Pubdate: Tue, 12 Nov 2002
Source: Powell River Peak (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Peak Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1998
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/734

STUDENTS LEARN FACTS

Drug Education Program Is Aimed At Students, Parents, And Community

Organizers have planned special events in the community to observe National 
Addiction Awareness Week, November 17 to 23.

LEAD (Let's Educate About Drugs) volunteers will be staging the fourth 
annual Drug Awareness Carnival for all grade eight students in Powell River 
on November 18 at Oceanview Middle School.

Marianne Smisko, a LEAD committee member, said the students from all 
schools will come to Oceanview in two groups, one in the morning and the 
other in the afternoon. There will be 10 stations set up and at each 
station students participate in an interactive game or experience where 
they obtain information.

Randy Miller, the subject of a film on drug addiction, Through a Blue Lens, 
will be in Powell River for two days. Students will hear Miller speak on 
the day of the carnival.

That night, Miller will speak at an event for parents and the entire 
community. His presentation begins at 7 pm on Monday, November 18 in the 
Oceanview school commons.

In 1999, a few members of the Vancouver police department videotaped Miller 
and other drug users, in an effort to chronicle the life of drug addicts in 
Vancouver's downtown eastside. Not only did the filming result in the 
documentary, Through a Blue Lens, but the experience proved to be the 
turning point for Miller, who had spent 13 years in Vancouver's downtown 
eastside.

Miller went into recovery for 15 months, then made a commitment to reach 
out to children and youth to educate and inform them about the dangers of 
drug use.

He currently speaks at schools all over the country. His message has been 
described as powerful and gripping in its honest portrayal of the life and 
choices of a recovering drug addict.

On Tuesday, November 19, Miller will speak to Westview Learning Centre 
students and an assembly at Max Cameron Secondary School.

LEAD volunteers were also pleased when they received news that their 
committee was chosen as the 2002 recipient of the Crime Prevention and 
Community Safety Award for the Vancouver Island region.

The award is given out by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor 
General. It recognizes individuals and groups who have made outstanding 
contributions in their communities.
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MAP posted-by: Beth