DRUG FORUM DEALS OUT SOBERING TRUTHS

Concerned parents join teens at community meeting

For the crowd gathered at the Seniors Centre for the Substance Abuse
Forum last Thursday night, Chad Walker's story of drug addiction and
of his attempts at recovery was at once disturbing and inspiring.

The forum, sponsored by the local Rotary Club, was designed to offer
concerned residents the chance to educate themselves on the threats
posed to the region by crystal meth and a host of other common street drugs.

Dean Nicholson of the East Kootenay Addiction Services started things
off, outlining the differences between substance use and substance
abuse, offering some numbers to give a more precise sense of drug use
in the Kootenays But it was 27-year-old Walker who clearly had the
greatest impact on those in attendance.

Somewhat nervous as he took the floor, Walker, now 10-months sober,
told his tale: How he managed to survive homeless on the streets of
Vancouver; how he used heroin, cocaine and crystal meth on a daily
basis; how he dropped from 188 lbs to 138 lbs; and how he used to
pick through garbage and steal to make ends meet.

Walker also talked about how his addiction caused him to lose his
wife; how he couldn't muster up the will to attend court hearings to
keep his kid; how he's now Hepatitis-C-positive and how he's still
dealing with psychosis due to all the drug use.

"I was really gone," Walker, a five-year addict, told the audience.
"I didn't recognize signs. It just happened that way. I was a
stereotypical addict - a skid row junkie.

Cognizant of the havoc crude street drugs like crystal meth have
wreaked in other centres, parents at the forum had no shortage of
questions for Chad.

How far did you get in school?; Do you still speak with your family?;
Why did you do it?; What signs should we look for Walker's advice for
them was simple: "Don't baby your kid - but be there for him/her. Be
honest and be a friend.

At one point, Nicholson tried to downplay the notion of an impending
crystal meth epidemic in the East Kootenay, dismissing the perceived
threat as exaggerated "media hype" designed to sell newspapers.

Meth, he said, was no more of a threat than crack and cocaine was
before it. After all, only three per cent of 5,000 surveyed kids in
the region said they use.

Walker, who says he is still aware but uninvolved in the street scene
in his new town, Cranbrook, said he saw things differently.

The figures didn't seem to convince or assure the audience, either.

"What if one of your kids was among that three per cent?" one parent
asked Nicholson