EVENT TACKLES CRACK COCAINE

Hundreds of Hatters participated in 12 hours of music, skateboarding and
hairstyling at a Monday event dedicated to fighting crack cocaine in
Medicine Hat.

Cracked in the Coulee at the Medicine Hat Cypress Centre took on a subject
that many in attendance said was daunting.

Alison Holmes, 14, invited a group of her friends to attend the event.

"My mom told me about it and we didn't have school so we thought we'd check
it out," she said. "It's good that they put on things like this."

Cracked in the Coulee featured skateboarding demos by The Boarding House
performances by bands including Sundance, Mustang, Inverdale, Ramshakle and
Weed Monkey.

Shelly Heinrichs, vice-president of the Medicine Hat and District Barbers
and Beauticians Association, organized the event to shine some light on the
presence of crack cocaine in Medicine Hat and surrounding communities.

"I'm happy with the event but I wish we could reach more people," she said.
"People are afraid to even talk about crack.

"Through the whole process of organizing this event I discovered that there
are a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to crack. Some people want as
much information as possible about it and others want to sweep everything
under the rug and bury their heads in the sand like ostriches."

Heinrichs said she received a lot of positive feedback from attendees and
hopes the event will help battle the fear and stigma attached to crack.

Karen Mahar of Medicine Hat attended Cracked in the Coulee with her family.

"It's difficult because you don't know how to talk to your kids about drugs
so something like this really helps," she said.

Cole Bertrand, 17, was one of the skateboarders riding on behalf of the
boarding house.

He said it's good to see an event like Cracked in the Coulee and kids need
to learn how to say no to drugs.

"I don't really know what will keep kids off drugs but I think getting into
skateboarding or something positive will help."

Fourteen-year-old Zach Friess said Cracked in the Coulee likely reached the
kids who don't do drugs but may not reach those experimenting with drugs
already.

"It's good to have an event like this because kids will come for the bands
but can learn about drugs while they're here."

AADAC, DARE, Family Services, the Youth Action Society, PLENA, the John
Howard Society, Alberta Tobacco Reduction and Narcotics Anonymous all
participated in the event, too.