TASK FORCE UNLEASHES STRATEGIC PLAN

Asking tough questions about drug use is at the heart of a strategic
plan geared to combating substance abuse in the county.

The Oxford County Drug Task Force released the "A Way Forward" plan
Thursday morning at the Elmhurst Inn.

The task force is a collaboration of 50 service providers, including
law enforcement, education, mental health and other agencies that are
coming together in an effort to respond to the substance abuse problem
in the county.

"Drug use is not just a big city problem," said Jason Smith, chair of
the task force. "The people sitting on the task force have seen or
experienced first-hand the devastating effects of substance abuse. By
pooling our expertise, resources and reach in the community, the task
force believes we can make a powerful impact in the lives of
individuals, their families and in the community."

Smith said he brought the substance abuse issue to the youth justice
council's attention several years ago as a priority issue. From there,
the task force was implemented.

"I saw one too many kids affected by substance abuse," said Smith, who
at the time worked at the Upper Deck Youth Centre in Woodstock.

Eight goals identified in the strategic plan include the
implementation of a comprehensive strategy, identifying substance
abuse prevention as key to a sustainable community, procuring
sustainable resources, advocating for co-ordinated services and
increasing communication, addressing service gaps, providing
information and support, building awareness and providing a continuum
of enforcement options.

The 75-member task force has established three working group, as part
of the plan, including the prevention-working group, the
treatment-working group and the enforcement-working group.

The strategic plan is meant as a starting point for increased and more
effective drug prevention strategies in the county.

"This is only the beginning," Warden Paul Holbrough at the event said.
"We'll move forward to provide many services for Oxford County in the
future."

OCPS Chief Ron Fraser said he was pleased to see the community become
involved in a drug prevention strategy.

"We are very conscious of the fact that enforcement is not the answer
to the plague that drug use presents to our community," Fraser said.
"Real change can only happen through the combined efforts of
enforcement, prevention, treatment, community mobilization and education."

OPP Commander Jack Goodlett said the OPP is committed to understanding
and targeting the force's attention on those who continue to produce,
manufacture and sell drugs within the county.

"We have asked the tough questions and have had the dialogue that now
leads us into the direction of change," Goodlett said. "If we can
isolate and understand why at which moments in people's lives they
first make the choice to use, and continue to aggressively investigate
and target our drug manufacturer and sellers, we can change substance
abuse in Oxford County."

Just how prevalent drug use in Oxford County is, is hard pin down, but
these facts the task force has researched are known to be true.

Oxford County residents more frequently access addictions services for
alcohol, cannabis, crack, prescription opiods and cocaine than in
other regions of the province.

The Oxford County Youth Strategy recently identified being stressed
out, doing drugs and dealing with pressure from friends as the top
three priorities facing youth.

One-third of Oxford youth have tried drugs with the average age being
13.4 years.

About 1,000 Oxford County residents are directly involved in illegal
or problematic substance abuse and are known to police or one per cent
of the population.

The economic cost of substance abuse to a county the size of Oxford is
approximately $122 million.

"The critical issue here is not that Oxford County experiences
substance abuse to a greater degree, or has a serious deficit in
services, but that its service providers, community stakeholder and
residents have decided that the impacts of substance abuse are so dire
that the status quo is not good enough," said Annamaria Feltracco, the
task force's consultant and research lead.