CLEAN-ING UP DRUGS IN ST. MARYS

The next step in St. Marys' fight against drugs takes place April 19
at the Lind Sportsplex. Community Link Empowered Against Narcotics
(CLEAN), a New Hamburg-based support group for parents of youth
involved with drugs, will be visiting to determine if St. Marys
should have its own chapter.

The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. and anyone interested is invited to
attend, in the hopes of finding dedicated persons to take on the
project.

"We're going to find out what they did and how to set one up here,"
says Mayor Tony Winter, one of the forces behind the initiative,
which emerged from an OPP-led public meeting on crystal meth last year.

"There's a lot of concern among parents," says Winter. "And some of
the people who work in the downtown are noting behaviours that are
upsetting."

CLEAN would supplement other initiatives, such as the drug
information day for parents and students that recently took place at
DCVI, and area students from Grade 7 to Grade 12 attended. The
evening portion drew about 100 interested parents.

Both groups listened to Tom Walker, a counsellor from Breakaway Youth
Services in Toronto, which specializes in helping families deal with
substance abuse. The main belief behind Walker's presentation was
that kids need their peers to help develop their identities, but they
also need their parents to give them structure and support in growing
up.

"Teaching kids to say 'no' is okay," Walker says. "But what roles can
the kids take on so they can still be part of their group? People
don't understand that drugs act as a connector between kids," he
explains.

Walker also believes that some parents worry too much about being
"cool" and need to discipline and support their children, so they
understand that there are consequences in life, not only in the home,
but in the real world.

"It was an amazing seminar," says Karen Zwakenberg of the evening
presentation. She's a counsellor with Choices for Change and
regularly talks with DCVI students about drugs. "We had a lot of
feedback and a lot of questions asked."

DCVI principal Kevin Mills said of the entire day that "as far as
informing the community of the perils of drug use, it was a good day.
We succeeded in doing that."