Steered Straight
TRACY HARRIS-Staff Writer
Michael DeLeon, the founder of Steered Straight, shared his personal story on how to break the cycle of vaping and the dangers of drugs and alcohol last week. He made his rounds in Lewisburg on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, to sixth graders at Westhills and students at Marshall County High School.
Next, he presented the material to Lewisburg Middle School faculty. There was a free dinner at 5 p.m. and afterward, he gave the presentation to students, parents, and community members.
The Marshall County Prevention Coalition, Centerstone, Mercy Community Healthcare, Lewisburg Wesleyan Chapel, and the Marshall County Health Department were all in the LMS lobby with free resources.
His resume is extensive and very impressive. He is the founder of Steered Straight Inc., based out of Murfreesboro. He started the non-profit organization in 2007 after he was released from prison.
He is a self-described “behind the scenes guy,” and enjoys doing color correcting work. He started with video/camera work, then editing videos.
According to DeLeon, scaring kids does not work. He was part of A & E’s “Beyond Scared Straight” for the first five seasons. The statistics were alarming. He said that out of those kids, 80% wound up incarcerated, 15% wound up dead. That leaves 5%.
As a result, he started this program. The goal is not to scare anyone. This program reaches out to children, teens and young adults with a message of reality about life-choices and the importance of consequential thinking so they understand that there are consequences to their actions.
He founded Stay in Your Lane Media, the media arm of Steered Straight, in 2012, and has produced four award winning documentaries: Kids Are Dying, An American Epidemic, Marijuana X and Road to Recovery. His fifth documentary, Higher Power is currently in post-production.
His presentation showed facts on synthetic nicotine vapes, delta vapes, and the deaths across the country from vapes. He also showed the audience the vape he collected that day at a Lewisburg school that is being sent to a lab for testing.
For more information, help, and resources, please visit www.steeredstraight.org. There are numerous free resources for parents, teens, educators, and organizations on the website.
