Sister crusades against drugs
By Dana Yates, San Mateo Daily Journal
March 2, 2005
The sister of the Belmont teenager who died after taking Ecstasy last year is teaming with the Drug Enforcement Administration to warn kids about the dangers of drug use.
Imelda Perez was tapped by the DEA to talk to students across the country about her younger sister, Irma Perez, who died after using Ecstasy for the first time at a sleepover almost a year ago.
“I want to get this word out to the kids about taking Ecstasy and that it can be the first time and you can die,” Perez said.
A week before her sister would have turned 15, Imelda Perez was flown to New York to tell a classroom full of teenagers the graphic details of her younger sister’s final hours.
Her sister’s story is featured in traveling exhibit about the history of the DEA.
On April 23, 2004, Belmont middle schooler Irma Perez took one Ecstasy pill during a sleepover at a friends house. It reportedly was her first time trying the drug.
Shortly after taking the pill, Perez complained of a headache, dizziness, violent vomiting and a bleeding tongue. She told her sleepover companions she heard herself making “noises like a dead person.”
In the early morning, more than five hours later, she was moaning and screaming in agony as her brain swelled, her motor skills failed and eventually she became unresponsive. Her friends tried to help her by giving her marijuana and a shower.
An hour later, Imelda Perez was called to the house to pick up her younger sister and asked not to call 911 by parents of her sister’s friend.
Not a day goes by that Imelda Perez doesn’t rehash those final moments in her head. She’s tried therapy to help her through her anger toward the parents and depression over losing her sister. However, nothing helped her like telling her story for the first time in New York.
She tried to put herself in her sister’s scenario, being 14 and given a chance to experiment. She understands how kids would want to try something new, but few actually know that one pill can kill you, she said.
Perez never imagined she’d be talking to students about drugs and she never expected all the questions to pour out of their mouths. Students asked a range of questions regarding the drug and how it interacts with alcohol, if it affects sex or how it can interact with a pregnancy.
The serious questions have Perez hitting the books to get all the answer in preparation for her next presentation. The DEA is providing her with the correct information and informational pamphlets to hand out to students.
Perez is currently sorting out the details for a trip to Detroit to coincide with the opening of the DEA exhibit there. After that, she plans to talk to students in Belmont and other neighboring school districts, she said.
“If I can change one student out of each group I talk to I would be happy with that,” she said.
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