David Siegel Shares Vision For Victoria's Voice Foundation At GNEX 2016

(TRAVPR.COM) USA - March 24th, 2016 - Orlando, Florida - March 24, 2016 - (INTUITION by Perspective Group) - In June of 2015, David Siegel lost his beloved daughter Victoria to a drug overdose at the young age of 18. This tragic, immense loss inspired him to devote himself to a very important cause: shining a bright light on the pandemic of drug addiction plaguing the United States and the resources needed to course correct the devastating direction in which too many teens are headed.  In fact, there are over 24 million people currently using illegal drugs in America and over 50,000 people are dying from drug overdoses each year.  This is more than the number of people that die each year from car accidents.  In addition, there were 7,800 new users of illicit drugs per day in 2013, and over half were under 18.ⁱ Frighteningly, that means more than 3,600 kids a day try an illicit drug for the first time.

Through his new Victoria’s Voice Foundation, David and his family will bring this pressing issue to the national stage, championing specific initiatives directed at reducing experimentation, addiction and overdose deaths. This includes:

• Legislation and a campaign to encourage locking up prescription medications.

• Legislation and a campaign for the co-prescription of naloxone every time an opiate pain killer is prescribed. Naloxone is a completely safe opiate reversal drug that can instantly pull someone out of an overdose state – even on the verge of death – into an immediate withdrawal. It is lifesaving and non-addictive. Every first responder should carry it and every university and college should have it available.

• A policy platform for voluntary drug testing in partnership with educational institutions.

This year, the Victoria’s Voice Foundation was selected as the charity of choice for the GNEX 2016 Timeshare Leaders Conference in New Orleans, La. A live auction raised a total of $20,885 for the Foundation.

 David Siegel delivered a heartfelt speech citing the alarming statistics of teen drug use and the efforts the Foundation supports to stem this crisis. He informed the audience that an estimated 24.6 million Americans ages 12 or older, or 9.4 percent of the population, have used an illicit drug in the past month. He also mentioned that drug overdoses were the leading cause of injury death in 2013, greater than car accidents and homicides.

“I have built a very successful company, but now my only mission in life is to save lives and hopefully prevent other parents from going through what our family has experienced from the death of our beloved Victoria”, said David Siegel President and Chairman of the Board of Westgate Resorts.

More than 30 products and services were auctioned to senior-level executives from across the globe, including vacation getaways, signed sports memorabilia, furniture, cookware and some of the latest mobile technology gadgets. 

“We were honored to have David Siegel share his vision for Victoria’s Voice with our attendees, and grateful to all that were so generous in providing and purchasing auction items in support of the Foundation’s work,” said Paul Mattimoe, President and CEO of Perspective Group.

For more information about the Victoria’s Voice Foundation, visit http://victoriasiegelfoundation.org

About Perspective Group

Perspective Group provides the resort and shared ownership industry’s most comprehensive, independent multi-media marketing and publishing services globally. Products and services range from intensive PR & Multimedia services such as INTUTION – a brand visibility service that includes custom content creation and distribution, social media monitoring, online marketing and brand reputation management – to the Perspective Magazine brand, which publishes the leading independent trade publication globally as well as custom membership magazines for clients.

Perspective Group is a media sponsor of more than 30 industry events per year and serves on a number of trade association committees. The group also hosts its own annual industry leader event, the Global Networking Expo (GNEX Conference), and Canadian Resort Conference (CRC) on behalf of the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA). For more information, visit www.perspectivemagazine.com.

About GNEX Conference

Hosted by Perspective Group, the leading global PR & Multimedia Company for the resort and shared ownership industry, the Global Networking Expo (GNEX) has created a truly unique conference format that focuses heavily on networking. Each year, the conference is shaped by the senior-level industry executives who attend. The conference, now in its sixth year, has not only become a major event on the resort and shared ownership industry’s calendar, but also is hailed by many of its attendees as the one conference they must attend. For more information visit www.gnexconference.com.

Works Cited:

• In 2013, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) estimated that, within the past year, 24.6 million people 12 or older (9.4 percent of the population) live with substance dependence or abuse http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014.htm  
• 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014.htm  
•  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 8,200 Americans die annually from heroin overdoses http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db190.htm; and Americans die every day from opioid prescription drug overdoses; that translates to almost two deaths an hour and 17,000 annually. CDC Vital Signs, July 2014 http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/opioid-prescribing/
• According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) (2014), drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2012, killing more than motor vehicle accidents. 
• CDC Vital Signs, July 2014 http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/opioid-prescribing/
• 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014.htm

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