WINNING THE ESSAY RACE

The anti-drug message is sinking in with Tim Fisher's Grade 5 class.

The Johnston Memorial students put their thoughts on paper after
attending the Racing Against Drugs program last November and have won
an essay writing contest for their efforts.

The interactive safety fair, hosted by the RCMP and community groups,
relayed prevention messages about everything from drugs, drinking and
gambling to online predators.

"If you take crack cocaine or overdose, you can die in a matter of
minutes or hours," wrote Collin Dawson.

"The funeral home had a video about a boy who tried drugs once and
died. I was really surprised that the boy died after doing crack only
one time."

Fisher said students are taught the risks in Grade 5 because they are
increasingly exposed.

"They know stuff you wouldn't think they'd know," he said.

"There's a lot of conflict in schools. Everyone knows substance abuse
is linked to violence."

The writing exercise was a chance for students to organize their
thoughts, share ideas and read aloud.

Taylor Lalonde was struck by the chemicals in a cigarette such as
tar, rat poison, nicotine, lead, benzene, ammonia and cadmium.

"These are all poisons. Now I want to stop people from doing drugs
and smoking and other things that are bad because I don't like people dying."

Kelsey Grant wrote, "I am glad I went to the Internet safety pit stop
because I have MSN and I have a website."

The students, who competed against seven schools, won T-shirts from
Lambton County's health unit that read: "I am me. I want to live smoke-free."

"This is pretty exciting because we're competing against lots of
other schools in Lambton," Jarrett Persad said.