WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CRACK, PARENTS

"The most disturbing part of the night's adventure is not the teen's
actions. It's the actions - or rather inaction of the teen's parents."
Drug abuse is alive and well on the streets and in the parks of Kanata
and Stittsville.

Last week, the Kourier-Standard sent a reporter on a police ride-along
to observe the crackdown on illegal parties held by high school
graduates in public parks in the city's suburbs.

What we learned was an eye opener.

OK, the fact kids use drugs is hardly surprising.

But the type of drug they're using is.

We travelled to a west-end park and observed a group of teens using a
play structure to smoke crack and drink vodka.

They took off into the woods, when Const. Ryan Strotmann shone a
searchlight on them, leaving behind a student ID card, and assorted drug
paraphernalia.

Oh yes, before they left, these paragons of youthly virtue wrote
graffiti on the play structure.

Nice.

One of the teens left behind her student ID card, which provided police
with her home address.

Shortly before we arrived at her house, police received a report of a
mugging.

The girl and her friends claimed they had been mugged three nights ago
(and were only reporting the theft now).

The missing items, coincidently, were the textbooks, bag and other items
that Strotmann found at the park.

Unbelievable.

The most disturbing part of the night's adventure is not the teen's
actions. It's the actions - or rather inaction of the teen's parents.

What's a 17-year-old girl doing out at midnight on a school night?

Where are the youth getting the money to buy crack cocaine?

If these kids are hooked on crack - a highly addictive substance - why
aren't they at a rehabilitation centre?

What are these youths' parents doing about their kids' drug problem?

It's easy to throw stones from the sidelines, but we believe these are
important questions to ask.

Important questions parents should be asking themselves.