TEACHERS, USE TRAGEDY FOR DRUG EDUCATION, URGES EXPERT

SYDNEY - The recent deaths of three young men from suspected carbon
monoxide poisoning is a valuable teaching opportunity that can be
incorporated into everyday classroom instruction, says a drug educator.

"That is a very teachable moment," said Gary Roberts, director of
programming for the Canadian Association for School Health, an
Ottawa-based non-profit organization.

He was referring to the deaths of a trio of friends whose bodies
were found in a car inside a garage in Kingston, Kings County last
weekend. They had been drinking.

Mr. Roberts was the keynote speaker at a two-day Sydney workshop
that ended Friday for 90 junior high teachers from the Cape
Breton-Victoria regional school board.

By role-playing different scenarios with their students, teachers
could examine the decisions "that occurred that night with those
guys and the different opportunities they or someone else may have
had to change the outcome," he said.

Students in grades 7 through 9 are "at a critically important age, a
period when experimentation with alcohol, cannabis and tobacco
begins to accelerate," Mr. Roberts said, adding the number of young
people using alcohol and cannabis triples during that period.

That's why it's important for teachers to be able to do drug
education at least five times during the school year, he said. A
single presentation to a class by a former addict doesn't make much
difference, as students need sessions that focus on engaging them
and allowing them to discuss the issues, he said.

"Drug education can be one of the most interesting classes a kid can
take if it is approached in a way that is relevant to them."

Drugs like crystal meth and ecstasy have stolen the headlines lately
but "alcohol remains the most significant problem among young people
and in communities," said Mr. Roberts, adding the number of teens
binge drinking or combining alcohol with prescription drugs has been
going up over the years.

Teachers and other school staff have a unique view of most students'
daytime activities and can have quite an influence on that
behaviour, Mr. Roberts said.

"If teachers are alert to possible problems, they can intervene and
provide an important intervention at a point where a child's
development could really be turned around."

Joanne Chabassol, a co-ordinator of the workshop, said the goal was
to give educators training to help prevent drug abuse among students.

"Drug prevention is most effective when taught as part of a
comprehensive health curriculum by teachers who have an
understanding of the best practices in addiction prevention," she said.

The addiction services of the Cape Breton district health authority
hosted the workshop.