REMIND YOUR CHILDREN THAT MARIJUANA IS HARMFUL

So, is marijuana okay, your child asks, since that snowboarder got to keep
his gold medal?

Parents and teachers have been dancing around kids' drug questions faster
than a shredder on a half-pike ever since snowboarding threw marijuana into
the international spotlight last week.

Suddenly, "weed" is being discussed by fresh-scrubbed athletes on worldwide
TV. Drug dealers in downtown Toronto have seized the moment and are
selling sheets of acid with the Olympic rings on it. And across the
country, parents, teachers and youth workers have found themselves on the
defensive.

"I'm worried that all this Olympic coverage is making cannabis seem more
socially acceptable that it should be. It makes our job (in drug
prevention) harder," says counsellor Wayne Walker of the Hospital for Sick
Children's substance abuse treatment program for teens.

"Some of the kids in my program now argue marijuana can't be bad, because
the athlete was allowed to keep his gold medal. They look up to these
Olympic faces in the paper.

"But cannabis is harmful. The THC in it takes away any motivation, so kids
end up skipping school and then they get into even more trouble.

"It's also the stepping stone drug to harder chemicals. It can be the
beginning of a snowball effect."

But that's not the message kids have heard this past week. After years of
listening to parents say drugs are bad, children suddenly overheard adults
appear to shrug off the discovery of traces of cannabis in gold medallist
Ross Rebagliati's urine last week on the grounds that after all, "it was
only grass."

Having unwittingly sabotaged their own drug prevention lectures, what
should parents now tell their kids about marijuana? Forget the old Reefer
Madness scare tactics, say drug councellors, but stick to the fact that
marijuana does carry risks.

"Nothing has changed just because a famous snowboarder has said he has used
it," says Carmen James-Henry, a public health nurse in Toronto who was
preparing a drug prevention program last week for students at Malvern
Collegiate and Glen Ames Junior High.

"Parents and teachers have to be clear with children that no matter what
famous people may do, we do not condone or encourage the use of marijuana.
It is addictive. It slows down your reaction time, reduces your
concentration, affects your schoolwork and impairs your judgement about
simple safety issues like crossing the street. And it is a criminal
offence."

This is not the first time celebrities have admitted using drugs, she adds.

"Our kids have known for ages that some musicians use drugs and that
doesn't make it okay. We need to explain to children that some people take
more risks than others, but the drugs still carry those risks, no matter
how popular it may seem."

Parents should also jump on this opportunity to discuss drugs with their
children, suggests Andrea Stevens Lavigne, co-ordinator of the Addiction
Research Foundation's youth prevention programs. With about 25 per cent of
Ontario high school students admitting they have at least tried marijuana,
it's an issue that parents can't ignore, she says. "Parents have to be
much more open than ever before about what can happen when kids use
cannabis. It impairs physical co-ordination much the way alcohol does. It
has a higher concentration of tar than tobacco smoke. It poses respiratory
risks, can shorten breath and can lead to lung disease over time. And if
used at parties, the impaired judgement can lead kids to take risks, which
is important for them to know in this age of AIDS."

Yet marijuana is easier for kids to get these days than alcohol, says Walker.

Stevens Lavigne agrees that a lot of kids try it and some then settle into
a circle of friends who become focused on the drug culture.

"Most kids do experiment and most kids do come out all right in the end --
but only when their parents have given a very clear, strong message that
they do not support drugs.

"Kids are too smart for parents to lie to them. No, marijuana is not
lethal. Yes, it's extremely easy to get. But drugs can lead to so many
dangers, we just don't need them in our lives -- and that's the message
parents should give."

Walker reminds young people that although Rebagliati did keep his medal in
the end, the drug culture in which he lives almost caused him to lose it.

"I say to kids: 'Don't glorify marijuana. Look at how close that Canadian
champion came to losing everything.'"

Growing Pains appears Mondays. Readers can contact Louise Brown by E-mail
at jjlb@ican.net or write to her c/o Life Section, Toronto Star, One Yonge
St., Toronto, Ont. M5E 1E6. Brown also writes a column for Starweek
magazine.