PROGRAM DELIVERS ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE TO STUDENTS

It's a difficult subject to discuss, but the organizers of a
community-based drug and alcohol awareness program are hoping that a
fun theme will help to get the message across.

Tuesday was the first of three days that students in Grades 4 and 5
took part in the eighth annual Racing Against Drugs program.

Approximately 1,500 students from 28 schools in Leeds, Grenville and
Lanark will complete the program, which is held at the Brockville
Memorial Centre.

Racing Against Drugs aims to inform students in Grades 4 and 5 of the
negative impact of alcohol and drug use and about risk-taking,
decision-making and refusal skills.

The program's auto racing theme is designed to capture the attention
of young people.

Students made "pit stops" at approximately 30 stations, where
officials including representatives from Brockville Police Service,
the OPP, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, the Upper
Canada District School Board, the RCMP, Leeds-Grenville EMS, the City
of Brockville and local businesses, service clubs and non-profit
groups discussed various anti-drug related topics.

"Our main objective is to increase awareness about drugs and their
negative impact," said Tawnya Boileau, a public health nurse with the
health unit and co-chairman of the event along with Brockville Police
Service community safety officer Sergeant Doug Locke.

The program was expanded several years ago to include information not
only about drugs, but about healthy lifestyles choices, food and
alternative activities, said Rebecca Kavanagh, a public health nurse
with the health unit and project co-ordinator with Smiths Falls Focus.

Students, having heard about the program from their older
schoolmates, look forward to the program every year, Kavanagh said.

This year, organizers will also be conducting pre- and post-event
tests to see how effective the program is, Boileau said.

The learning doesn't stop even when the program ends.

Boileau said the event organizers provide teachers with curriculum
packages so they are able to continue anti-drug education in the classroom.

And when the students hit high schools, the program begins again.

The same group that organizes Racing Against Drugs also does a
program called Party Survival, which is aimed at students in Grade
11, Kavanagh said.

At Racing Against Drugs, the fire departments of Leeds and Grenville
teamed up to put together a display on fire hazards.

The team used its interactive "Hazard House" to show kids where there
may be fire risks.

By this age, they're usually pretty good at identifying the hazards,
said Brockville Fire Department fire prevention officer Greg Healy,
who was working with Don Driscoll, with the Merrickville-Wolford Fire
Department, and Elizabethtown-Kitley Fire Department's Gary Seed on Tuesday.

"They know what they're talking about at this age," he said. "And
they're the perfect age for this tool."

Two border services officers from the Canada Border Services Agency
were present to talk about drugs and weapons smuggling.

At this age, the kids usually don't know a lot about the subject,
said border services officer Sharon Provost.

"At least half of the group doesn't know what border services is yet."

Provost said the officers show the students the drug test kit and
photographs showing some of the hiding places people use to smuggle
items. Drugs and other goods have been found hidden inside a bar of
soap, inside hollowed-out cucumbers and under a woman's dress.

Over at a booth by the Tri-County Addiction Services, youth problem
gambling counsellor Andrea Hammel told students about youth gambling.

"What we're finding is that they know what gambling is, but they're
not aware of the risks," Hammel said.

Kingston and Thousand Islands Crime Stoppers second vice-president
Dick Rider said the organization was there to let children know about
how Crime Stoppers works.

CN Rail did a presentation on how alcohol and drugs can affect
reaction time, decision-making skills and behaviour

Other organizations with displays included the Assault Response and
Care Centre and the Leeds County OPP with their vehicle rollover
machine. The YMCA was also there, as well as Lanark County Ambulance
to talk about helmet safety.

"The whole idea of why we do this is (to help) you make positive and
safe choices," Locke told the children.

He said the whole Racing Against Drugs theme was concocted to make
learning more fun for the kids.

"That's why the kids retain so much, because it's so much fun," he said.

Locke said he was pleased with how much the children already knew
about drug safety.

"It means that their parents and teachers are doing a terrific job," he said.