THINK TWICE ABOUT DRUGS

Student Assembly at Lakeshore Catholic High School Gives Drugs A Failing Grade

PORT COLBORNE - Donnie Edwards has travelled the country speaking to
youth about the realities of drug abuse.

On Tuesday he brought the message home to 1,200 students at Lakeshore
Catholic High School.

At first blush, Edwards might seem an unlikely candidate to deliver
the message; but standing at the podium in a blue pinstripe suit, the
chair of the Ontario Pharmacists' Association had the right
prescription for getting under the skin of kids who know where the
drugs are and how to get them.

Armed with anecdotes, statistics, real-life stories and the promise
not to lecture youth about the perils of drugs, Edwards offered up
sad stories of lost potential, ruined lives and dire consequences.

Through it all, he challenged the most-likely drug users in society -
those age 15 to 20 - to think twice before they smoke that first
joint or take that first mood-altering pill.

An expert in the field of street drugs, Edwards has worked with all
branches of Canadian law enforcement and has been privy to
information that would send a chill down the spine of even the most
skeptical drug user as to the harmful affects of both short- and
long-term abuse.

His one-hour plea to young people offers a matter-of-fact dialogue on
where drugs can take teens.

The final destination is far from pretty.

Edwards searches out these bright-eyed students so that he doesn't
have to meet them at his work place, Boggio Pharmacy, when they come
in later in life to take advantage of the needle exchange program.

He doesn't want to read about them in his local newspaper when they
are 23 years old and dead because of an Oxycodone overdose.

Edwards' path to the speaking circuit began a few years ago when he
received a phone call concerning a person who had overdosed on
Ketamine - known on the street as Special K.

Now he talks to youth about everything from marijuana use to heroin
addiction - hitting on all the popular drugs of choice that youth are
exposed to on a daily basis: the painkiller Oxycodone, crystal
methamphetamine, ecstasy, crack cocaine - all drugs that are out
there and readily available if you know the right people.

A quick show of hands during the morning assembly proved that at
least 20 people in the auditorium Tuesday morning could get their
hands on one illegal drug or another within 30 minutes. That would
suggest the drugs are in the school.

What better place for a pharmacist with a cautionary message about
drug use to be.

He said the show of hands is "typical" of most schools as he travels
across the country informing students about the terrible odds they
face when they go up against such dangerously addictive drugs as crystal meth.

"Use it once and there is a 60 per cent chance of becoming addicted
. use it twice and you're addicted."

Of the 1,200 students lucky enough to hear Edwards speak Tuesday, 80
per cent will never have to worry about cocaine-induced psychosis or
the myriad of troubles associated with drug abuse.

However, statistically about 60 of those students are marked for
disaster - about five per cent.

"These are the people who are going to try drugs and love them ...
who will spend every waking moment thinking about their
drug-of-choice and use all their available resources to obtain it.
They will lie, steal, sell their bodies.

"If you have never used drugs before, don't start," Edwards said,
making sure to punctuate his remarks with stories about young people
with potential who threw it all away by giving into peer pressure or
by thinking they would be the one to beat the odds.

Like the cocaine addict, for instance, who tried crystal meth for the
first time and stabbed his wife 40 times in a fit of rage; or like
the young hockey player who was being scouted by the NHL until drugs
became his only goal in life.

Edwards also spoke about the rave drug ecstasy and how - while not
addictive on its own - is laced with crystal methamphetamine to make
it addictive. At the bottom of it all is the greed of drug dealers to
sell more product to unsuspecting youth.

"Lecturing you about drug addiction does not work,' he said. "I'm
here to educate you."

Edwards said developing a physical dependency on drugs can happen
within seven days and those who take drugs quickly develop a
"tolerance" - meaning it takes more drugs to get the desired effect.

He also spoke about marijuana as a "gateway" drug that leads youth to
harder drugs.

"People who use marijuana are more likely to use other substances."

Edwards also stressed there are serious consequences as a result of drug abuse.

He spoke briefly about the needle exchange program at Boggio
Pharmacy, describing it as a "harm reduction model," so those
suffering from drug addiction don't have the added burden of
hepatitis, HIV or other diseases associated with sharing needles.

Edwards said the pharmacy is also involved in the Meth Watch program,
whereby police are alerted when somebody comes in and purchases large
amounts of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient to making the drug that
is readily sold in the form of Sudafed and other cold remedies.

Other ingredients in making the highly volatile concoction include
acetone, Liquid Drano, iodine, alcohol.

"For every pound of crystal meth produced you get seven pounds of
toxic waste," he said, adding the side effects of using the drug
include diarrhea, nausea, weight loss, vomiting and anorexia.