FIGHTING DRUG ABUSE

Drug abuse is a cancer in Waterloo Region. And like any other
malignant tumor, it causes searing pain -- to the individuals whose
lives it wrecks, to the families broken as a consequence of substance
abuse, and to the entire community which must cope with the crime and
misery that are byproducts of the drug trade.

You might think this would all be so well known by now that a special
week to educate people about these dangerous substances would be
superfluous. But if you thought that, you would be wrong.

Drug Awareness Week is an essential time in the calendar year simply
because it is a time for education. Not condemnation. Not lecturing.
Education. And when you get down to it, education -- the dissemination
of knowledge, the transmission of the plain unadulterated truth -- is
the greatest weapon against drug abuse.

As a series of articles published in The Record this week has shown,
whatever someone's drug of choice might be, it can be readily found in
this region. Marijuana, hashish, cocaine, crack ecstasy, heroin. We
have it. We use it. Our children do, too.

Thirty per cent of Ontario students between Grade 7 and OAC have
smoked marijuana at least once. There is a risk of psychological
dependency with this drug. But it is also illegal and in pursuing it,
young people can fall into criminal activity. The physical ills caused
by cocaine and heroin might be so obvious that they do not need
repeating. What is less obvious is the attraction heroin has for
teens, indeed for children as young as 12, who wrongly believe it is
safer if it is smoked.

We can't forget, either, that alcohol is seriously abused by more
Ontario teens than any other drug and, more than any other one of
these dangerous substances, causes lasting harm.

And so if we have three wishes in Drug Awareness Week, this is what
they are: That adults and young people alike will inform themselves
about these alluring but insidious substances; that parents will talk
to their children and remember they are an example for this
impressionable generation; and that where people discover a problem
they didn't know existed, they will know where to go for help. One of
the best places to start is Waterloo Region's community health
department. Be safe. Be informed.