PARENTS AND SCHOOLS MUST FIGHT BACK

Recently I attended an evening presentation at Vernon Secondary
School organized by the district Substance Abuse Prevention
Counsellor, Doug Rogers, and included Vernon Jubilee Hospital's
Emergency Department physician Dr. Chris Cunningham. The subject was
drug abuse amongst our youth, and an update of the latest drugs on
the street market.

Part of my past work in the late '80s and '90s involved drug abuse
counselling. As well, I raised my three children in Vancouver and
recalled how vigilant I was forced to be, at that time, concerning
drug pushing amongst youth. The requirements for reasonable parenting
had already stepped up by then, and for large cities had already
pushed well beyond the previous parenting requirements.

And so I took myself to this offering at VSS to upgrade my outdated
information. Was I, and I'm sure most of the audience too, shockingly
surprised by the recent developments that were brought to our
attention that evening. So dire was the information that Dr.
Cunningham slipped in a few scenery slides to relieve the heaviness
of such a subject. For over two hours, both professionals covered the
list of drugs, a third of which are not only new, but are cheap and
easily accessible.

If you've been told that marijuana is harmless, these professionals
told us straight out that it is not. Marijuana is not, at all, the
same item it was in the 1960s and '70s. Today's joint is more potent
and has been added to, been laced with more harmful drugs, including
crystal meth, with the aim of physiologically hooking the user. It
has already been scientifically proven that ingesting or smoking
marijuana is harmful, in fact, it's been shown that thousands of
non-regenerating brain cells are killed per joint smoked. And with
long-term use, social skills and problem-solving skills wane to below
basic levels.

I won't go into the long list of dangerous drugs like ecstasy and
rohypnol (date-rape drug) and their street names that was presented
that evening. For me, the most stunning to hear about was crystal
meth. Here is an excerpt from research: "When crystal meth was
introduced to a study group 90 per cent became addicted after the
first use. And tolerance begins after the first use."

And this piece of information: "It is well known that crystal meth is
300 per cent more powerful than crack cocaine. And most of us know
that meth can easily and inexpensively be concocted in a basement
making its street cost a minute fraction of the cost of cocaine or
even marijuana."

Dr. Cunningham gave an example of a teen admitted to ER showing
after-effects of crystal meth. The teen adamantly stated they had no
intention, nor knowledge of taking meth, they had only smoked a joint
(marijuana).

Therein lies the enormous danger to our young people. A cheap and
long lasting high and drugs being laced into what a teen may believe
to be, a harmless drug, such as smoking a joint. It is an
understatement to say that the destruction to physical and
mental/emotional functioning is tremendous. And get this. The height
of this drug activity amongst teens takes place mostly between 3 p.m.
and 5 p.m.

I was very impressed by the prevention program Doug Rogers has
spearheaded in School District No. 22. In my opinion, it is certainly
leading edge and thankfully comes at a critical time. To my
knowledge, I have not seen this initiated in the Greater Vancouver
schools. He says he gets consultation calls often and even as far
away as Texas, from professionals in the schools who've got wind of
what he is doing. Presently, Mr. Rogers is putting in the works,
through the Ministry of Education, a six-level education curriculum
in drug use education aimed at prevention. He urges parents to be
bold in stepping forward to speak to their children.

"Don't hold back in speaking about the dangers of drug use, even down
to children at Grade 4 level, where this threat has already showed up."

The signs that warrant watching are: changes in attitude, in
performance and behaviour.

Dr. Cunningham could not stress enough the need for parents to
observe and spend time with their children. He said self esteem and a
feeling of belonging goes a longer way than you might think in
preventing a wander down the drug path.

Parenting during my generation was not easy, as I can vouch for, but
nowadays I believe it is far more difficult. To parents, I say be
vocal and use educational moments with your children to inform them.
And, to all schools, now is the time to come aboard and get more
aggressive in fighting back against what has already begun to destroy
young lives, that you, along with parents, have been working so hard
to nurture and build.

Doug Rogers will be presenting two more of these evening session
during the school year.

Patricia A. Donahue