LOCAL KIDS NOW USING DRUGS EARLIER THAN EVER

The realities of drug use and the treatments available for them in Yorkton
were highlighted last week.

It was all part of a Community Drug Consultation meeting organized by the
Sunrise Health Region.

Held in the Anne Portnuff Theatre, a small group of attendees took on the
challenge of discussing one of the bigger problems facing society today -
growing acceptance of drug use.

Agencies which provide help to those who are sucked into this drug culture
each presented their thoughts on what is currently affecting Yorkton people.

While crystal methamphetamine has taken many headlines lately - due to its
growing presence in the province - Yorkton streets are just starting to see
the drug.

Providing a high that can last up to 10 hours, only those who aren't
getting a buzz from other drugs anymore are turning to the toxic, man-made
crystal meth.

Experts say the drug is so poisonous to the human body a user will sleep
for one to five days as their body recovers from what is essentially a
massive poisoning.

"We're starting to see it but I don't think it's at epidemic proportions,"
says Tracy Erickson, drug counselor and Safe Driving Coordinator for
Sunrise Health Region.

Stating the use of crystal meth. in Saskatchewan has been sensationalized
in the media, he says, "I still think alcohol is our number one problem
followed closely by pot use."

Agreeing with his assessment was William Woods, Coordinator of Alcohol and
Drug Services. However, there is one twist to his experience.

"At one time alcohol would be the first drugs kids are involved with. Now
it is pot," Woods states, adding it is the misconstrued message that
marijuana is being legalized, rather than decriminalized, that is
misleading their choice.

The other alarming fact, says Woods, is that the age of first use continues
to drop. Today it is kids 10 or 11 years old who are trying pot out.

Mushrooms, acid (LSD), ecstasy and a little bit more cocaine use is turning
up in youth in their middle to upper teens.

Woods says teens as young as 16 have come into his office with withdrawals
from cocaine.

"RCMP will tell you where there's cocaine, crystal meth. isn't far behind."

Woods believes the prevalence of drinking and smoking pot in youth are due
to a new societal attitudes.

"The message kids are getting is that it's okay to drink," he says, adding
it's quite often parents who will try to hang grad organizers over
suggesting dry grads before the kids will.

"We're fortunate in this community that the schools are getting together
and are making referrals to my office."

That means students are introduced to a phased drug treatment program to
help them make the right choices. When teachers notice a student's
performance fall, and suspect drug use, they are brought into counselling.

Used in both Yorkton high schools, Phase One sees students share their drug
use history with their families in three, two hour long sessions. Usually,
this brings about change in those who were recently introduced to drug use.

Stage two sees teens found to be relying on drugs or alcohol to return for
five weeks of counselling, two sessions per week. Using a combination of
workbooks and counselling this program has also seen good success.

Stage three involves use of a day program, with local counselors, which
takes two youth every week into the program which runs from January to April.

Carrie Shearer, a school counselor at Sacred Heart High School, says
students come in for a variety of reasons, including problems with
relationships with friends and parents.

However, after she talks with students for a while, sometimes a problem
with drinking or drug use surfaces.

Shearer says it is common for them to talk about their usage as not being a
big deal and often blame their use on others. "Parents are about 70/30 in
support of this approach," says Shearer, adding the 30 per cent usually
defend their child as not having a problem at first.

"But generally we have some really good people."

She says with some students the problem is more evident than with others.
When a student has missed so many classes they are on the verge of getting
kicked out by November, there is something wrong.

Cameron Hoffman, a school counselor at the Yorkton Regional High School,
says he has experienced fantastic cooperation from school administration in
his work.

He runs a group which goes through six hours of materials and videos while
making use of journals. He sees first hand that students using marijuana on
the weekends are affecting their motivation to learn during the week.

"You can go back on their record and almost pinpoint when they started
using," he says.

Today, the gap in time between when teachers report a lack of student
progress and the time they get counselling has been closed, making for good
communication between the schools and local drug and alcohol agencies.

Constable Rene Shank, who instructs the Drug Awareness Resistance Education
(DARE) program in Yorkton schools, says he has been surprised by the
knowledge some kids have of illicite drugs.

This means they are learning about them at a younger age.

"I'm really considering changing my DARE program from Grade Six to Grade
Five," explains Shank.

With alcohol at the top of the RCMPs problem list, cocaine for those who
have money, the trafficking of restoral and ritalin not far behind, he says
officers are usually left to deal with the after aftermath.

"We're trying to get people into the courts and convince the court they
need help."

On the bright side, when the justice system becomes involved there seems to
be a little bit more success.

This is where the Parkland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Society comes in. Carol
Horvath, coordinator of the society, says her office deals exclusively with
adults who have moved on to heavier usage after years of drug or alcohol abuse.

"When I first got started I never thought I would ever be dealing with
injection drug users," she began.

"We find we are getting younger clients with more problems," says Horvath,
saying the courts are now more often involved with her clients than ever
before.

"I had a person today who is 21 and has had 34 criminal code convictions."