LOOK AT ALL FACTORS OF DRUG ABUSE

Random attempts to prevent drug and alcohol abuse may cause a
community more harm than good, according to the deputy provincial
medical health officer.

In a cautionary speech delivered to the Local Government Management
Association of B.C. convention held at The Grand in Kelowna this
week, Dr. Eric Young warned civil servants from around the province
that community task forces and municipal drug strategies are a tricky
undertaking.

He cautioned that such strategies must be targeted at the right
groups, evaluated, and should address the social context producing the abuse.

"My view is you're better to take a holistic approach to this," said Young.

He said communities should identify groups of users and why they are
using before deciding whether messaging is the best route to take.

Graphing the burden of disease by risk factors such as illicit drugs,
physical inactivity and tobacco use, Young told city administrators
that low fruit and vegetable intake, occupational risks, alcohol,
tobacco use and high cholesterol all factor higher in mortality and
chronic disease levels than illicit drugs.

And while the economic impact of substance abuse costs Canadians an
estimated $6 billion annually, 75 per cent of the costs of drugs and
alcohol on society are due to legal drugs.

As such, the provincial medical health office encourages communities
to involve users and youth in any discussion about reducing substance
abuse and to ask for the public health department's help.

Recreational programming and well developed community trail systems
can go a long way to providing non-user friendly alternatives and may
provide a better focus than substance-specific education programs,
particularly for youth, he said.

"It may be that there is nothing for kids to do in the evening that
is causing part of the problem," Young said.

In addition, any effort to target substance abuse must consider the
myriad of outside social issues that cause substance use to become abuse.

From the mixed messages in alcohol commercials to work done by the
McCreary Centre Society which links poverty, sexual, physical and
emotional abuse, and aboriginal issues to drug and alcohol use, it is
important to consider who needs the efforts most--and why.

Of the population that have substance abuse issues, for example, 40
to 50 per cent are also struggling with mental illness.

"As a Canadian society we're very goal oriented It's a natural
reaction. Here's the problem, let's zoom in on it," he said. "But
sometimes when you zoom in on it you have to zoom out again and look
at the big picture."

For those communities which do choose to focus on educational
programming, Young said the message must be well thought out.

He cited a crystal meth messaging program based out of Montana as an
example of what can go wrong.

After spending $5.5 million bombarding local airwaves and newspapers
with anti-crystal meth messaging, follow up studies from the Montana
meth project reveal the campaign likely did more harm than good.

While 10 per cent of those surveyed stated the ads increased their
perception that crystal meth is a "great risk" and 30 per cent
reported increased perceptions that crystal meth does not make you
more attractive, they also found a 50 per cent increase in teens
discussing meth use and that parents' perceptions of the likelihood
their oldest child was taking meth rose 15 per cent.

Unfortunately, the survey also discovered meth use actually rose over
the course of the six month advertising campaign from three per cent
to five per cent among those 12 to 17 years old and from 12 per cent
to 15 per cent among those 18 to 25.

Young cautioned those last statistics were generated from a small
sample group, but said the project does raise a major concern.

If you're going to deliver a message, do the research, get it right
and double check with follow up research that can be passed on to
other communities, he said.

Providing context to local efforts to deal with crystal
methamphetamine, Young offered up provincial usage statistics. Of the
overdose deaths that occurred in 2004--the latest provincial
statistics--only 33 had crystal meth in their blood stream. The
average age of the deceased was 38.

In fact, the number of deaths due to illicit drug use overall dropped
from a peak of 248 in 2000 to 150 in 2004.

Work by the McCreary Centre in 2003 shows 6 per cent of Okanagan high
school students reported using crystal meth, while just two per cent
of students in Vancouver had tried the drug.

A myriad of sources record provincial crystal meth usage as anywhere
from four to nine per cent among youth.