'JUST SAY NO' JUST DOESN'T WORK: YOUTH

National Student Organization Forms New Anti-Drug Website

A national youth and student drug reform organization says young
Canadians don't put much stock in the federal government's anti-drug
approach, so it has created a new website it says may better educate
young people about the risks they take by using drugs.

Canadian Students for a Sensible Drug Policy designed
www.not4me.org,which it says moves away from the government's "just
say no" approach, which it calls ineffective.

"One of the biggest failings of previous youth drug education programs
is that young people don't take them seriously," said Caleb Chepesiuk,
CSSDP staff member.

"We are providing a resource that gives young people serious, honest
information on drugs and their risks and tips on how they can keep
themselves and their friends safe through either avoiding drugs or by
recognizing and preventing problematic substance use patterns before
they start. It fails to acknowledge that young people use drugs."

Explaining the government strategy, Tamara Kalnins, 24, and a member
of the board of directors for CSSDP said that the definition of
insanity is repeating an action and expecting a different result,
which is what she says, the government's drug program appears to be
doing, with a "just say no" strategy she says is failing to engage
young people. The key is to talk with young people, not at them, she
says.

CSSDP is particularly concerned with the government's decision to
exclude alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals from its prevention strategies.

"By excluding alcohol from its drug strategy, when it is by far the
most common drug used by Canadian youth and is one with the most
damaging effects on the brain of adolescents, our government is
failing to take its responsibility and is putting our youth at risk,"
said Dr. Jean-Sebastian Fallu, an assistant professor in the
department of psycho-education at the University of Montreal.

"Because alcohol is considered a legal substance in our society, the
government wants to target drugs that are known to be illegal. Just
telling teens that they shouldn't do drugs because they are bad for
you and only mentioning the risks involved, thinking that they will
stay away from them, is counterproductive because like cigarette
smokers, who know that cigarettes are bad for health, teens also know
that some drugs are bad but they will still experiment with them."

The group, which gave a media briefing on Parliament Hill on Tuesday,
said it expected the website to be up and running late Tuesday.

According to the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey for 2009,
the most commonly used drug is alcohol, with 58.2 per cent of students
reporting use during the 12 months prior to the survey.

Marijuana is the next most commonly used drug, with 25.6 per cent
reporting past-year use.