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The frying pan that launched the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s public service announcement campaign was a distant memory at the organization’s benefit on Monday.

The only reminder of the spot with the voice-over, “This is your brain. This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs,” was the award presented to the MetLife Foundation’s president, Sibyl Jacobson: a gold-plated frying pan mounted under glass. It looked like a relic, and indeed, it is.

What didn’t look like a relic was the band Crazy James, composed of a dozen young adults who’ve been sober for anywhere from one month to five years. The band is a project of the nonprofit Road Recovery, in which music industry professionals help teenagers through mentoring and live performances.

They are young adults who have struggled with demons, yet on the stage of the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, in front of 600 guests, they had bright smiles and pride in their music, which they fully deserve.

Not discounting the 3,000 spots that have been created in the partnership’s 21-year history, nor the passion for the cause expressed by the chairman of the partnership, Roy Bostock, and the chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, William Weldon, the music of Crazy James — songs such as “Sweet Epiphany,” “Disease,” and “NYC RIP” — were more inspiring.

The partnership has recently launched a campaign to help parents, with online resources and a soon-to-go-live toll-free hotline. The partnership’s next goal should be making sure the nation hears the music of Crazy James, because helping young adults tell their story to other young adults is just as important as helping parents. At the very least, the band’s performance at the benefit next year should come earlier in the evening, and band members should be seated with patrons so they can tell their stories to the people who can fund the expansion of Road Recovery.

agordon@nysun.com