DRUG INFORMATION DAY THIS THURSDAY

Open Meeting For The Community At 7:30 P.M. At DCVI; Students To
Learn During School Hours

This Thursday, March 30, the St. Marys Drug Information Initiative
Committee is holding a Drug Information Day for students in grades 7
to 12 taking place at St. Marys DCVI.

The committee, created after an OPP-led community information evening
on crystal meth held last October, has designed the program and drug
information day as a first step.

There will be two presentations, a morning event intended for the
students and an evening presentation for parents and interested
community members.

"I want to make it clear to people that this project is different.
This information night is practical and useful information for
parents about drugs and youth -- it's not another meth meeting," says
Karen Zwakenberg, youth counsellor with Choices for Change. "The
evening presentation is different than what the kids are hearing
during the day. The evening is aimed at the parents."

The program during the day will give students the opportunity to
listen to Tom Walker of Breakaway Youth Services of Toronto, who also
trained the facilitators.

On March 3, 23 senior student facilitators, along with the same
number of adult facilitators, attended a training day at DCVI with
Walker and will discuss issues with the students after the presentation.

Zwakenberg says that "It's the kids of St. Marys that are half of the
committee and they deserve credit for this. They want to be involved."

The evening presentation was planned to coordinate with
parent/teacher interviews. The objective is to provide information
and to encourage community action and awareness in St. Marys to
develop a community action plan.

"Here's the chance for parents to hear and be informed all about
drugs and youth. It's important for parents to know what is normal
behaviour and what's not normal behaviour and when to intervene
concerning drugs and alcohol," Zwakenberg says.

Provincial funding announced

Last week, the province announced that it would provide $20,000 in
one-time funding to Choices for Change to help its withdrawal
management services (WMS) division. The funds will be used to hire a
consultant to develop local plans within the newly formed South West
Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). Choices for Change will be
the lead agency and work with other providers in their area.

The funding is also intended to help them develop a plan for WMS in
the area that will make better use of the resources they have,
address the pressures on the WMS centre and promote innovation.