CONCERN OVER DRUGS PROMPTS MEETING OF COMMUNITY LEADERS

Nearly three dozen community leaders, among them civic, education,
business, public health and law enforcement representatives, put their
heads together last week in Steinbach to look at solutions to deal with
what is widely seen as a growing drug problem.

Billed as a first meeting to bring together most of the organizations
working with young people at various levels, last Wednesday's forum was
called by Mayor Les Magnusson to determine whether a common front can begin
to address the issue of substance abuse and its effect on individuals and
the community.

"We're not going to put up with this (problem) in the community," Mayor
Magnusson told the group of 30 people, all invited by him personally or
through a hand-delivered letter.

He asked the forum members to speak freely, adding that for this initial
meeting, their comments and opinions would not be quoted. (Both this
newspaper and the local radio stations agreed not to put local officials on
the record for this first session.)

The meeting quickly heard from many of the participants. School officials
spoke of their ongoing efforts in drug use prevention, assistance to
offenders and discipline. A nurse told of the victims of overdose treated
at the local hospital. Several senior RCMP members from the local
detachment pointed to the difficulty of getting good information on drug
use by young people.

In the same breath, a youth leader described how an intensive drug-proofing
program for parents now has nearly a dozen participants while a school
principal discussed the success of the DARE program, a drug education
program tailored to elementary school studentsnow in its third
yeardelivered by specially-trained police officers in uniform.

Drug use by students is a division-wide issue going well beyond Steinbach's
borders, a school official said, describing the mayor's forum as a
"wonderful idea."

Police officers noted that while communities often view drug abuse as a
policing issue, it is one that law enforcement can often only address when
problems associated with drug use arise.

One officer reiterated what other forum members had earlier mentionedthat
the issue of drug use is one requiring a wide variety of community
resources, especially parents.

A senior officer suggested that while there is widespread use of marijuana
by young people and others in the community, the criminal justice system
more and more treats recreational marijuana use as a non-criminal act.

One RCMP member said young people tell him marijuana is easier to obtain
locally than alcohol.

One school official noted the new federal Youth Criminal Justice Act, which
takes effect April 1, seems to be even softer on young offenders than
current legislation.

There was also the view from police that some parents in the community have
not yet accepted the fact their children are drug users. Police further
pointed out it is difficult to get young people to talk about drug use and
trafficking because teens don't want to be viewed as an informants because
of peer pressure.

In response to a question about the harmful use of drugs, one officer said
while alcohol is a major factor in many criminal acts, users of so-called
soft drugs like marijuana sometimes move on to dangerous drugs like crack
cocaine.

He said many local robberies are committed by a handful of individuals
addicted to hard drugs and desperate for quick cash to feed their habits.

Participants in the forum will meet again in the near future to begin to
frame a coordinated approach to the problem of drug abuse.