YOUTHS TACKLE THE INTERNATIONAL DRUG PROBLEM

BANFF, Alta. (CP) Beaten by his alcoholic mother, Isaac Ngubane left home
at the age of eight to sleep in public washrooms and beg on rat-infested
streets of Johannesburg.

He quickly mastered the street code shaking down children in white
neighborhoods and smoking pot at 11 years of age and by mid-teens, Ngubane
had a fierce addiction to crack cocaine and landed in prison for car theft.

Ngubane, now 22, has travelled half-way around the world to share his grim
experiences with 200 other youths at a United Nations drug abuse prevention
forum.

"I owe something back to the community," said Ngubane, now a child care
worker at the same Johannesburg shelter that helped him escape a squalid
existence.

Youths from 24 countries some former drug addicts, others drug counsellors
have gathered in this Rocky Mountain resort for four days to compare notes
on drug abuse in their communities.

Their goal is to present to the UN recommendations on prevention and
treatment of drug abuse that could be implemented throughout the world.

"This is not a problem that can be solved by experts," said Christina Oguz
of the United Nations International Drug Control Program.

"We believe in order to solve the drug problem, we cannot find the solution
unless we listen to the young people. That's when most people start to take
drugs."

According to the UN, 141 million people smoked marijuana and hashish last
year up to 40 per cent of them youths. As well, 30 million took
amphetamines and a total of 21 million used cocaine and heroin.

Most youth at the conference are discovering that whether they're from
Bolivia, Hungary, Norway or Canada, their sombre stories are surprisingly
similar.

They say they are discovering that almost all young people take drugs
because they are lonely, hurt and lost; that many start out smoking
cannabis or sniffing solvents and graduate to hallucinogenics.

The youths say that they start taking drugs as a way to set their own
standards and rules. But they find out the drugs end up controlling them.

"I was lost and needed a sense of belonging," said Ngubane, "I had many
friends who did drugs."

Alongside discussions on ways of rehabilitating drug addicts, some at the
conference are sharing advice on how to use drugs more safely.

A group from Manchester, England is distributing a colorful comic book
starring Pete who goes to a rave club and gets advice from his fairy
Godfather as to how to use the drug Ecstacy more safely.

"If you're going to take `E,' be sure you know the pitfalls," the fairy
warns Pete, adding that he shouldn't drive on the drug.

Wongchan Chanyim, who works in a Thai youth drug camp, suggests addicts get
in touch with themselves through meditation.

Speaking through a translator, Chanyim said most addicts in Thailand come
from poor, broken families, and many of the girls finance their habits
through prostitution.

Richard Garlick of the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said
Canadian children have some big advantages over those in Third World
countries.

"They don't have the same support systems we do," he says. "Even if they
are abused, they don't have access to social services and health care."

The conference wraps up Saturday, when youths present their recommendations
to Pino Arlacchi, executive director of the UN International Drug Control
Program.