Pubdate: Tue, 27 Feb 2007
Source: Whitecourt Star (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 Whitecourt Star
Contact:  http://www.whitecourtstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/718
Author: Chandra Lye
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG PROOF YOUR CHILDREN WITH HELP FROM WHITECOURT RCMP

Workshops designed specifically for parents hoping to safeguard their
children from the harmful effects of drugs will be starting in
Whitecourt on March 6.

The program, How to Drug Proof Your Kids, will be taught in six
sessions at the Forest Interpretive Centre and registration deadline
is this Thursday.

Whitecourt RCMP member Const. Charlotte Sorensen said the workshop was
important for the town.

"I believe drugs are a huge problem in Whitecourt," she
said.

"I think it's become more of a problem since the boom. We have so many
transients coming in and out and the drugs are just following that
trend."

"The drugs come where the money is."

"I believe that 90 per cent of what we deal with on a daily basis is
either drug or alcohol related," she added.

"We're hoping to help parents, help them communicate and understand
what they are looking for," she said, "to give them tools that they
can use to communicate to their kids, to help their kids, when they do
reach that problem."

The workshop will cover why kids take drugs, how to educate them on
making good choices, learning to intervene and where to get help as
well as handling relapses.

Sorensen said they were hoping that parents who have kids in recovery
would come out and share their stories.

"Their struggles, the things that worked for them, and kind of share
that within the group."

"We just want to give parents tools to maybe help us curb this problem
or prevent it in their family before it starts."

She said reaction to previous workshops had been positive.

"Most people said it has helped them -- they know what signs to look
for on their kids. What the drugs look like -- we do actually bring
some of them in -- something they can look at so they can identify how
their kids are acting, what kind of behaviours, smells, just those
kinds of things."

One of the first signs of a problem, according to Sorensen, was who
kids were hanging out with.

"If you know that your kids are hanging out with other kids that
you're not to sure about   that would probably be the first one I
would look at," she said.

She said another sign was the smell, particularly of marijuana and how
the smell lingers in their hair and clothes as well as a change in
personality.

"They can become uncaring, and they have no remorse for anything
they've done. They start stealing from their family, from their
friends and grades go down in school."

Drug problem among the youth, she added, was not confined to one
particular society group.

"It can happen to anyone, in every family. We've seen it in every walk
of life in this town. It's not something that is isolated to one
section of the population."

The program was developed by Focus on the Family out of British
Columbia, she said, but it was not religion based.

The program was created for parents who want to prevent drug abuse in
their kids as well as those who may already be suspicious.

"So that they can hopefully talk to their kids about the do's and
don'ts and it's also designed to teach parents of their own behaviours
and what their kids pick up on," Sorensen said.

"We all wear the Molson Canadian t-shirts and things like that," she
said, and added that was one of the things the sessions would address.

"You have to look at your own actions and behaviours and try to
reflect how you want your kids to act. The most important job you have
is as a parent and you're responsible for how your kids grow up."

She said that every age was at risk.

"There is a limit to what we can do with anyone under the age of 12
but we've talked to kids that are starting to experiment a little bit
and they are getting younger and younger, because maybe their siblings
are in it or they hear about it at school and think 'that's really
cool' or things like that."

Sorensen will be leading the program on her own this year but said
they were hoping to set up a new course to train facilitators and that
anyone who was interested should let the town know.

"If there were more facilitators at least the program could continue
because, unfortunately, as RCMP officers we get transferred."

"You don't have to be in this kind of work," she said, "you can be a
citizen."

"The way that I see it is any outside help that we can get would be
fantastic," she added.
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MAP posted-by: Derek