DRUG INFO IS IN THE CARDS FOR LOCAL YOUTH

Wallet-sized resource booklets are being passed out to young people at
schools, recreation centres, health facilities and police stations in
the Tri-Cities.

The booklets list contact names and phone numbers for youth looking
for help in the areas of law; alcohol and drugs; pregnancy and
parenting; eating disorders; sexual identity; sexual, physical and
emotional abuse; and crisis and suicide intervention.

The double-sided, four-page booklet also gives names and numbers of
teen centres, and runaway and emergency shelters.

Titled "Say No to Meth," the red, orange, black and blue booklets were
produced by the Tri-Cities Meth Task Force, a group of health and
police professionals formed last year to curb the spread of drugs in
the Tri-Cities (funding for the booklet came from a provincial
government grant).

Jodie McNeice, Port Coquitlam's community police station manager, said
10,000 booklets were distributed last month and a second printing is
expected later this month. The booklet is an updated version of a
local youth resource guide distributed several years ago.

For the new edition, McNeice said many PoCo police volunteers spent
hours calling the organizations to verify their data. The draft
version was also sent to all 15-plus task force members for review
before publication, she said.

The booklet is only one part of the task force's outreach program; it
also oversees Meth Watch, hosts community forums, runs poster contests
in schools and, soon, it will provide information about drug awareness
on its website www.SayNoToMeth.ca.

And last Saturday, the philanthropic Coquitlam Foundation gave the
task force a sizeable donation at an event at the Westwood Plateau
Golf and Country Club to further its education campaign.

"People are still enthusiastic about what we are doing and
accomplishing," McNeice said. "It's really re-assuring to see how far
this has come."