THE REAL PROBLEM

Fort Saskatchewan Record -- "Fighting Crystal Meth" reads the
headline in a recent newspaper ad.

It seems that the province of Alberta has undertaken to do something
about the so-called Crystal Meth Problem in our province. Praise be,
we's a gonna study the problem.

We are told further that, "Crystal Meth is an inexpensive highly
addictive and destructive drug."

You can't argue with that, any more than you can argue that any motor
vehicle is a 2,000 pound lethal weapon, and that they are responsible
for hundreds of deaths every year. You will say "but that's
different, it's not the car that's the problem it's how people use it."

That's the point. We don't have a car problem, we have a driver
problem. We don't have a Crystal Meth problem; we have a problem with
a certain number of people, only some of them kids, who for whatever
reason are prone to use drugs.

This isn't just words, there is a real difference here, a difference
in focus and approach. The problem is in part with the "child" but
more importantly it is with the "village".

The question is, what is wrong with our village that we are producing
a certain number of kids who are prone to dangerous behaviour like:
substance abuse, driving too fast, and eating much and so forth?

The answers are available. Ask the school board trustee, or the
schoolteacher who is battling with overcrowded classrooms, and
limited support facilities. Ask the paediatrician or emergency room
physician who must contend with an under funded over used health
system. Ask the single mother who must raise her children on woefully
inadequate income security.

The front lines of the war on drugs are not the streets, the
courtrooms or the prisons. The front lines are at home, in the
schools. The most important combatants are Boy Scout Troop Leaders,
Church Youth Leaders, Boys and Girls Club Volunteers, Block Parents.
These are the real workers in the "village", the ones who do much to
instil with in the "child" the characteristics he needs to live a
health lifestyle.

Dick Easton

Fort Saskatchewan