TRURO-AREA SCHOOLS LAUNCH PILOT ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-VIOLENCE PROGRAM

TRURO - Tara Chadwick is a good candidate to help high school students say
no to drugs and alcohol.

A Grade 10 student at East Pictou Rural High School, she sees firsthand the
availability of alcohol and drugs in schools, the peer pressure to use them
and the consequences.

Chadwick is one of 228 students who attended a conference at Cobequid
Educational Centre in Truro yesterday, launching a three-year pilot program
to reduce substance abuse and violence in schools.

Nineteen schools within the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board are
participating.

Although the board and social agencies are co-ordinating the project, it's
clear students will play key roles in developing programs for their
schools.

"Students have to be actively involved in drug education if we're going to
prevent substance abuse and release the hold drugs have on them," says Dr.
Rey Carr, president of Peer Resources in Victoria.

Chadwick agreed that students relate to their peers better than they do to
adults. "We know what it's like," she said.

Student response to a drug-use survey conducted in the province two years
ago is the genesis of the pilot program. The survey indicated student
substance abuse had risen dramatically since 1991.

Kate English, a Grade 8 student at East Pictou, said Grade 6 students will
be targeted because they're vulnerable and easily influenced by older
students when starting junior high.

Two school staff members at each school will act as motivators and
problem-solvers. Two community representatives will tell students what's
available locally.