NEW TAKE ON DRUG ABUSE

At Wednesday's County Council Meeting, The Peterborough Drug Strategy
Provides Update To Councillors On Its Goals

(PETERBOROUGH) Traditional strategies targeting drug abuse in the
community just aren't working.

That's why a number of community groups have pulled together to form
the Peterborough Drug Strategy, a four-pillar and more holistic
approach to drug abuse.

Today (Wednesday) members of the group made a presentation to
Peterborough County Council to bring councillors up to speed on the
strategy and to receive their support.

The group, which formed last spring, is made up of representatives
from the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, the Peterborough County
OPP, the Peterborough police, PARN-Your Community AIDS Resource
Network, and FourCAST, an organization that provides addiction
treatment programs.

The four pillars of the strategy are prevention; harm reduction;
enforcement; and treatment. Suzanne Galloway, health promoter at the
local health unit, says this is an approach governments around the
world are now using as an effective way to target drug abuse.

Dr. Rosana Pellizzari, local medical officer of health, addressed the
issue of prevention.

"It's much more than just education," she says, noting prevention
includes strengthening the health, social and economic factors that
can reduce the risk of substance use.A

Ms Galloway says the drug strategy focus for 2009/10 is on
prescription opioids, such as OxyContin and percocet. The group's
focus for this year also includes raising awareness and improving
relationships. She notes there are many reasons for the creation of
the local drug strategy, including the fact that while substance abuse
is a population-wide issue, impacts are felt at the local level.

Mary Smith, deputy-reeve for Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield Township, says
it's good to recognize that substance abuse knows no boundaries. She
says one challenge for people living in the county is access to
services and programs, such as a safe needle exchange program run by
PARN in the city.

"It's certainly an ongoing challenge," says Deputy-reeve
Smith.

Ms Galloway says there is a provincial focus to create more hubs of
resources in rural areas. She notes one focus of the group is to
collect more data about local issues and solutions from community
consultations to find out what resources exist in rural communities,
and why people may not be using resources currently offered.

In its strategy, the group outlines that all drugs, including alcohol,
need to be addressed along with recognizing they need municipal and
county support to move forward.

"Alcohol and substance abuse is here and it is here to stay," says
Thomas Flynn, Reeve of Galway-Cavenish and Harvey.