OTTAWA HIGH SCHOOLS INTRODUCE DRUG COUNSELING PROGRAM

Ottawa's four school boards announced today the start of a drug
counseling program at most city schools beginning this year.

The program will receive $1 million annual funding from the provincial
and municipal governments, the United Way and Ottawa's the school boards.

Drug counsellors will work two days a week in 70 per cent of Ottawa's
schools - as selected by each board - to provide counseling and train
and educate teachers, parents and students about substance abuse.

"The beauty of it is they would meet in the school," said James
McCracken, director of education for the Ottawa Catholic School Board
during a press conference at All Saints Catholic High School on Feb.
26.

"We recognize every school has a drug problem," he
said.

One in six Ontario high school students report symptoms of drug abuse,
according to the provincial government - every year more than 300
Ottawa youth between the ages of 13 and 17 are in dire need of
residential drug and alcohol addiction treatment.

The Catholic school board introduced a drug counseling program in a
handful of schools five years ago, dipping into the board's budget to
keep it afloat.

"We were taking money from other lines, the textbook lines for
instance," McCracken said. "It was our belief that if a student was
hung over or stoned there was no point giving him a textbook - (but)
we knew we couldn't continue to fund this the way it was funded."

In the past, students with drug addiction problems would have to seek
treatment at a centre located in downtown Ottawa - a problem for
children living outside the Greenbelt, especially students living in
rural areas, said McCracken.

The substance abuse counseling program falls under project STEP
(support, treatment, education, prevention) a school-based education
and prevention initiative run in partnership by the school boards, the
local health network, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Centre for
Research and Innovation.

"Our schools are small communities where young people spend much of
their lives," said Lyall Thompson, director of education for the
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. "Our teachers, administrators,
and support staff help students make better choices through education
and to provide assistance in seeking professional help."

Drug and alcohol abuse in Ontario racks up a cost of $6.7 billion
every year, according to a provincial study.

"This enhanced school-based programming is a vital step in addressing
illicit drug and alcohol use before they pose serious health risks or
result in other negative consequences," said Ottawa police Chief
Vernon White.

DRUG TREATMENT CENTRE

The drug counseling program is part of a two-pronged effort to both
reduce the number of students who abuse drugs and treat those who have
formed addictions.

Last summer, the provincial government announced it will provide $2.4
million to cover the annual operating costs to run two youth drug
treatment centres in Ottawa for children ages 13 to 17.

The Champlain Local Health Integration Network is looking at locating
the west end treatment centre in the Meadow Creek adult addiction
centre, currently used by the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, which
plans to move out of the building this summer.

Meadow Creek is located behind the Thunderbird Sports Centre, on
Richardson Road in West Carleton.

Dr. Robert Cushman, CEO of the Champlain health network, said he is
still negotiating with the land's owner.

"We still think Meadow Creek is the site."

The provincial money will also pay for a five-bed treatment centre
serving the francophone community in the city's east end.

Project STEP has raised half of the $6 million it needs to set up the
two youth drug treatment centres and to run the schools' drug
counseling program; it hopes to raise the other $3 million by the end
of 2010.

"It is said it takes a community to educate a child," McCracken said.
"It takes a whole community to save the life of a child, and this is
what this project is doing."