RCMP OFFER DRUG INFO SESSION

Ecstasy Concerns Spur Parent Education

Concern by the perceived rising popularity of ecstasy among Port
Alberni youth has Mounties teaming up with the District Parent
Advisory Council to educate parents and the communities of the drug's
danger.

The event, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. tomorrow, is an information
session meant to arm parents and families with information. It's part
of the police program Project E Aware and was sparked by the chemical
drug issue in communities across B.C., said RCMP Cpl. Dave Cusson,
area co-ordinator for drugs and organized crime awareness services.

"Port Alberni is not immune to chemical drugs by any means," Cusson
said. "You're seeing trends with young people experimenting with drugs
that are essentially a cocktail of various chemicals. They're very
risky to use and in some cases kill people."

Among the recent victims of ecstasy was 21-year-old Erin Spanevello.
The attractive young West Vancouver resident died after mixing her
first-ever dose of ecstasy with GHB, commonly known as a date-rape
drug. The combination of drugs proved lethal.

On Thursday, Catherine Spanevello, mother of Erin, is coming to Port
Alberni to speak of the experience ecstasy has had on her family. It's
an experience that began in ignorance, but in the months since her
daughter died, Spanevello has learned a lot about ecstasy and the
youth drug culture. She plans to share that knowledge with parents in
an effort to help them avoid enduring the same loss.

"The chemical drug issue is building and parents don't have a lot of
knowledge about them," Cusson said. "Parents mostly know about
marijuana and alcohol and the hard chemicals like cocaine and heroin.
But ecstasy is a drug that parents aren't aware of."

Following the presentation by Spanevello, which is set to kick off at
about 7 p.m., there will be speeches by members of the RCMP, including
Theresa Thompson, school liaison officer for the RCMP who provides
prevention education for school students. Const. John Bouchard of the
municipal drug section will also speak about local drug trends in Port
Alberni. Those trends include information on what drugs are showing
up, their effects and how and why youths might take them.

"I know ecstasy is around," Cusson said. "Young people are using it in
the community. It used to be used at raves, now it's being used at
parties and even daily. It's being used as a means to replace alcohol.
The pills are cheap, they're easy to hide and don't produce the same
effects of alcohol."

While ecstasy might be common in Port Alberni, it might be less so in
the next community. Each community is unique, and Bouchard will
present on the current drug trends in Port Alberni today, Cusson said.

While parents will walk away with a much better idea of who is at risk
and telltale signs to watch for, the information session will also
benefit police. The issue of drugs is not purely a police problem, but
one that belongs to the whole community, Cusson said.

"There's no such thing as a safe drug," he said. "These chemical drugs
have no controls and recipes vary. We don't know what's in them, drug
dealers don't know what's in them and the people taking them don't
know what's in them."