JR. AND SR. HIGH STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT DANGERS OF DRUG ABUSE

If you do drugs, you can be guaranteed a short life, a date with a
jail cell, or both.

That was the message jr. and sr. high students heard from retired
police detective Steve Walton, a seasoned veteran of an elite
undercover drug task force. Walton now spends his time traveling
around Canada to talk about drug abuse to kids, parents, working
professionals, and employers.

"I can guarantee that every single one of you will, in your lifetime,
be affected by illegal drugs in some way. Whether you choose to use
them or not, they will impact you and the choice you make will have
irreversible consequences," said Walton to a young but captivated audience.

The former narcotics detective, who spent years as a patrol officer,
SWAT team member, and undercover policeman in the city of Calgary,
tailors his message to whatever audience he is speaking to.

"When I talk to sr. high students, I tend to dwell more on the legal
side of things, and what types of trouble they can get into at their
age by abusing drugs, or getting involved with them in some way. When
I speak to jr. high students I focus on lifestyle and health issues,
and the images and videos that I use demonstrate how harmful drug use
are really gets their attention."

Walton easily accomplished that during his presentation. He began by
telling the story of a 19-year-old drug dealer that had sold drugs to
an undercover detective. When the undercover operation was coming to a
close and arrests were about to be made, the drug dealer tried to
escape. The young man leapt a fence, not realizing it was the
guardrail of a bridge, and plummeted to his death. Walton enforced the
point that the young man was only a dealer, not a drug user, and yet
it was still drugs that claimed his life.

According to Walton, most drug dealers are not drug abusers
themselves, and approach the drug trade as nothing more than a
lucrative business. "These criminals tailor their product to appeal to
a younger audience, and will often tell you their product is one thing
when in fact it could be something totally different. I'm amazed at
how many people take the word of a criminal drug dealer and believe
what he says to them." Walton also dispelled other myths associated
with drug abuse, namely that organic drugs are somehow safer than
synthetically manufactured drugs.

"Heroin, cocaine, and marijuana are all organic, and it doesn't matter
what someone tells you. Just saying that it is organic doesn't mean it
wont have the same dangerous affect. In some cases, it can be even
worse."

Walton noted an increase of slightly modified drugs that are now
pouring into Canada from the war zones of Afghanistan and Columbia. In
years past, drug enforcement officers only saw heroin coming from what
is known as the Golden Triangle - the countries of Myanmar, Laos, and
Thailand, where poppy grows naturally. Walton also warned his young
audience of the dangers in using marijuana, which is 2,200 times more
dangerous than smoking a tobacco cigarette. Smoking marijuana exposes
the body to over 2,000 toxins that are not found in tobacco products.

Another alarming trend that Walton and others have seen in high school
aged children is oral drug abuse using ecstasy and L.S.D. "Street
dealers come up with these names, because the real names sound far
more dangerous. The real name for ecstasy is methylenedioxymethamphetamine,
or is commonly abbreviated in the medical world as MDMA. But that
sounds scary, so on the street they use words that don't sound bad and
try to lure younger aged users into buying the product," explained
Walton.

To emphasize the dangers of abusing these hallucinogenic drugs, Walton
told the story of another 19 year old, a girl named Lauren. In his
slideshow, Walton put up a picture of Lauren at her high school
graduation party. She was young, full of life and had a beautiful
smile. Lauren was not a drug user, and was a model student in school.
However, two of her friends convinced her to give ecstasy a try.
Within six hours, Lauren had a severe allergic reaction to the drug
and was pronounced clinically dead. Despite the efforts of doctors
over a two-day period, Lauren's life ended tragically because of one
bad choice. "There is no way to tell if you are allergic to ecstasy
until you try it, and by then, it's too late," cautioned Walton.

For someone who devoted an entire career to tracking down criminals
and keeping Alberta's streets safe, Walton says one of his greatest
rewards is speaking to younger audiences about drug abuse. "The neat
thing is when you see kids who are responding to the presentation.
Some of them don't care and they tune you out, but there are some that
are on the edge of their seats and you can see that the message is
hitting home. That's what makes this worthwhile."

Walton said that the most alarming trend among the younger population
is exposure to drug manufacturing. More and more parents who abuse
drugs expose their children at an early age, resulting in addiction,
or in some tragic cases, death.

The positive trend that Walton noted was the increased effort by
organizations like the Family Violence and Drug Coalition, which
sponsored Walton's presentation.

"The coalition is doing a great job by reaching out to kids and doing
preventative moves. That is the biggest weapon we have in fighting
this problem, is alerting young kids to the dangers, and it is having
a very positive impact. FVDC just does a great job in communities all
over Alberta."

Walton's powerful presentation had a very positive impact on the
students. The images, films, and stories that he was able to share
captivated them throughout the presentation. The former detective
spoke to sr. high students on Wednesday morning, and then addressed
the jr. high students before lunch. He was scheduled to do a similar
presentation in Ft. Assiniboine on Thursday.