GETTING AN EDUCATION IN DRUG USE

Parents Learn About Big City Problems In Rural Alberta

Drug awareness is an important tool in helping teens to make the right
lifestyle choices, but parents also need to be educated.

Last Wednesday at Grand Trunk high school in Evansburg approximately 34
parents, teachers, RCMP members and an addictions counsellor discussed and
learned about various drugs and their effects. The objective of the event
hosted by the Evansburg and District Community Advisory Committee, was to
share information about drugs and erase the myth smaller communities are
immune from the problems of larger centres.

"We're no different, proportionately, than any other place," said Sgt.
Steve Harrington of the Evansburg RCMP detachment. "We're not worse or
better off than other places."

Shirley Gunderson, an addictions counsellor with Drayton Valley's AADAC
office, took the crowd through a maze of stimulants which ranged from the
everyday to those which parents only read about. From cigarettes to
methamphetamine, parents and teachers learned about how they are used, the
signs of use and their effects.

Gunderson said the signs of drug use can be obvious, but parents have to be
willing to recognize the signs and then take action. Parents are often
"enablers" to their child's drug addiction, whether it's alcohol or speed
(methamphetamine).

It is a situation the police are very familiar with. Parents can
continually rescue their children from school and legal problems, or ignore
the signs which indicate there is an addiction problem. It may make the
parent feel better, but it does nothing to help put a child back on the
right path.

"A lot of parents don't know, or don't want to know," Harrington told the
parents. "You're not doing them any favours."

Const. Lori Dore provided the parents with a rundown of what drugs are
prevalent in the are, which includes Evansburg, Drayton Valley and the
Breton detachment areas. Marijuana, speed and ecstasy are the three main
narcotics of choice. Speed, the "poor man's cocaine," is one narcotic that
is more popular in this area than any other in Alberta. It can be smoked,
sniffed and injected. Signs of use can be lack of sleep when using, to
broken light bulbs which are used to heat the speed when smoking.

The list of drugs, how they are used and their effects is long. Absorbing
all the information is a daunting task, but the meeting was a start.
Providing the information is a part of the process to help parents, help
their children.

"We'll see what happens here," Harrington said. "A little bit at a time."