YOUNGER JEWISH TEENS USING HARDER DRUGS, ACTIVIST SAYS

MONTREAL - An increasing number of illegal drug users in Montreal are both
younger and Jewish, says a local drug abuse educator and activist.

Barry Salis has first-hand knowledge of such trends. A former drug user
himself, he's now the director of outreach services for Project Pride, a
non-sectarian, drop-in drug abuse prevention and intervention centre.

Located at the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex in NDG, the centre was
founded locally 11 years ago, through the efforts of Rabbi Ronnie Fine of
Chabad.

"We're seeing younger and younger kids coming in," says Salis of the 300
drug users who visit Project Pride each month. And nearly half of them - 45
percent, according to the centre's intake forms - are Jewish, he adds.

Project Pride's clients either come looking for a place to "detox," or have
come out of a drug rehab needing follow-up guidance and counselling," says
Salis.

"I can tell you this from the mothers of Jewish kids who call up in severe
crisis," he says. "I'm not saying they're using drugs at the schools
themselves. But at raves, at parties, it's happening.

"And a lot of Jewish kids have the money, so it makes it easier. Where do
you think the dealers go to? It's to the communities with the money."

While illegal drug use is becoming increasingly rampant among high school
and CEGEP students, both in and outside the Jewish community, Salis says
it's their increasing use of "hard" drugs that is most unsettling for him.

"What's alarming me is the number of younger kids now coming in with severe
drug problems," he says. "I'm talking about crack cocaine here, which kids
can get physically addicted to right away.

"It used to be alcohol and marijuana. But now kids are paying $40 a pill
for Ecstasy."

Young people can also get "tranquilizers for $2, morphine at $10 a pill,
crack for $10 to $20 a 'rock,' or heroin for $15 a hit," he adds.

Ecstasy, also called "E," is the drug of choice for many these days. It's
often used as a sensory enhancer at "raves," large-scale music and dance
party events.

A number of deaths have reportedly been linked to the use of Ecstasy and
cocaine, including a Jewish CEGEP student, whom everyone knew to be a "good
girl," a few years ago.

But Salis is not judgmental about drug use; in fact, he's a realist.
Nothing can really be done to keep kids from experimenting, he says.

And he thinks the campaign of former U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan to "Just
Say No" was a joke.

Salis now speaks to Jewish high school students about substance abuse. When
he does, he never asks the direct question, "How many of you have
experimented with drugs?"

Instead, he asks: "In your opinion, what percentage of students here are
taking drugs?" The answer, invariably, is "75 percent," he says.

For Salis, numbers such as these tell the tale. But there are no easy
answers, of course, and Salis, better than anyone, knows this.

He spent years as a drug addict before going clean many years ago. He still
considers himself an addict, even though he doesn't even think about using
any more.

So are there solutions to stem the tide of drug abuse by youths? Education,
for one, says Salis. Knowledge, he argues, is one key element in
minimizing, at least, the chances of experimenting.

Salis also goes to local schools and across the province, teaching about
the effects of drugs. At Project Pride, there are two other staffers,
including director Tony Lipschitz, and 15 volunteers who intervene in
crises and provide counselling and direction.

"We never turn anyone away," says Salis.

On the issue of legalizing recreational drugs, Salis doesn't believe this
would help the problem. Although it appears to have worked in countries
such as The Netherlands, where both drug use and addiction rates are down,
Salis feels it wouldn't work here.

The "criminal elements that control the drug trade here would never allow
it," he says.

The only alternative that Salis says could make somewhat of an impact is to
equip law enforcement agencies, such as the RCMP, with the financial
resources they truly need to stem the flow of drugs into the country as
much as possible.

Just as important, if not more so, he argues, is for parents out there to
stop "selling out our kids," by pretending that their offspring were
brought up in such a way as to be immune from the temptations of drugs.

And the sell-out includes society as a whole, he says, for glorifying the
use of drugs such as alcohol.

Illegal drugs, says Salis, are a $1-trillion business worldwide. Estimates
say only 10 percent of illegal drugs are seized by authorities, and Salis
has seen 23 people he knew die as a result of their habits.

"Something has to be done," he says. "We are selling out our kids by doing
nothing.

"The war is not winnable. But as responsible adults, our job is to protect
our youth, to provide the safest way possible to grow up."

Project Pride can be reached by telephone at 98-PRIDE (987-7433).