IT DOESN'T COST MUCH TO GET HIGH

It costs the same as a movie, three mochas, or about 10 games of pool. And
it lasts longer. For some youth, drug use is becoming the best way to spend
a Friday night.

Or a Tuesday night. Or a Wednesday afternoon.

According to Statistics Canada, youth are at the highest risk for drug and
alcohol dependence. A 2002 study showed nine percent of 20- to 24-year-olds
were dependent on alcohol, compared to a figure of less than one per cent
for those aged 35 or older.

When it came to drugs, the study found 2.5 per cent of those aged 15 to 24
were dependent versus less than half of one per cent of people over 35.

Youth are becoming addicted to hard drugs younger and younger, says Bob
Haubrich, the manager of crisis services and addictions for the central
island. Youth as young as 12 are habitually using.

As chemical drugs (crystal meth or ecstacy) become cheaper and easier to
produce than organic drugs (marijuana or mushrooms), youth are turning to
more addictive, more damaging substances.

"We're kind of working flat out here, doing what we can," said Haubrich,
taking a deep breath. "But it's never enough. We're not staffed enough."

For teenage girls especially, drug use is often tied up in issues of
self-esteem. They are doing it for acceptance, to ease their anxiety, to
feel powerful. Increasingly girls are turning to crystal meth in the search
for the elusive perfect body, according to Steve Noble, a Cowichan Valley
man who worked with local youth to produce a play about youth drug use.

"They're taking crystal meth thinking they'll lose weight," says Noble.
"And they will. They'll lose a ton of weight. They'll look like a skeleton.
But they'll use it once and they're addicted."

At $10 a hit, the high can last upwards of 12 hours. That's 12 hours
without sleep or food. The high takes its toll as users come down, leading
to binge use that leaves a person addicted after just one session.

Crystal meth is often laced with other drugs, like ecstacy, increasing its
addictiveness.

The increase in crystal meth use is showing itself in an increasing number
of people being admitted to area hospitals for overdoses and drug-induced
dangerous behaviour, explains Haubrich.

"We know that meth is in the Valley," says RCMP spokesperson Const.
Jennifer Prunty. "I would hesitate to call it the dominant drug ... but it
us one of the scariest in terms of what it does to you and the violent
behaviour."

But, says Prunty, while the drug is gaining in popularity, RCMP don't
believe it is being produced here yet.

Toward the end of 2004, Cowichan Youth Services began conducting a survey
of 1,000 youths aged 15 to 30 in the region to try to get a handle on drug
and alcohol use locally.

So far 97 per cent of respondents say they have used alcohol.

The evolution of CYS has itself been the result of substance abuse problems
in the Valley. The office opened five years ago as a youth employment office.

"I knew within three months that we would have much bigger issues," says
Julie Bradley of CYS. "We ended up being a resource centre for all the issues."

The office now also provides counseling and referral services, school
presentations and works with at-risk youth.

"Any kid with $20 can get something. There's no question. For $10 you can
get ecstacy anywhere," said Bradley.

One of the new trends is mixing alcohol and marijuana with several other
drugs at one time.

"They're using six or seven drugs a night," said Bradley.

It's a vicious cycle that leads to more and more drug use.

"'It doesn't do anything for me.' We hear that a lot," said Martin
Middleton, a youth worker with CYS who has been conducting the drug use
survey. "Once you are addicted, you get used to it and you have to step it up."

There are no drugs to ease the brutal withdrawal from crystal meth. The
only way to detox is with counseling and a lot of willpower.

"There's potentially a tidal wave of new cases coming in and we're not
prepared for it," says Noble.

"Addiction is still a very taboo topic to talk about. To some extent
parents are still in denial about it. They think it's only 'those' kids,
the 'bad' kids. Whoever they are. We're hiding behind the silence and
because of the silence the damage is only going to become worse ... the
damage is going to be more widespread."

The only way to stop the wave, believes Noble, is to take prevention
programs to a middle-school level.

"If we're targeting kids in high school we're too late. It's already there."

Bradley agrees, saying prevention should be done in Grade 8 if not earlier.

For their part, the RCMP revamped the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education) program to deal more with poor self-esteem as a cause of drug
and alcohol use. The updated program is designed to be delivered to
students in both Grades 5 and 7.

"The focus is more towards giving kids decision making skills so they can
make healthy choices in their lives," says Prunty.

However, because of budget constraints the new program will be delivered
only in selected Grade 5 classes in the Cowichan Valley.

Prevention must also include teaching youth other ways to build their
self-esteem, says Fred Roland, who works with the youth of Cowichan Tribes.
One way of doing that is through programs like Roland's newly launched
Ancestral Trails.

While it is not specifically a diversion program, Ancestral Trails takes
First Nations youth out into nature, teaching them the outdoors skills and
cultural skill of their ancestors. A natural byproduct of that, says
Roland, is improved social skills and self-confidence.

It's a program that was developed to guide youth through a time when they
are trying to find themselves, said Roland, trying to be someone.

"A lot of them are struggling on various levels ... if we can provide a
place where it doesn't matter if you are wearing the top of the line hiking
gear or just something to make you comfortable that is huge. We're just
providing a place where none of that matters. We're here to just find out
who you are. Just being."