Pubdate: Mon, 05 Feb 2007
Source: Meridian Booster (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007, The Lloydminster Meridian Booster
Contact:  http://www.meridianbooster.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1590
Author: John B. Spigott
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

WAR ON DRUGS BEGINS TODAY

The Lloydminster Area Drug  Strategy and Action Committee (LADSAC) 
has set their  goals for 2007 and is ready to buckle down and get 
to  work in the community, starting today.

LADSAC, a group created in March last year, is made up  of more than 
a dozen prominent local organizations that  have joined forces with 
the City of Lloydminster to  formulate a made-at-home drug action 
plan. Today marks  the first of a number of awareness presentations 
slated for the upcoming year as Holy Rosary high school and  Lloyd 
Comp high school will be visited by two speakers  from the Regina and 
Area Drug Strategy Speakers  Program. The two speakers will share 
their experiences  with substance abuse with students, parents, and 
interested community members in the hopes of inspiring  positive change.

"In trying to lay out our goal for the year, what we  found was the 
recurring theme was coming back around  education and awareness in 
the community," said LADSAC  co-ordinator Teressa Krueckl. "Bringing 
in different  presenters and speakers to do workshops to target 
different groups was a big project we wanted to  undertake."

The two speakers -- a 19-year-old woman and a  19-year-old man -- are 
coming from the Regina area with  stories of their own personal 
battles with alcohol and  drug abuse. Krueckl says while this round 
of presentations will be geared primarily towards high  school 
students, it is important for parents and the  community to come out 
and listen, with the hope it will  better equip everyone to deal with 
substance abuse in  the community.

"This time around, we're going to target the high  schools," said 
Krueckl. "But a big piece of it for us  is we want the community to 
get involved. Our mission  statement is around mobilizing the 
community to  decrease substance abuse we want parents, councilors 
- -- all those in attendance -- to come and listen like  everyone else."

Krueckl says while it is important to reach out to the  younger age 
groups to address substance abuse, the  LADSAC will not focus the 
presentations and workshops  that are on the agenda for the year 
solely on  adolescents and young adults.

"They (students) are still in the age where you feel  you can still 
make a difference," said Krueckl. "It  gets a little harder with the 
older age groups because  they have potentially been doing this for years.

"If kids are sitting and listening to people who are  more in their 
age group, they are more likely to  comprehend and recognize they 
maybe have some of those  things going on in their life."

The presentations run from 9:56 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. this  morning at 
Holy Rosary and from 2:08 p.m. to 3:08 p.m.  at Lloyd Comp. There 
will also be a parent-volunteer  luncheon at the Common Wealth Centre 
from 11:45 a.m. to  1:15 p.m.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman