HOW TO SPOT A DRUG USER

Teacher Shows Parents, Educators How To Recognize Signs Of Drug
Abuse

MOOSE JAW -- Irritability, hyperactivity and mood swings can be
typical teenage behaviour, but they can also be signs of drug use.

Kerry Johnson, a law teacher at Central Collegiate in Moose Jaw, is on
a mission to train parents, educators and even his students to tell
the difference.

"I'm not trying to create hallway or parental narcs," explained
Johnson, "It's not drug persecution, it's drug recognition."

Johnson has been through an RCMP course qualifying him to provide drug
recognition training to educators. He also teaches RCMP methods of
field sobriety testing.

Armed with his in-depth knowledge of drugs, their effects and the
behaviours they create, Johnson is passing on the information to
students in his law class.

On a late-May afternoon, Johnson's most recent law class was learning
about central nervous system stimulants, among them methamphetamine.
Commonly known as meth or crystal meth, the drug has recently popped
up on the Saskatchewan police radar.

"This is a very, very, scary drug," Johnson told the students. "And
not only is it very frightening, it's very cheap."

When quizzed about the first sign of drug use, several students
shouted "divided attention impairment," a side-effect of practically
any drug, including crystal meth, which prevents the user from
concentrating on more than one thing at a time.

"In general, people under the influence of stimulants appear to be
hyperactive, talkative, restless, nervous and unable to concentrate
for any length of time," Johnson explained. "These people may exhibit
rapid, jerky movements and their eyes would be noticeably dilated."

Meth users are likely to be quite excited and euphoric. They
experience a loss of appetite and sometimes paranoia.

Something common to stimulant use is a condition called "bruxism,"
which causes the grinding of teeth, often combatted by sucking on a
baby soother.

A red runny nose is another common indicator of crystal meth or other
stimulant use.

When Johnson began running down the list of ingredients used to make
crystal meth, it became evident his approach was reaching at least a
few students.

Substances like rubbing alcohol, brake cleaner, Drano, red
phosphorous, gun scrubber and cat litter were added to list on the
whiteboard and students started squirming in their seats.

"Eww!!," one girl said.

"I don't know how you can put that in your body," said another
student.

The incidences of drug use at Central Collegiate have decreased since
Johnson's drug identification unit became part of the class. With
students and staff more aware of what to watch for, there seem to be
fewer people attempting drug use during school hours.

"Education is the key," said Johnson. "If they can't get away with
doing drugs at school and they can't get away with it at home, then
we're beginning to win the battle."

That's the rationale behind the workshops Johnson holds for parents,
during which he advises them to watch for radical behaviour changes in
children that might indicate drug use.

"Look at the way they're dressing, who are they hanging out with? . .
. Once kids get heavily involved in drugs, personal hygiene goes by
the wayside because that's not the priority," Johnson added. A drastic
drop in grades or excessive fatigue are also telling. "Then ask, is it
out of the ordinary? If you look at all of these things in
combination, if there's three or four of these things going on, that's
a big part of it."

First determine the drug use is happening, Johnson said, then you can
identify the drug by looking for the specific indicators like those he
outlined for his class. That often means getting personal with your
child.

"I've had a lot of parents say. 'I've got to respect my kid's
privacy.' I usually say, 'Bullshit!' The whole thing is if you
suspect, then you stick your nose in there," Johnson said. "If you've
got a concern, you do whatever you feel is necessary to get your kid
off drugs . . . If I'm wrong I'll apologize, that's the way to look at
it."

Don Fitzsimmons, coordinator of Youth and Family Services for the
Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region, concurred with Johnson's advice.

Fitzsimmons, a long-time addictions counsellor, advises parents to
keep the lines of communication open. Withdrawn and confrontational
children are experiencing some problems parents should take an
interest in, be it drugs or not.

Fitzsimmons noted drug users may be selling their own CDs or clothing
to secure drugs or stealing and selling such things. He urges parents
with suspicions to go looking through their child's room for evidence
of paraphernalia or drugs, saying privacy is a secondary concern if
drug use is happening.

"It's your house and if they've got things that they're doing that
they're keeping that secret from you, then they've got something to
hide," he said. "You have to take that back into your control as the
adults in the house. This is evidence of a child that's out of control."

Once parents determine their child is using meth or any other drug,
the last thing they should do is charge in and confront them. Rather,
they should call a professional addictions counsellor.

"Reach out and get some direction and guidance because (an
intervention) is a very delicate thing to do," said Fitzsimmons,
noting meth users have the tendency to feel agitated, paranoid and
persecuted, which can be a barrier to getting them to help.

"(Parents) have the relationship with the child -- and it may be
strained currently -- but they're going to be the person in the kid's
corner when things get really rough later on. They're going to need to
be seen as allies to the child rather than adversaries."

Fitzsimmons said the key is to make the addict understand the harm
they are doing to themselves.

"If their life is in danger, my approach would be to see if the child
can recognize that. The key to any successful intervention is having
the kid making the connection with their drug use causing the kinds of
problems that we're seeing," he said.

Once they see the connection, you involve the addict in identifying
ways to help them feel better.

"You lay it out, you kind of nurture them along, give them support and
encouragement to take a step forward and you stay with them all along
the way. It's kind of like an art in science."