Pubdate: Mon, 17 Apr 2006
Source: Red Deer Advocate (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006 Red Deer Advocate
Contact:  http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2492
Author: Laura Tester
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

DRUGS WILL DESTROY DREAMS, RALLY TOLD

LACOMBE - Olympic silver medallist Lascelles Brown  threw his weight 
behind a big anti-drug cause.

The bobsleigh brakeman, who competed for Canada at the  Turin Winter 
Olympics in February, joined more than 300  residents marching 
through town on Saturday.

"Drugs is not the way to go," said Brown, after signing  an autograph 
during the second annual Anti-Drug March  in Lacombe.

Brown offered a message of hope and determination to  those who 
attended the march and rally that followed at  the community arena.

Brown was a member of the Jamaican bobsleigh team from  1999 to 2004 
before joining veteran pilot Pierre  Lueders in Calgary. The pair 
finished with silver in  the two-man event at Turin.

"I've gotten tested (for sports-enhancement drugs)  maybe 25 times in 
two years," said Brown, 31. "And I'm  happy with that, knowing that I 
got the silver medal  and I was clean.

"You have to stick to your dreams. Taking street drugs  can take away 
your dreams."

The Theology Club at Canadian University College  organized the march 
from the Terrace Ridge School to  the arena.

Spectators watched as the Red Deer Royals Marching Show  Band led the 
placard-waving marchers.

Sarah Picknell and a friend walked down the street with  a banner 
that read Winning the Fight Against Drugs.

"I support a drug-free lifestyle," said the 21-year-old  CUC student. 
"I know of people who have taken marijuana  and it's not done them any good."

Lance Penny, a representative with AADAC in Stettler,  told the arena 
crowd that 85 per cent of young people  aren't using illegal drugs.

But there are still risks out there, he said.

"We need to educate people of all ages," Penny said.

Wanda Johnson, a counselling director at the  Christian-based 
college, said individuals with strong  religious morals can get 
themselves in trouble as well.

"We know there are students at the college who are  using drugs," 
said Johnson, who has counselled some of  them.

She helps out with the IMPACT drug awareness program,  developed in 
1990 at the college. The Christian-focused  program reaches out 
mainly to elementary school  students.

Lacombe Pentecostal Church youth pastor Tonya Swift  carried a banner 
of photos of drug addicts she had  retrieved from the Internet. A 
poem, written by a young  crystal meth addict before she died, was 
also  displayed.

"Drugs are not just a social problem, but a spiritual  one too," 
Swift said. "People have pain in their past.  They try to escape it 
by drugs or in other ways."

She recently went on a mission trip with 17 local teens  to 
Vancouver's East Hastings Street, where substance  abuse is rampant. 
They met a 28-year-old crystal meth  addict, who was yelling and 
screaming at the time.

They noticed his leg was bandaged up.

"He thought there were insects running up and down his  leg, so he 
totally scratched up his leg," said Swift,  31.

She was told the man had a wife and a young son.

"Their lives are completely destroyed. It was a huge  eye-opener for 
me and the rest of the group."

Theology Club president Mathew Feeley, 24, knows of a  young woman 
who is trying to get off crack cocaine in  Lacombe.

"She said it could take her five minutes to get the  drug. No 
community is immune to it," he said. "We need  everyone's support to 
win the war against drugs in  Central Alberta."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom