USING DRUGS JUST LEADS TO HARD ROAD, KIDS LEARN

Elementary School Program Packs Important Lesson in Fun

While shoe-sized race cars whizzed around her and her classmates
cheered with delight, Alysha Rogers learned just how dangerous drugs
can be.

"It can really blow your mind, especially cocaine and marijuana," the
11-year-old said.

Alysha, from Gertrude Parker Elementary School, was one of roughly 600
Grade 5 students from 13 Lower Sackville schools participating in the
Racing Against Drugs program at Cavalier Drive Elementary/Junior High
School, which kicked off Monday morning and wraps up this afternoon.

Developed by the RCMP organized crime and drug awareness unit, the
Sackville and Area Drug Awareness Committee and the Cobequid Community
Health Centre, the program uses 15 rotating "pit stop" activities
around the school's gymnasium to teach kids about addictions, bullying
and health.

"They're going to encounter things like 'Do you want this?' 'Do you
want to do drugs?' 'Do you want a drink?' " committee spokeswoman Barb
Chartrand said. "We're basically trying to encourage the kids to make
healthy lifestyle choices."

At the same time, she explained, the kids get to race slot cars to get
the "adrenalin flowing."

"Even though it's made to be a fun day, they're learning the whole
time," Ms. Chartrand said.

This is the fourth year for the program and she said it continues to
focus on Grade 5 students because their minds are still open.

"It's such an impressionable age group. The choices that they're going
to make now are going to follow them."

Const. Curt Wentzell, who organized the Mountie presence for the
program, added that now is the right time to talk to the kids because
they are "articulate and thoughtful" enough to absorb the
information.

"This is the point where they're starting to make individual choices
in their lives," he said. "When children get into junior high and high
school, in a lot of ways their paths have already been plotted out."

And, he said, he's already had to dispel a few myths.

"I have to explain to them what an addiction is. They think that if
you have super willpower, you can get beyond the addiction problem. If
they wish upon a star, they can overcome addiction.

"You have to explain to them that, no, the body is not made that
way."

At the end of the day, students race for prizes and walk out the door
with a goody bag filled with pamphlets that have links to kid-friendly
websites they can explore to find out more about addictions, bullying
and positive recreation choices in Nova Scotia.

Alysha said getting that kind of information is totally worth
it.

"If you don't, you'll probably go on drugs, you go on alcohol," she
said. "You'd probably get bullied and wouldn't know what to do."