FOUND IT, NOW TO FIX IT

"You can't fix it, if you don't know it's broke."

Ask high school students anywhere in Ontario, and they will tell you
drugs are relatively easy to find in our schools.

It's a very real problem, but recent statistics show the problem
might be greater in Huntsville.

The easiest approach to the alarming drug and alcohol use at
Huntsville High School would be to ignore it, pretend it's not really
a problem.

Of course, that approach doesn't make the problem go away.

The statistics are frightening. According to a Centre for Addiction
and Mental Health study, the Simcoe Muskoka area ranked highest in
several categories when the study was conducted in 2007. Those
numbers dropped when the regional breakdown for this area was
expanded to include eastern central Ontario, but still sit alarmingly high.

In 2007, Muskoka and Simcoe County teens ranked first in the province
when it came to drinking alcohol (83 per cent of teens), smoking pot
(48 per cent), riding in a car with a driver under the influence of
drugs or alcohol (31 percent), and daily cigarette smoking (25 per
cent). Local teens that showed indicators of drug use problems, like
addiction, came in at 32 percent, by far the highest in the province.

True, more recent numbers show a decrease, but health officials
conducting the study have said results are likely skewed by the
addition of east central Ontario figures.

The problem in this area, they say, remains starkly severe.

These statistics aren't meant to paint all area high school students
with the same drug-tainted brush.

Except for alcohol use, the vast majority of our students stay away
from these potentially harmful substances. What these statistics tell
us is that our area has a relatively high number of kids struggling
with drugs and/or alcohol, or toying with them, on the verge of
struggling. Health, school and law enforcement officials have to take
a close look at successful students and identify what keeps good kids
from succumbing to drugs and alcohol.

They must also take a close look at kids in trouble and figure out
what leads to such high numbers here. Is it higher poverty rates?
Crumbling family dynamics?

Weak school systems?

A lack of extra-curricular support? Early childhood failures?

Now that the very real problem has been highlighted, those are the
questions that need addressing.

And perhaps at the forefront is what health officials have already
identified; most of these substances - painkillers, booze, pot and
cigarettes - come from area homes.

That's proof the crisis needs the attention of everyone.

It's time for the community to take action - not just leave it up to
schools, police and probation officers.

It's a problem that requires the attention of the entire community:
churches, municipal and civil leaders, parents, neighbours,
grandparents ... It's a problem that can no longer be denied or
ignored, lest it continue to grow.

J.T.