NEW HAVEN, Ind. (WPTA) - East Allen Career Center and Alternative School students heard from someone who lived through drug addiction and gang violence during the school’s annual Public Safety Display Day Wednesday.

As conversations about youth violence and drug use continue in the community, students got the opportunity to hear from Michael Deleon, founder of Steered Straight, a program that teaches teens about consequences of bad choices.

Deleon believes youth violence stems from one source.

“The thread through the fabric of all youth violence is drugs,” Deleon said. “There is no youth violence without drugs.”

Deleon discussed his lifelong battle with addiction, gangs, and incarceration during his presentation.

“Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” h

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