CAMPAIGN BUILDS DRUG AWARENESS

Raindrops pummelled bouquets of multicoloured helium balloons outside
Tla'Amin Community Health Services as participants registered for
Tla'Amin's (Sliammon) first annual drug awareness campaign walk, jog,
or run on May 31.

Black, white and yellow balloons adorned the front of the building,
with dozens of red balloons interspersed on the circuit. Cyndi
Pallen, campaign coordinator and addictions counsellor for Tla'Amin,
invited everyone present to "walk the red road."

"Prior to contact, first nations didn't use alcohol or drugs," she said.

Balloons of other colours represented the absence of ethnic barriers
when it comes to drug abuse.

Participants also carried cedar boughs, to be released in the river
or burned in a ceremony following the event. The release of the
boughs was accompanied by a prayer for strength as people let go of
pent up negative emotions affiliated with exposure to drug use.

"Due to the isolation and lack of activities, more and more people
are looking at experimenting [with drugs]," said Pallen. "This is one
form of raising awareness."

Pallen plans to wrap up the summer with another reminder, hoping the
walk will become a quarterly event.

The campaign's logo was a feather representing abstinence from the
use of drugs and alcohol. It was designed by Sherman Pallen, who's
steered clear from drugs and alcohol for 25 years.

Cyndi Pallen returned to work as an addictions counsellor for
Tla'Amin last October, after receiving a bachelor's degree in social
work from the University of Victoria. Prior to her return to school,
she worked as an addictions counselor for 15 years.

The Tla'Amin addictions program is a supportive counselling service
geared toward aboriginal people within the Powell River area. For
more information readers can contact Pallen at 604.482.3009.