DRUGS AND TEENS; COMMUNITY NEEDS HELP

A drug use study conducted by students, and among students at Williams
Lake secondary, may not be scientifically accurate but it is a very
worthy effort, says principal Joe Pearce.

"The fact the kids did it is encouraging. It shows they are interested
in important issues that affect them," says Pearce. "It is a far
healthier approach than pretending there isn't a problem and sticking
one's head in the sand."

While the student numbers on drug use are higher than the scientific
numbers they have from government agencies, he says the numbers
compiled by Frances Enyedy and Sarah Harwood are still alarming and
indicate a trend toward more drug use among youth in society.

"I haven't done the statistical summary yet but my belief is that drug
suspensions will be up this year compared to other years," says Pearce.

He also believes there were more suspensions for marijuana use than
for alcohol use this past school year.

"We have been focusing a great deal on referring students with drug or
alcohol problems to counselling and the Revisions youth alcohol and
drug program run by Cariboo-Chilcotin Family Resources," says Pearce.

"There are lots of educational materials available and I'm not sure if
it is a case of kids tuning out or what," he adds.

He says factors in the greater society such as the political debate on
liberalising marijuana laws may also influence student attitudes
toward drugs.

"It is not just a school issue. It is a community issue and we have to
keep coming at it from that angle," says Pearce.

"We are a microcosm of society at large. It doesn't make me happy that
it is there, but there it is."

School District 27 superintendent Wayne Leckie agrees.

"Generally it is a growing concern in North America. This is my
seventh school district and every place has had a problem," says Leckie.

He also notes that while the survey was conducted in the school with
students, the survey is more a reflection of student drug and alcohol
use in the larger community.

"It is a very small minority of students who would actually be engaged
in using drugs or alcohol in the schools," says Leckie.

He says the biggest problem is usually with alcohol and marijuana but
in Hope, when he was there in the early 1990s, he says there was a
great deal of concern over cocaine use, perhaps because that community
is at the crossroads of several major highways.

He says marijuana use was a bigger problem on the Queen Charlotte
Islands when he was there. "My recollection is that there seemed to be
a high proportion of marijuana suspensions given the small student
population," says Leckie.

Schools are trying to deal with a cultural acceptance of drugs which
hasn't always been there, says Leckie. "Drugs seem to be more
accessible as well as acceptable."

For these reasons he says School District 27 is seeking community
support for new programs designed to keep drugs out of schools -- drug
free zones around schools, more drug awareness education, and personal
intervention and support for students with an alcohol or drug problem.

He says history has shown that strictly policing doesn't work unless
you are in a very oppressive society.

"It takes a village to raise a child," Leckie concludes.

School District 27 board chair Anne Goyette agrees.

"The only thing I can say about drug use is that it is not just a
school problem. It is a societal problem."

Since schools are places where students congregate they become more
obvious targets for drug dealers, she says.

"Certainly having the drug free zones around the three high schools
should do something to mitigate the problem," says Goyette. She also
agrees the school district needs the support of police, parents and
the whole community.

"We just can't do it by ourselves," says Goyette.

She says they have the DARE drug awareness program for elementary
schools, and hope to have the PARTY drug awareness program for teens
in Williams Lake this fall.