DRUG MAZE FIRST IN ALBERTA

Alberta communities are joining together to find a way out of the drug
maze. At least that was the hope of local RCMP and its community associates
at last week's Drug Maze Symposium held at the Omniplex in Drayton Valley.

"If we as the police share our information with each other all the time,
why can't a community?" said Const. Daryl Scott, one of the organizers of
the conference. So he and Norma Block, community mobilizer for Building
Safer Communities, invited groups from Whitecourt, Hinton, Edmonton and
Camrose to come to Drayton Valley to talk about how they deal with drugs in
their communities. About 90 people showed up.

"Having a drug symposium in Drayton Valley is not a negative," said Scott.
"What we're saying is we have identified that drugs are here but we're also
showing that we're doing something about it."

The major topic for the morning was how to deal with methamphetamine, but
from the point of view of parents and teachers who have to deal with
addicts. Law enforcement was left to the police.

School principals, RCMP personnel and community organization members
described common themes of the increased incidence of drugs in their
communities, the increasing need for parents and teachers to be able to
recognize drug users and the need for community groups to work together to
help those in need.

Kerry Laberge, a Camrose principal and member of the city's drug task
force, described a drug handbook developed there. It helps parents and
professionals determine if a youth is using drugs, communicate with a
person on drugs and assess a youth's risk level. "But presenting prevention
to kids is the easy part," he said. "The time-consuming part is to assist
kids to get off meth."

Whitecourt's presentation was given by its local RCMP detachment commander,
Staff Sgt. Pickered. He said his detachment had gone from handing out 800
traffic tickets in 2000, to 5,000 in 2001.

"Checking cars and drivers for seatbelts has an effect on the criminal
element as well," he said. "Also, people do not feel safe without a visible
policing effort."

At the same time, however, his detachment worked with the town to hire a
community liaison member to co-ordinate RCMP visits to schools. Const. Beth
Hoskin often visits schools.

"We need schools to suggest things to RCMP that they can just show up at
the school, not just for drug education," she said. "We want to develop
good relationships with kids in schools."

The symposium was the first of its kind in Alberta, and Scott hopes another
community will organize a meeting like this one in coming years.

"Or maybe Drayton Valley can host it again. The important thing is we keep
sharing information about our successes and failures and learn from that."