Pubdate: Fri, 12 May 2000
Source: Drayton Valley Western Review (CN AB)
Copyright: 2000  Bowes Publishers Limited
Contact:  Box 6960 Drayton Valley, AB T7A 1S3
Fax: (780)542-9200
Website: http://www.bowesnet.com/draytonvalley/
Author: Mark Mellott

GETTING AN EDUCATION IN DRUG USE

Parents Learn About Big City Problems In Rural Alberta

Drug awareness is an important tool in helping teens to make the right 
lifestyle choices, but parents also need to be educated.

Last Wednesday at Grand Trunk high school in Evansburg approximately 34 
parents, teachers, RCMP members and an addictions counsellor discussed and 
learned about various drugs and their effects. The objective of the event 
hosted by the Evansburg and District Community Advisory Committee, was to 
share information about drugs and erase the myth smaller communities are 
immune from the problems of larger centres.

"We're no different, proportionately, than any other place," said Sgt. 
Steve Harrington of the Evansburg RCMP detachment. "We're not worse or 
better off than other places."

Shirley Gunderson, an addictions counsellor with Drayton Valley's AADAC 
office, took the crowd through a maze of stimulants which ranged from the 
everyday to those which parents only read about. From cigarettes to 
methamphetamine, parents and teachers learned about how they are used, the 
signs of use and their effects.

Gunderson said the signs of drug use can be obvious, but parents have to be 
willing to recognize the signs and then take action. Parents are often 
"enablers" to their child's drug addiction, whether it's alcohol or speed 
(methamphetamine).

It is a situation the police are very familiar with. Parents can 
continually rescue their children from school and legal problems, or ignore 
the signs which indicate there is an addiction problem. It may make the 
parent feel better, but it does nothing to help put a child back on the 
right path.

"A lot of parents don't know, or don't want to know," Harrington told the 
parents. "You're not doing them any favours."

Const. Lori Dore provided the parents with a rundown of what drugs are 
prevalent in the are, which includes Evansburg, Drayton Valley and the 
Breton detachment areas. Marijuana, speed and ecstasy are the three main 
narcotics of choice. Speed, the "poor man's cocaine," is one narcotic that 
is more popular in this area than any other in Alberta. It can be smoked, 
sniffed and injected. Signs of use can be lack of sleep when using, to 
broken light bulbs which are used to heat the speed when smoking.

The list of drugs, how they are used and their effects is long. Absorbing 
all the information is a daunting task, but the meeting was a start. 
Providing the information is a part of the process to help parents, help 
their children.

"We'll see what happens here," Harrington said. "A little bit at a time."
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