COMMUNITY EFFORT TO FIGHT LOCAL DRUG ABUSE

A drug strategy for Chatham-Kent is a step closer to
reality.

A board of directors for a newly designed C-K Drug Awareness Council
was elected Friday during its annual general meeting in Chatham.

Chatham Coun. Marjorie Crew, who is one of the directors, said the new
group brings together members of the drug awareness council and the
volunteers who have been formulating a strategy to combat drug abuse
in the community.

She said the board will provide a governing body to move the drug
strategy forward. The strategy has four core pillars: prevention,
treatment, enforcement and harm reduction.

"We need, as a community, to work on all of those things," said
Crew.

"Not one group or one person can make an effective change in the drug
problem in Chatham-Kent because it is multifaceted and affects so many
people," she said.

Karen Kirkwood-Whyte, executive director of the United Way and another
member of the drug awareness council, echoed Crew's comments.

"If we can put a face on this issue . . . and get people to recognize
that it is a community problem - and it needs a community solution,"
Kirkwood-Whyte said.

She added the drug strategy is a good fit with the United Way's
mandate.

"The United Way's role is not just about raising money and handing it
out. It's about identifying community issues and then mobilizing
resources around those issues and then attacking them," she said.

In addition to alcohol abuse and illicit drugs, another area of
concern is the non-medicinal use of prescription drugs.

According to Chatham-Kent Police Special Const. Charlene Mitchell, a
"disturbing" number of pills are being circulated on the streets and
in the schools.

Mitchell quoted figures from a survey conducted by the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health in 2009 on student drug use in Ontario.

According to the survey,18 per cent of youth reported non-medicinal
use of prescription drugs, with 75 per cent getting the drugs from
home.

Mitchell said common drugs for pain relief are being abused, including
oxycodone and Tylenol 3.

Dubbed "hillbilly heroin," Mitchell said kids are crushing oxycodone
pills to snort the drug or they're diluting it to inject it.

"Pharming" is another form of abuse, she said.

Mitchell said "pharming" refers to young people raiding their parents
medicine cabinets to get high.

"Pharm parties," she said are occasions where teens bring prescription
drugs from home and mix them together in a large bowl.

"People supposedly grab a handful, which they ingest to see what
happens," she said.

Citing Tilbury as an example of combatting the problem, Mitchell said
several members of the community have come together and are taking
active roles.

"We have the Tilbury and District Health Team on board . . . we have
pharmacies, we have educators in the schools, we have the police, the
health unit, Ontario Works and the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance
working at the table, specifically targeting prescription pain
medication abuse," said Mitchell.

A key focus of the campaign urges people to lock up their medications
and return their unused or old medications so they cannot be stolen
for non-medicinal uses.

There is also a peer leadership program that was developed at the
Tilbury District High School.

The program trains teen leaders who then teach grade eight students
about alcohol, drugs and other issues they face.

Jack Haight, another member of the board of the drug awareness
council, praised the efforts to bring the message to the schools.

However, the Blenheim resident suggested the efforts could start as
early as grades 3 or 5.

"We need to tell them the other side; not just the 'exciting, action-
packed stories' they're hearing from their peers," said Haight.

"But the carnage, the collateral damage, the devastation that comes
with drug addiction so that when they see it, they'll walk away from
it," he said.

The new C-K drug awareness council has twelve elected
members.

John Zarebski of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Services
was acclaimed as president while Marshall Phinney of the Westover
Treatment Centre was acclaimed vice president.

For more information about the council or the drug strategy, call
519-354-0430.