PROGRAM HELPS KIDS STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS

About 500 Grade 5 students from across North Simcoe participated in
the race of their lives, last week, as the Racing Against Drugs event
drove into Midland.

Eleven pit stops set up around a gymnasium at the North Simcoe Sports
and Recreation Centre focused on different messages that offered
straight talk about drugs and alcohol to the youth.

Some of the stations included a pharmacist who explained to the
students the importance of not taking medicine that isn't prescribed
to them; an illegal drug presentation by the RCMP; a skit about drug
use by Midland Secondary School drama students; a Simcoe Muskoka
District Health Unit presentation on tobacco use; and a Native
storyteller who ties in all of the messages that were presented
throughout the day in a story.

"The focus of Racing Against Drugs is to equip the kids with enough
information that they understand that it's okay to say 'no'," said
OPP Const. Peter Leon. "Most importantly, that they understand that
drugs can set them out of control ... I think with all the different
pit stops, the way they're set up, each pit stop contains its own
message, that kids will be able to relate to at one point in their
life. Whether they use it today, tomorrow, six months, six years or
even 16 years from now. It's time well spent."

Students were actually able to experience this feeling of being out
of control with the help of special vision goggles that simulate
various levels of impairment that comes with alcohol and drug use.

Ten-year-old Lydia Robitaille said she didn't like the way the
goggles made her feel. "It made me feel like I had been drinking.
It's not something I'd want to get used to."

Students were also able to race remote control cars around a huge
racetrack, which showed them that the faster they went, the more out
of control they were.

The annual event targets Grade 5 students because it's at this age
that children start being exposed to different peer pressures. In
Grade 6, students receive the Drug Abuse Reduction Education program,
which builds on what the Racing Against Drugs event teaches them.

"We know that there are drugs and alcohol out there and we know that
they're already getting involved at a very young age," points out
Leon. "We feel that if we can equip them at this age, with the
different tools for their toolbox, so to speak, that they will be
able to have the equipment they need to get them up over every hurdle
that they experience throughout their young adult and adult lives."

The 11th Annual event in Midland was sponsored and coordinated by
various police services, local business, school boards, community
organizations and a large number of volunteers, which added to the
success of the two-day event.

"This is truly a multi-jurisdictional effort with federal,
provincial, municipal police, plus a very large volunteer component,"
said Leon. "Also, we are very fortunate that Racing Against Drugs is
supported by the Midland business community and we have a very
dedicated committee."