PARENTS LEARNING THE DRUG LINGO

Brian Yellowback is down with crack, jib, shrooms, the love drug and
special k.

The father of four children is learning the lingo so he can talk to
his kids about the dangers of drugs.

"I've heard of kids younger than 13 experimenting with drugs, starting
off with marijuana and gradually working their way up to harder
drugs," said Yellowback, standing with his 13 year-old daughter
outside an inner-city community centre on Ross Avenue.

"The kids, especially in this area, are pretty knowledgable about
drugs by the time they are 13, so I think it's a good thing for
parents to know the slang words."

The federal government launched an advertising campaign this month as
part of the National Anti-Drug Strategy, targeting the parents of
teens between 13 and 15. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the
strategy in October, pledging to modernize and expand treatment
programs, educate young people about the dangers of drugs and combat
the production and distribution of illicit drugs.

The advertising campaign, the first of its kind in at least 20 years,
helps parents learn about drugs and encourages them to talk with their
children.

"What we found in our research is that a lot of young people are
confused about the dangers of illicit drugs and about the legality of
illicit drugs like marijuana," said federal Health Minister Tony Clement.

"This campaign recognizes that you should have the conversation with
your child when they are 12 or 13 because that's when they are going
to be exposed to the drug culture in the school yard or in the
shopping mall."

The campaign includes radio and newspaper advertisements, with a
national television campaign to be launched in April.

The ads, in more than 400 newspapers across the country, refer parents
to the campaign's website, where they can find the latest information
about slang words, the effects of drugs and how to talk to kids.

Yellowback's daughter, Jackie, isn't so sure it's a good thing that
her parents know the drug lingo.

"It's weird," she said. However, she thinks it will help her parents
talk to her and her siblings about the dangers of drugs.

So far, around 5,000 parents have ordered a booklet called Talking
with your Teens about Drugs from the campaign's website, which offers
14 pages of advice.

Although any preventative measure is positive, Roxane Sarrasin with
the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba said the campaign's message
might not reach everyone.

"We know that there are some populations that might not respond to
this kind of messaging because there is no significant adult in their
life," Sarrasin said.

"I think it targets the children who have parents, but it still has
some good prevention messages, such as talk to your kids about drugs."

An anti-drug campaign directly targeting youth is the next step for
the federal government and will be launched in the next few months.