the protest’s organizer Jessica Burch for sharing her story of spice addiction in order to bring the problem to his attention.
Sen. Micciche(R-District 0): “If you walk through this crowd here and ask you’ll hear about a sister, or a brother, or a child, or a parent that has been adversely affected by spice. They’re here holding signs and hoping to make a difference in our community.”
Sandra Sterling displayed a picture of her daughter to the passing traffic, whose death Sterling believes was caused in-part due to the ever-changing chemicals in the packaged drug.
Sterling: “I tried and she couldn’t save herself. And of course, we can’t save other people we can only try to support them in their path to recovery, they have to want to go. If this helps someone else’s child not have the kind of life that my daughter ended with, dying alone, then this was worth every bit of discomfort and grief that it brings out in me today.”
Larissa Arbelovsky says the protest was the first event she was able to attend without breaking down after her brother’s passing.
Arbelovsky: “Three years ago my 20-year-old brother committed suicide after experimenting with spice. It’s a dangerous drug in our community and I don’t want to see anybody else lose their children or their sons or their brothers or their sisters or anybody over it again.”
A few protesters, like Terri Gelosa, have not been directly impacted by spice but were compelled to attend the event.
Gelosa: “I have a brother who died of a heroin overdose and a sister who’s addicted to crystal meth and this is just kind of something that hits close to home.”
The protest was held in front of Tobacco Distress, whose owner declined to comment on record but shared this product description.
The business also posted a sign offering protesters free coffee.
