UN CONFERENCE - YOUTH LEAD DRUG FIGHT

Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati¼s friends aren¼t the only ones using
drugs in Canada.

Treatment centres, police and anti-drug agencies across the country report
an increase in drug use, especially among youth.

But this week, youths are leading the fight back against the trend with a
United Nations conference in Banff partially organized by a former Calgary
crack user, 19-year-old Christina Wilby.

"People who sit behind a desk in a suit aren¼t going to know what will help
drug abusers." she told the Herald. "Kids who have been through it know."

Also representing Canada at the conference are 17-year-olds Tracey Scott
and Carol Holinaty.

Scott, originally of Saskatoon, eventually found help for her drug problem
in Calgary.

"I think drugs are a worse problem than they have ever been," she said.
"It's harsher now."

Rates have been climbing for the last four or five years, said Richard
Garlick, spokesman for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

"Everyone is scrambling for an explanation."

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission found 16 per cent of Alberta
youth reported using cannabis in 1995, the first year they studied
marijuana use. Five per cent said they used other street drugs.

A Manitoba survey of high school students showed a marked increase in drug
use. In 1993, 32 per cent of students reported using drugs other than
alcohol. The number increased to 44 per cent in 1997.

Cannabis use among Ontario students jumped from 14 per cent in 1989 to 22.7
per cent in 1995. The per cent age of students using LSD, heroin and
Ecstasy almost doubled in the same time.

To find solutions, drug prevention agencies such as the United Nations,
AADAC and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse have called in experts.

Youth groups, almost all former drug users, will meet in Banff later this
week to discuss the prevention programs which helped them.

"This is different kind of conference with the focus on youth," said AADAC
executive director Leonard Blumenthal.

Drug use reached a peak in the late 1970s when marijuana and powdered
cocaine were the substances of choice. Usage rates declined in the 1980s,
due in part to a U.S.-led international war on drugs that brought the
problem to the public agenda.

But in the mid-1990s, use of almost all types of drugs-from pot to heroin -
has increased.

"Even drugs that seemed to have fallen out of use, like LSD, have come
back," said Garlick.

There are a number of explanations.

One is the fact that the baby boomers - who experimented with drugs in
the 1960s - are now the parents of teenagers.

„There¼s a sense that these kids aren¼t getting strong anti-drug messages
from their parents," Garlick said.

"Their parents lived through the huge drug revolution of the -60s and
- -70s."

Blumenthal says parents often think schools are doing a good enough of
educating their kids, which isn't always the case. "We've become
complacent", he said.

Also, the downturn in the economy means less money is being spent on things
like anti-drug advertising.

"I think the political and the public interest in drugs has moved on to
other things like the economy and employment," said Garlick. "I think we've
gone to sleep on the issue. The messages on drug use aren't getting down to
kids."

The Drug Scene

- - In the mid 80s, Calgary police investigated only a handful of pot-growing
operations. By 1996, the number had ballooned to almost 150.

- - More drugs are being injected. It used to just be heroin, but now speed
(amphetamines) and cocaine are often injected. „Anything you can reduce to
a liquid can be injected.

- -AADAC treated 2,717 youths in their treatment centres, eight per cent of
their total admissions.

- - In Alberta in 1995, 55 per cent of youths 12-17 surveyed said they had
used alcohol in the past year, 30 per cent used tobacco, 16 per cent used
cannabis and five per cent used other street drugs. Adults were also
surveyed. They used more alcohol (76 per cent) and the same amount of
tobacco (30 per cent) , but their figures for cannabis (eight per cent) and
street drugs (two per cent) were lower.

- - Across Canada, illicit drug use jumped from 1993 to 1994. Use of cannabis
increased from 4.2 to 7.4 per cent of the population, cocaine increased
from 0.3 per cent to 0.7 per cent and use of LSD, speed or heroin increased
from 0.3 per cent to 1.1 per cent.

- - In 1992, there were 732 deaths attributed to drug use in Canada. This
includes 308 suicides, 104 opiate poisonings, 68 cocaine poisonings and 61
AIDS deaths from intravenous drug use. The highest risk of death from drug
use is in British Columbia, the lowest in Newfoundland.