GETTING THE DOPE ON DOPE

Drugs are quickly becoming a more prominent problem in small
communities across Canada as deals move away from the urban centres to
expand their business.

To help local residents better understand common street drugs,
internationally recognized drug expert and former Calgary Police
Service Detective Steve Walton came to Nanton to give a presentation
at the community centre on Nov. 27 and 28.

More than 120 people came out to the event, including parents,
teachers, health care professionals and students.

The event was sponsored by the Nanton and Area Drug Coalition (NADC)
and the Youth Justice Committee (YJC) of Nanton, Stavely and
Claresholm with the YJC financing the event and the NADC organizing.

Walton had a lot of praise for the event and for the town for getting
it off the ground.

"Drug criminals know this is going on," Walton said. Walton, a 25-year
veteran of the Calgary Police Service with many of those years spent
undercover, is highly educated in narcotics and maintains membership
in many international drug agencies.

"I've been qualified by all of the courts in Canada as a drug expert,"
Walton said.

Walton has published several best-selling books on the subject, and he
teaches at Mount Royal College, Bow Valley College and SAIT.

"Sometimes when people use drugs, they change and they're not the
people we knew," Walton said. "They are lost to us in so much as drugs
change who they are."

It is a desire to help prevent people from experiencing this change
that motivates Walton to continue his work.

"Every drug addict that I've ever encountered didn't want to be a drug
addict," Walton maintains, adding that most just wish they could go
back in time and make different decisions.

There are four pillars fundamental in preventing drug use, as agreed
upon by both law enforcement experts and sociologists alike: law
enforcement, education treatment and harm reduction.

In the past, the most common methods of drug use included smoking and
injection.

After extensive education campaigns over the last decade about the
dangers of these two methods, drug users are now relying on snorting
and topical applications.

"But it does show that education works," Walton said.

Amongst youth, curiosity is the primary cause of drug
experimentation.

Walton sites lack of education and family and peer
influence.

"If we don't talk to our kids about drugs, how will that be
interpreted by them," Walton asked, stating that most kids assume it
means their parents either are not opposed to drugs or that they just
don't care.

"You have to be aware of what your child is listening to, what they're
watching and what they view on the internet," Walton said, noting that
drug recipes can be easily found online.

Within the drug world, there are two main age groups that are
affected, the 12-to-17-year-olds, who are the most vulnerable, and the
18-to-24-year-olds, who consume the most drugs.

"Please do not rule out powerful drugs in regards to young people,"
Walton warned.

The "big five drugs" to watch out for in these age groups are
marijuana, methamphetamine (or "ecstasy", "E"), cocaine, heroin and
PCB (or "angel dust").

Drug dealers are also getting smarter in the way they market their
product.

Walton noted that in the past, cocaine was sold as an 8 Ball for
$1,000. Today, dealers are breaking those into 200 pieces and selling
them for $5 a pop, making it more accessible to a wider range of
people, especially children.

Walton also warns of drug usage by sexual predators. Surprisingly, the
most common date rape drugs, based on a University of Texas study, are
alcohol and marijuana.

"Most of the crimes are not crimes of coercion, they're crimes of
charisma," Walton said.

Walton suggests starting drug education early in the child's
development, as early as three years old.

"The younger the better," Walton said.

While many people in small communities would like to think that this
sort of criminal activity is reserved for the cities, Walton says
that's not the case.

"They're tired of the big city and they're coming your way," Walton
said. "The urban drug plights are yours too, because the criminals are
making it that way."