THE MARIJUANA MYTH

Police have busted several marijuana grow houses in recent months.

dope + school = disaster

Some say marijuana is part of Powell River's culture. Others don't see it as
a drug. Everyone agrees marijuana is easy to find in Powell River and BC is
reputed to grow some of the best in the world.

Pot, dope, grass, BC Bud, weed. Slang for marijuana. Northern Lights, White
Rhino, Skunk, Afghani, Texada Time Warp, Texada Gold, White Widow. It's all
pot.

Locally grown marijuana is making its way across the border and being traded
pound for pound for cocaine. "It comes back as crack," said RCMP Corporal
Dennis Blanch.

Finding marijuana in Powell River isn't difficult. "It takes maybe five
minutes. Ask three people and you will have it," said a Powell River youth.
"Powell River and Texada have a huge grow community and the market for
marijuana is bigger than for any other drug."

Many people don't think marijuana is a drug, said RCMP Constable Adele
Lambert. "It's a community attitude--they just don't see it as a drug."

Blanch said Canada's marijuana penalties are so lenient that growers look at
fines--which are often only thousands of dollars--as the cost of doing
business. A good grow house can generate over $1 million a year. "It's not
grown in the United States because the penalties are so much harsher there."

People from all walks of life smoke or have smoked. "It's known that youth
smoke weed but they're missing the rest of society that smokes," said the
same youth.

Lambert tells a story about attending her husband's high school reunion at a
local hotel. People knew she was a police officer and although she didn't
see anyone smoke up, there was a strong smell of marijuana in the banquet
room. "I felt uncomfortable enough that I had to leave."

The local attitude toward marijuana was also brought up at a recent drug
forum. A member of Team Soapbox, a group that recently completed a high
school retention project, said pot is put in a class by itself, apart from
drugs like cocaine, crack and heroin. It was also pointed out that young
people are taking over the distribution of drugs from those in their 30s and
40s.

Brian Bennett, superintendent of School District 47, has heard "it's only
marijuana," more times than he can remember.

Some parents are incensed that their children are sent home because they've
been caught smoking marijuana at school, said Bennett.

"It's scary when you meet with parents and they say: 'Yeah, my kids are
regular users but what can I do about it?'"

School board chairwoman Pauline Galinski said the school district deals with
students who are in trouble with pot only to find out that their parents
gave it to them.

"There's that myth that it's only marijuana and you can't become addicted to
it," said Susan Hill, New Life drug and alcohol prevention counsellor.
"They're wrong."

She said marijuana interferes with a student's potential. She notes how
people who stop using marijuana report that a "fog has been lifted" once
they've been off at least a month.

School trustees have always been concerned about substance abuse in young
people and how it affects their education. And although the McCreary Centre
Society's adolescent health survey shows 46 per cent of those surveyed in
Powell River in 1998 said they had used marijuana before, Bennett expects
the next survey will be closer to the 50-per-cent mark.

All this going on while educators are trying to teach and improve student
improvement scores.

"So why is that a big issue for us?" Bennett mused. He pointed to the drug's
short-term effects, which include impairment of short-term memory,
confusion, impaired coordination, impaired motor ability, decreased
concentration and impaired problem solving.

"We are trying to improve exam scores and student achievement and this is
going on in the background," he said.

Long-term effects of consistent marijuana include slow, confused thinking,
memory impairment, lack of motivation and impairment of critical thinking
skills.

The result? "Lower achievement levels and one of the bigger effects,
dropouts."

Only 67 per cent of Powell River students who entered grade eight in
1993-1994 graduated with their peers in 1999. "We are not happy with our
retention rate," said Bennett. "Our experience tells us that if a child has
issues around attendance and motivation, one of the issues is often
substance abuse."

Hugh Prichard, Youth Advisory Council coordinator, said youth tell him
school is boring and they smoke pot to escape. He's also been told it's an
image thing. "They identify with each other through smoking pot, to the way
they dress, to the music they listen to and to who they hang out with. Kids
who do not feel connected to something will look for something else."

Marijuana is easy to get in Powell River. "You can grow your own if you are
a smart kid, and the kids in Lund know where the crops are located in the
bush. It's everywhere, and it's so socially acceptable. It's just part of
the Powell River culture."

The average age at which a Canadian child chooses to try marijuana for the
first time is 13 years of age.

BC School Trustees lobbied the federal government on the issue of marijuana
and youth after passing a motion presented to them by local school trustees.

Although marijuana may be seen as a moderate drug in its effects on adults,
it has serious negative effects on young people, they claim.

"This is not exactly the recipe for the future personal and academic success
of our students," said Galinski. Chemical content

A chemical called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is responsible for
the effects marijuana has on the brain. Today's pot has a higher THC content
than the pot smoked by people 20 or 30 years ago, says RCMP Constable Adele
Lambert.

"You can get it as high as 40-per-cent THC content," she said. "Some people
compare it to LSD because of the hallucogenic properties it has."