TEENS' DRUG CABINET FAR FROM BARE: COKE, ECSTASY USE ON RISE

If Ottawa high schools make up a city within a city, then students'
drug habits are reflecting the greater population.

While marijuana and alcohol continue to be the key vices for teens, a
youth intervention co-ordinator with Ottawa police says cocaine is an
emerging concern.

Louise Logue doesn't believe cocaine use is rampant among teens, but
she's seen enough cases for her to put up warning flags.

"It's certainly enough to keep me in business," Logue
says.

Across the city, police in 2006 recorded a 57% increase in incidents
involving cocaine from the previous year, so perhaps it's only natural
that the trend be partially reflected in the drug behaviour of youth.

Police investigated at least 137 drug complaints at high schools in
2006, according to statistics obtained by The Sun.

Schooling Affected

The incidents include drug complaints, seizures and ongoing
investigations.

Logue says drug-using teens who are arrested for drug-related offences
don't realize their schooling can be affected.

Volunteer jobs, which count toward students' mandatory volunteer
hours, can be at risk if an employer uncovers a blemish in a
background check.

It seems there's never a shortage of work for Logue, who has been
working with teens for more than 30 years.

"I've never been busier," she says.

While booze and pot are always on the radar, so is ecstasy, which
Logue says has been a "mainstay" in youth drug culture.

High schools partner with city social agencies, such as Maison
Fraternite, Dave Smith Treatment Centre and Rideauwood Addiction
Services, in offering drug and alcohol counselling to students.

At St. Peter High School, for example, counsellors from Rideauwood
visit with students between one and two days a week on a referral basis.

Principal Sue Arbour praises the addictions program, but she says it
can be expensive for schools to maintain.

'Tremendous Increase'

"It's a nice tool for parents to get ongoing counselling," Arbour
says.

Joan Leadbeater-Graham, who oversees Rideauwood's school-based teen
substance abuse program, says there has been a "tremendous increase"
in alcohol and drug use among young people in the past two decades.

"Police are being kept busy, as are school officials,"
Leadbeater-Graham says.

Rideauwood counsellors saw roughly 550 students in 22 high schools in
2006.

On the Rise

Well over half of the students are using alcohol and marijuana as
primary drugs, Leadbeater-Graham says.

Cocaine is "definitely on the rise," she says, noting the drug is next
in line behind alcohol, marijuana and ecstasy in terms of substances
students abuse.

Both Leadbeater-Graham and Logue describe today's society as one that
doesn't treat marijuana use with the seriousness it deserves.

"It's not the same marijuana that was in the '60s," Logue
says.

Leadbeater-Graham says pot has become more of a hard drug because of
its potency.

It has become obvious that Ottawa needs to place greater emphasis on
treatment programs for youth, especially in the form of a residential
program, Leadbeater-Graham says.

"It has not had the will to be funded," she says. "Treatment is
prevention."