ANTI-DRUG MARCH DRAWS HUNDREDS

LACOMBE -Hundreds of young people, parents and teachers marched through the
wind on Saturday to take a united stand against drugs.

Shaylene Gudwer was in the crowd that briskly followed the Red Deer Royals
band down the C&E Trail.

The young woman in pigtails said she joined the anti-drug march because
three people she knows have died from drug-related causes in the past year.

A good friend from Red Deer overdosed last summer; her brother's close
friend - a drug user - committed suicide; and a Lacombe friend who moved to
Red Deer trying to break from drugs was shot in a Ross Street apartment,
said Gudwer.

"It's important the community recognize that drugs are a problem
everywhere," added the Lacombe resident.

This sentiment was echoed by Mathew Feeley, a religious studies student at
the Canadian University College, who is a member of the Theology Club,
which organized the anti-drug demonstration.

The 23-year-old Toronto native spoke about his own teenage drug use to a
crowd that had swelled to 500 people by the time the march ended at the
Lacombe Memorial Centre.

Feeley said his parents, who worked evenings, didn't know he had a problem
until they stumbled upon photos of him looking stoned at a rave.

By that time Feeley was using cocaine and crystal meth. And his weekend
habit, which started with marijuana and ecstasy, was spilling into the rest
of the week.

"Some of my family members pleaded with me to change -and they were the
ones that were crying," recalled Feeley, who began seeing himself through
his parents' eyes.

"At first, I didn't know know how to function when I stopped. It seemed so
abnormal, not to be on drugs."

But Feeley said he was able to go clean with the support of his girlfriend,
now wife, Kristy, and by breaking with the "party scene."

He now believes all parents should keep tabs on their teenagers and know
their children's friends. "If you'd asked me when I was 12 or 13, I would
have told you I had no intention of using drugs.'"

But just one year later, Feeley said his friends started to experiment, and
"it seemed so fulfilling for them, so attractive, I started doing it."

Event co-organizer Greg Baldeo of the Theology Club hopes the march
convinces more young people to stay off drugs.

"If we allow drugs to take a niche, they will destroy the community . . .
we wanted to raise awareness that prevention is a lot better than a cure."

Most Lacombe churches and at least three local schools encouraged members
and students to participate in the anti-drug march. Brothers Ben and Sam
Geleynse, whose father is a local minister, said they've lived in Toronto
and towns as small as 1,400 people, and know drugs are always available.

"Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't go on," said
15-year-old Ben.

Sam, 17, added, "We fool ourselves if we say it's not as big a deal here."

Isabel Wymann, principal of Terrace Ridge School, said she supports the
march because "it echoes what we believe -that we have to look after our
young people and help them make the right choices."

Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ray Prins praised the youth-organized event while
speaking at the Memorial Centre.

He later stressed that no town is drug-free. "We're not saying we're worse
than other communities but we must be aware and vigilant and recognize the
problems that exist. . . .

"Maybe this will be a beacon to the rest of the province," said Prins. "It
says we know about (the drug problem), we will do what we can to prevent
it, and we will help people who are on drugs get off."

He noted the provincial government already increased funding for police
officers and passed a bill, introduced by Red Deer MLA Mary Anne Jablonski,
that allow parents to force their children into drug treatment.

Prins and Lacombe Mayor Judy Gordon hope the local anti-drug march becomes
an annual event.

Prins encourages anyone needing help to call his office or AADAC.