SCHOOL SENDING OUT ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE

A local high school is taking a first-strike approach to drug
abuse.

"We want to teach students about the effects of drugs and create that
awareness," said Shari Wallace, the Aboriginal Education Worker at
Kelly Road Secondary School. "We're an educational facility. This is
what we should be doing."

Last January--after unpaid teacher salaries from the last teachers
strike were given to school districts for alternate programs --
Wallace and other Kelly Road youth workers started the KRSS Youth Drug
and Alcohol Prevention Committee, to educate students and stop drug
abuse before it begins.

Wallace said the Committee coexists with the school district's
policies of prohibition and intervention.

"If a student is caught doing drugs, we obviously follow procedure and
contact the police," said Wallace. "We want to prevent that from
happening in the first place."

Wallace said marijuana and alcohol are still the drugs of choice in
local high schools, but harder drugs like ecstasy and crystal meth are
becoming more popular.

She added that Kelly Road's current prevention-first approach is
modelled after the Drug Free Schools Program now operating in the
Lower Mainland.

"It's been very successful in Vancouver, where they have students
interacting with professionals in drug prevention, to come up with
policies."

In an effort to encourage more local student participation, the
Committee is holding a Community Cafe tonight at the KRSS library at 7
p.m., where students, parents and staff of School District 57 will
take part in an open forum.

"We want to get input from the community about our programs and
policies," Wallace said.