MONEY BETTER SPENT ON TREATMENT

Parents are coping with the prospect of their teenagers going through
the criminal justice system after the kids were arrested on June 5 in
connection with a drug bust in Lacombe Park. But they are just a few
of those parents whose families have been turned upside down by
teenage drug abuse.

The routine surveillance operation that led to the arrest of the
teens, as well as three adults, was sparked by complaints from the
neighbourhood about suspected drug activity.

There's no doubt the community has become much more aware of the
local drug scene and more inclined to do something about it. In
particular, St. Albert's Families Empowering Families, a new support
group for those parents struggling with addicted youth, invited
members of the iHuman Society to the St. Albert Community Youth
Centre last week, where addicts and recovering addicts told their stories.

The group session was attended by 15 local parents, who heard the
personal accounts of addiction and the crime perpetrated by young
addicts to support their habit.

Meanwhile, a Sherwood Park mother met with federal Justice Minister
Vic Toews on Monday to request changes to the legal system that she
suggests would help youth beat their substance abuse problems.

The co-founder of her community's Parents Empowering Parents group,
Audrey Bjornstad wants Toews to make four promises: to establish
special drug courts in major centres, to force those convicted of
drug-related crimes to take treatment, create minimum sentences for
drug trafficking offences and toughen up the Youth Criminal Justice
Act. She told the Edmonton Journal she tried to get a judge to force
her son into treatment after he turned to crime to support his habit.

His crimes, however, were not deemed serious enough, she said.

As a drug user progresses to addiction and the need for the drug
increases, so will the likelihood that a user will commit crimes to
support his or her habit. And yet the introduction of tough
sentencing measures last month by the Conservative government fails
to address the link between drug addiction and property crime.

Habitual drug users often become habitual thieves. But for those
convicted of petty theft, the justice system has few answers. These
criminals are often repeat offenders, take up court time, are jailed
for a couple of months at a time and then released to start their
self-destructive habits all over again.

Surely the money spent keeping addicted criminals behind bars would
be better spent on long-term treatment and rehabilitation. And surely
it would be better to ensure that teens who end up in the youth
justice system for drug-related crimes be treated for the illness
they have, rather than the crimes they have committed because of it.

Not all kids who use marijuana will become drug addicts, any more
than every teen who drinks a beer will become an alcoholic.

But experts agree the addictive qualities in other street drugs
increase the potential for quick and deadly addiction.

As iHuman member Randy Schuster told parents, "One day I decided to
try it and that's all it took." During a six-year battle with crystal
meth, he said, he had been in and out of the Edmonton Youth
Offenders' Centre 13 times.

At 17 a massive heart attack brought on by a drug binge almost killed
him. But it was the threat of up to six years in prison that sent
Schuster to treatment.

He's been clean for 27 months.

The two girls, aged 14 and 15, and the 16-year-old boy arrested here
last week were picked up during a bust involving crack cocaine.

Before these kids go any further down the road taken by members of
the iHuman Society, let's ensure they and their families get the help
they need. We need to put programs in place that help these kids
become regular teens, who worry about grades and grad dates, not
getting the money for their next fix.